They were hoping for 75 attendants. Even 70 would have been good. But in reality, more than double that amount showed up for Hoover's first Innovation Summit held Thursday at the Hoover Public Library.  

"Things went really, really well. 100!" says Greg Knighton, Hoover's Economic Development Manager. He and his team organized the event which focused on cyber security.

"The main goal was to have people become more aware of the public and private assets that exist in Hoover that are tied to cyber security," Knighton says.

"On the public side, NCFI (National Computer Forensics Institute) is a big one. And on the private side, you had McLeod Software and they have a whole focus on cyber security because of the transportation industry. We had somebody from Regions, which is the financial industry. We had someone from Blue Cross, because healthcare and insurance are major areas that get hacked and attacked. They're all in Hoover and they're all doing that work in Hoover."

Knighton says one positive piece of feedback he and his team heard from attendees was their gratitude for the City in convening IT industry experts to speak on the topic.

"Because it's not really happening right now,' Knighton explains.

"And I think we're a good group to convene because we don't have a political agenda. We don't have any other agenda other than really trying to make sure people are talking to each other and that our companies, in particular, are talking to each other and getting the attention that they need."

This was the first Summit the City held. But it won't be the last. 

"We want to do a series of summits that are focused on other industries. So the next one we're planning is tied to life sciences," Knighton explains.

"The other thing we want to do is to start convening the attendees and doing some mixers where we might have a small program, but they're just talking. That's a good opportunity for us to bring in our companies and let them all get together. We have a small program and then let them chat and just mix. We don't want to this to be just a flash in the pan."

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