Page 54 - South Mississippi Living - August, 2023

The Gulf & Ship Island Building (GSI) sits at the center of the Gulfport Blue Economy Innovation District which includes Gulf Blue, the Port of Gulfport, Mississippi Aquarium, University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Marine Research Center, and the Roger Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise. Other nearby existing investments in Coastal Mississippi include Stennis Space Center, USM Gulf Park Campus, Point Cadet, the USM Gulf Coast Research Laboratory and the Port of Pascagoula. The GSI building, dating to the turn of the 19th century, has been beautifully renovated under the direction of Jerrilyn Neumaier, project management coordinator with the University of Southern Mississippi Research Foundation (USMRF).
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Blue economy entrepreneurs and startups can find a home here with office space and everything needed to conduct business. There is also an extensive mentor network and many networking opportunities with the community and existing industries.
“We’re here to support and recruit ocean blue technology,” Neumaier said. “We started as a small team right before the pandemic, creating the Gulf Blue Initiative program, logo, and business model during the lockdown. For years USM has been working on getting the infrastructure created to support blue technology.”
Now that initiative is fully underway and Neumaier says visiting businesses, both foreign and domestic, are blown away when they come here. “They’re very impressed that we have a climate that allows research equipment to be put into the water year- round; it’s not too cold in the winter for
54 | August 2023
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