BLUE TECHNOLOGY

Foiling Week Pensacola overlaps Mardi Gras celebrations in Pensacola, which means that in the city, Pensacola Mardi Gras will insert you into the middle of this historic cultural celebration, parade and party, while at the beach, the same engagement will be available through the Sunday parade.  Here’s a sampling of how you can joing the Mardi Gras fun!

• Krewe of Wrecks Lighted Parade – City of Pensacola, 2/29/2025, 7 PM CST
• Krew LeFitte’s Mardi Gras Parade – Downtown Pensacola, 3/1/2025, 2 PM CST
• Krewe of Wrecks Red Beans and Rice, Sand Shaker, Pensacola Beach, 3/3/2025, 6 PM CST.

We will provide more information and links to these events as they develop!

As a business leader, we want to make sure you make all your business connections and still enjoy the racing, trials, demo, and spectator activities.  To make sure that happens, Sail Pensacola has established a Business Concierge!  Vivianna Cerisola is our International Business Development Manager and will be working with you individually to assemble an itinerary that delivers an unforgettable experience with foiling, Foiling Week, and the special opportunity Pensacola holds for your business future in North America!

American Magic, the U.S. sailing syndicate competing to win back the America’s Cup understands the Pensacola Bay advantage.  That’s why they moved their base of operations to the Port of Pensacola!  The City of Pensacola has teamed with the Gulf Coast Triumph Fund, the Florida Governors Job Fund, and the Seaport Fund to launch a facility at the Port to house American Magic.  This facility will support all American Magic operations, but, more than that, the Maritime Center for Excellence will catalyze the attraction of new technology and business to the Pensacola Bay ecosystem.  It you are contemplating a North American footprint for expansion or launching a new maritime business, sharing the waterfront with American Magic would be a spectacular advantage!

The Sailing and Marine Technology Center.  The University of West Florida Mechanical Engineering Department has received funding from the Triumph Gulf Coast Fund to launch an engineering technology center that delivers a fully equipped engineering research and development center, located just feet away from the American Magic base at the Port of Pensacola!  This space provides access to multi-access CNC, 3-D printing, CFD computing power, composite fabrication assets, 3-D scanning, and carbon fiber reuse platforms.  The integration of  with the University of West Florida College of Business and the SBDC provides business development support to companies and startups for a friction-free path from production to market.

Pensacola State College (PSC) has a history of workforce development and deliver a excellent marine technology program.  In addition, they are building a collaboration with LIFT to build state-of-the-art fabrication facility in the heart of Pensacola.  This facility will deliver workforce development for metallic fabrication with an emerging focus on material science!  PSC is working with Sail Pensacola to craft customized training such as a new hybrid Elect-Tech – the marine technician of the future!

 The Sail Pensacola Footprint Accelerator.  This program is designed to give new businesses a scalable footprint in the Pensacola ecosystem, beginning with product presentations streamed on our social media, advancing to on-water demos and activation of on-site ambassadors, culminating in a physical business footprint in the Pensacola maritime community.  This program helps new businesses start-up in an scalable and economical way while putting their great new products on the ground in Pensacola, the high-performance epicenter of sailing and marine technology in North America!

The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) stands as a cornerstone of innovation in Pensacola, renowned for pioneering advancements in robotics, artificial intelligence, and human performance. By bringing together world-class scientists and engineers, IHMC develops transformative technologies that enhance human capabilities in bold and inspiring ways. Beyond its research excellence, IHMC fuels Pensacola’s growth as a hub for education, job creation, and cutting-edge innovation—bolstering its reputation as a leader in high-tech research and a catalyst for groundbreaking ideas.

TechFarms Capital is a dynamic venture capital firm committed to seeding the next generation of tech-enabled hardware and software ventures. We actively seek ambitious founders who are post-prototype and at the inflection point of scaling early revenue. A team rooted in hardware and excited about deep technologies, we deliver guidance and strategic insights for both founders and investors through our second fund called the Gain Fund: Investing in AI-enabled hardware to amplify human capacity. Our passion and dedication are to the economic evolution of the Southeast and amplifying the startup ecosystem in our regions and nationwide. We fundamentally approach VC from a posture of support, to support the founder’s vision and journey.