Wed, 05/17/2023 – 1:32 p.m | By: Gabriela Shinskie
The Gulf Blue Navigator program supports future companies to innovate in the areas of unmanned systems, smart ports and shipping, ocean-friendly plastics, marine aquaculture, marine and space systems, and territorial sea data and analysis.
The University of Southern Mississippi (USM), the USM Research Foundation and SeaAhead sponsored the Gulf Blue Navigator program’s first Demo Day on Wednesday, May 3rdapprox. The Demo Day included presentations from the six participating blue tech start-up companies. This event celebrated the success of the pilot program and the first blue technology accelerator program focused on the Gulf of Mexico.
This program provides startups with workshops, mentoring, site visits and testing in southern Mississippi and coastal waters to develop scale-up strategies and learn more about the Gulf Coast market potential. The Gulf Blue Navigator is an example of Mississippi’s growing knowledge economy and efforts to create high-paying jobs on the MS Gulf Coast.
Participants of cohort 1
The Gulf Blue Navigator program brings the expertise, network and business building skills of SeaAhead to the Gulf Coast and blends it with the core facilities, faculty expertise and staff of the University of Southern Mississippi and the ecosystem of local partners. “The Gulf Coast is the next blue-tech economic cluster in the US. With the Gulf Blue Navigator program, we support entrepreneurs in taking their innovations “to the sea” and enable them to take advantage of the region’s unique infrastructure and ocean-related stakeholders. The program embodies a new narrative for the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the growth of the new economy along the coast,” said Mark Huang, CEO of SeaAhead.
“We have enjoyed our longstanding partnership with SeaAhead Inc., which promotes the blue economy and demonstrates why Mississippi is the gateway to the Gulf of Mexico. “With the financial support of the Builders Initiative Foundation, we are pleased to offer the first cohort of the Navigator program this opportunity to showcase and promote their companies,” said Kelly Lucas, vice president of research at USM.
“We are very pleased to support the Gulf Blue Navigator program at the University of Southern Mississippi,” said Peter Bryant, Builders Initiative program director. “The combination of strong business development support and on-water testing makes it a unique platform for companies looking to further develop their blue economy businesses.”
Dennis Yancey, CEO of Atlanta-based Marauder Robotics, when asked about the value the program is bringing to its growth, said, “Gulfport makes a lot of sense: It’s right on the water, so you have access, and there’s a streamlined permitting process to get in.” Water to test functionality. Then you have talent from the shipyards, the navy and the universities along the coast. It just makes sense to have a presence in Gulfport and along the Gulf Coast to complement our West Coast and Atlanta operations.”
dr Jason McKenna, Director of RDT&E and Training commented, “The Roger F. Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise has had the privilege of working with these six blue tech startups over the past six months. It was a fantastic opportunity to show how our engineers and scientists can support their on-water testing and provide data-driven insights to improve their technology under extremely tight timelines. We look forward to many more years of supporting these innovators, learning from them, and helping bring good-paying jobs to Mississippi.”
The Gulf Blue Navigator program launched in November 2022. Its innovation focuses on ocean patrol and economic sustainability, with solutions that support working waterfront communities in the face of a changing economy and global competition.
About the partners
USMRF
The USM Research Foundation is a Mississippi nonprofit organization established in 1998 and managed and operated solely for the benefit of the University of Southern Mississippi. The foundation supports and strengthens the university’s research mission by promoting the expansion of useful knowledge and encouraging the development of the university’s intellectual property. The foundation also supports the university by administering research contracts, coworking spaces and entrepreneurial programs.
The University of Southern Mississippi’s support of the Gulf Blue Navigator program builds on the Marine Research Center’s ability to support the development of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) from prototyping to over-the-horizon at-sea testing, developed by the Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center conducts research in algae-, fin- and shell-based aquaculture and RAS-based regenerative agriculture and the Mississippi Polymer Institute.
SeaAhead
Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, SeaAhead Inc. specializes in promising ocean-focused technology startups, global network building and venture capital. Also now located in the Gulf & Ship Island building in Gulfport, SeaAhead’s platform, along with USM’s infrastructure and mission to foster a culture of innovation, will connect promising global blue technology startups to the blue economy of the Mississippi Gulf Coast .
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