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Quietly, Apopka is Becoming an Innovation Hub

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By Cindy Cummings

Sometimes, the presence of a loud neighbor can be beneficial to industry. The St. Johns River Water Management District has been active in helping generate innovation on Lake Apopka's north shore, even as the big cities dominate headlines, and now, as Metroplan outlines, transformative studies are taking place across the city as well. There's a good reason for that - Apopka, and it’s unique location and city makeup, provides a fantastic place for scientists and researchers to make new discoveries.

Lake makeup

The position of Apopka, specifically being located by Lake Apopka, has created a long-standing need for nutritional and dietary research. The lake compounds influences nutrition and diet in subtle ways; one study, published on ResearchGate, notes how the cyanobacterial compounds that inhabit the lake have long had an impact on phosphorus levels in the surrounding ground and country. That, in turn, has an impact on food growth, and what locals experience in their day-to-day diet. Research into how the lake impacts food and drink in the area is a key background for research, and one that can have impacts on urban lake settings nationally.

Animal concerns

As well as impacting human lives, this research has had significant impacts on animals, too. Jacksonville.com has highlighted cutting-edge research conducted in and around Lake Apopka that has found chemical emissions into the lake are sterilizing alligators, providing a potential solution to overpopulation. But also questions, too, over the ethics of current industrial and business processes and whether they have a right to be interfering in the natural cycles of animals in and around Lake Apopka.

Scientific endeavors

The research being conducted in and around Apopka is elevated past mere local influence. The University of Central Florida has highlighted how Apopka students constructed a remote-controlled aircraft that took 1st place in national innovation competitions and 2nd in the world as a whole. The ingenious designs of these creations is a reflection of the great minds and hard work being done in the city, and sets the scene for future innovation. Between engineering projects like this, and cutting-edge chemical studies on a lake as intensively used as Apopka, the town is providing a lot of inspiration nationally.

This puts Apopka on the map, even when local, bigger cities take headlines. The relative peace and quiet of Apopka has allowed scientists and researchers to make serious investigations into the local ecosystems. This, in turn, is creating a real innovation buzz.

City of Apopka, food, Innovation, Lake Apopka, Market Research, Nutrition, Research, Science, St. Johns River Water Management District, Studies

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