In 2022, The Mississippi Development Authority awarded five companies “Virtual-Quad,” or V-Quad, grants. The Entrepreneurs Technical Assistance Program (ETAP) offers a maximum reward of $25,000 that an entrepreneur can use to receive technical assistance from a research university in Mississippi.

Winners in 2022 were:

• Hermon Cotton: A-Z Farmer’s Market (with Mississippi State University)
• Dameion Brown: Comprehensive Security Assessment (with Mississippi State University)
• Mark Isaacs: WonderWindow (with Mississippi State University)
• Mr. Joseph Ford: JEF Advanced Technologies (with University of Southern Mississippi)
• Jilei Zhang, Ph.D.: Fabrication of Biomass-based Graphene (with Mississippi State University)

Each company’s ETAP grant helps them access technical experts from Mississippi universities and compensates those academics for the research and support they offer the entrepreneur.

V-Quad aims to build an innovative, virtual incubator network to support Mississippi technology ventures launched by entrepreneurs focused on energy- and agriculture-related technologies. V-Quad is a public-private partnership that connects Mississippi’s research universities, industry, government and non-profits in a cohesive, tech-based entrepreneurial network.

Examples of eligible projects include using clean energy and energy-efficient products and services, agricultural products and services, robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, unmanned aerial and terrestrial vehicles and genomics applied within the energy and agriculture sectors.

“We’re pleased to be able to connect the experts at Mississippi’s research universities with these creative entrepreneurs,” said Joe Donovan, director of the Office for Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Mississippi Development Authority. “This is a win-win situation for all involved and a small investment in our state’s future that innovates and creates jobs, particularly in the energy and agriculture sectors.”