No metropolis is healthier suited to function a hub for innovation and development than Gulfport, Mayor Hewes writes.

The Metropolis of Gulfport has a lot to supply. From the Mississippi Aquarium to our downtown leisure district, our various and vibrant economic system is ideally located on the newly rediscovered Gulf Coast.

Locals and vacationers alike collect in Gulfport to get pleasure from our wealthy marine life, lovely coastal canopies, and a plethora of eating and leisure choices. Because the second-largest metropolis within the nice Magnolia State, we have now a accountability to forge an financial path for our neighbors – a accountability we don’t take flippantly. By embracing distinctive growth alternatives throughout our metropolis, we are able to develop our thriving industries and show that Gulfport is open for enterprise – and open to tech.  

I’ve seen what an amazing asset the tech sector might be to our native economic system all through my tenure as mayor. Ocean Aero’s transfer from San Diego to our very personal Port of Gulfport’s east pier in 2021 introduced the world’s first environmentally powered Autonomous Underwater and Floor Car (AUSV) to the Gulf Coast and with it, new high-tech jobs and a $4.65 million funding for Gulfport.

In partnership with USM, we constructed upon that success final yr with the launch of Gulf Blue Navigator, a six-month program for cohorts of distinctive startup tech corporations from world wide to shorten their growth timelines and supply them with experience, collaboration, and alternative for market entry.

2022 additionally featured the opening of the brand-new Mississippi Cyber Middle, which serves because the headquarters for the revolutionary Mississippi Cyber Initiative, which builds upon the Initiative’s statewide effort to strengthen Mississippi’s cybersecurity capabilities with three high-tech labs that help regulation enforcement, our native Keesler Air Power base, and Mississippi Gulf Coast Group School.  

Along with bringing multi-million-dollar investments and jobs to our economic system, tech corporations are essential to the success of our small enterprise group. These corporations fire up investments, innovation, and curiosity in Gulfport, offering new instruments and sources for our companies and driving contemporary initiatives for development and collaboration.

Our purpose is to create a local weather the place Gulfport continues to develop as a hub for know-how. This implies we should prioritize holding obstacles to entry low and dealing to develop shopper alternative via market diversification, making a welcoming setting that may entice tech enterprise.

We should additionally proceed strengthening our partnerships with excellent group leaders just like the College of Southern Mississippi, Harrison County Growth Fee, and the Mississippi Growth Authority, which work collectively to higher our Gulf Coast business and help our native economic system.  

No metropolis is healthier suited to function a hub for innovation and development than Gulfport. Our native authorities is supportive of tech initiatives, and our companions maintain a vested curiosity in seeing our metropolis develop and develop. Our expert workforce is clamoring for brand new challenges, and our group of small companies is keen to develop.

Gulfport has one thing for everybody – let’s welcome new alternatives with open arms and pave the way in which for tech to be the harbinger of success for our metropolis.