Get to know the GuideWell Innovation Center, one of the most unique meeting locations in Orlando.
Updated Sept. 29, 2025
One of the country’s largest attractors for medical meetings is located right here in Orlando: Lake Nona Medical City, a 650-acre complex in southeast Orlando and an innovation hub for medical care, research and education. Lake Nona’s cluster was built based on the proven theory that health care and life sciences facilities in close proximity to one another will accelerate innovation. In the years since, Lake Nona has become home to some of the nation’s leading hospitals, universities, research institutions, and health and life sciences companies.
One of its most innovative additions is the GuideWell Innovation Center, a commercial life sciences facility that offers unique amenities such as plant walls, life-saving technologies and a variety of avocado delectables. Most meeting facilities don’t boast these kinds of amenities, but perhaps that’s why so many groups are intrigued about the center. Here is a look inside this one-of-a-kind venue, which can be configured for a wide range of business events and meetings.
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Navigating Through the GuideWell Innovation Center
The 92,000-square foot facility features office and laboratory space for Lake Nona’s medical partners, which include two hospitals, a highly acclaimed National Institutes of Health research facility, a top biomedical research enterprise and two university medical campuses. Built in March 2016, GuideWell also serves as a wildly innovative meeting space for groups of any kind.
The Gallery
Visitors who enter the center first stroll through a public gallery showcasing rotating exhibits and the latest technology solutions — from wearable devices that send alerts to family members when you’re having a seizure to two-way mirrors that connect to your email. Groups typically hold breakfasts or cocktail parties in the gallery, while resident scientists provide live demonstrations of the technologies.
The space also lends itself to dramatic productions. One group that recently used the facility held a cocktail party where live models became part of the exhibit, doing yoga poses on elevated platforms.
The Theater
The center also has a 260-seat theater-in-the-round, the only one of its type in Orlando. The theater provides the ideal setting for viewing video products, 3-D renderings and simulations — one group recently held a “Shark Tank-type” production here. The theater also includes:
- A prototype and design center featuring 3-D printing, scanning and the latest software creation technologies.
- Several glass-walled meeting spaces, all with Wi-Fi and teleconferencing capabilities.
- An outdoor plaza with environmental art installations.
The Garage
If you think these amenities are impressive, there’s more. The highlight for many meeting groups is The Garage — an innovative space in the back of the center exclusively for meeting-goers who are ready to roll up their sleeves and get dirty.
The Garage’s setup makes the space ideal for brainstorming. Stocked with Legos and designed in a cozy living-room style, The Garage is part children’s playroom, part techno-paradise with smart boards, whiteboards on wheels and other technology rolling through the space.
