The Emerald Coast Science Center Inc

What The Emerald Coast Science Center Inc does

The Emerald Coast Science Center Inc is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit science museum headquartered at 31 SW Memorial Parkway in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, founded in 1989 as the FOCUS Center and rebranded in 2001 to reflect a regional Northwest Florida mission. The center operates a ~5,000-square-foot indoor facility with four exhibit rooms, two classrooms, and two acres of outdoor exhibits including Dino Dig, Fort Audubon Tree House, and a Florida Trail replica. Its core technical assets are interactive exhibit platforms: sciPad featuring SMALLab Learning (only the third museum in the U.S. with that capability), a Digitarium Alpha portable planetarium housed since 2025 in a dedicated Galaxy Gateway building, an Augmented Reality Sandbox, and the STEAM Machine mobile classroom, complemented by over 35 live animal ambassadors used in Creature Features programs. Programming spans on-site exhibits, mobile planetarium and in-school outreach, chemistry demonstrations, summer STEAM workshops, birthday parties, and an annual Women in Science Conference, with age coverage from 2 to 102.

The business model is a hybrid nonprofit revenue stack: one-time admission fees (general admission plus à-la-carte planetarium and Animal Tales tickets priced roughly $3–$15), recurring memberships, on-site gift shop sales, program fees for field trips, birthday parties, and private event rentals, plus donations, monthly giving, animal sponsorships, and grants from a broad sponsor base including IMPACT100 of Northwest Florida, AFRL, FPL, NDIA Gulf Coast Chapter, and several defense-adjacent firms. Go-to-market is event-driven and community-led: the center markets through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TripAdvisor, an active blog, the Cultivate Curiosity monthly podcast, email newsletter, community events, school district partnerships (most prominently Okaloosa County School System), and a virtual museum tour. Customer segments are diversified across families with children (primary), K-12 school groups (primary), adults and seniors, and young women in STEM, with no single customer representing a material share of earned revenue; however, contributed revenue is concentrated among a small set of institutional sponsors and foundations.

Name

The Emerald Coast Science Center Inc

Legal name

Emerald Coast Science Center Inc

Website

https://ecscience.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Emerald Coast Science Center Inc is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit science museum in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, operating interactive exhibits, a mobile planetarium, an animal ambassador program, and STEAM outreach for families, K-12 schools, and community members across Northwest Florida.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Science Museum / Educational Services

NAICS

Museums (712110)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Science & Technology Museums (THAJADAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Hands-on Science Exploration & Experiments (Lab Kits, Science Clubs) (EDAMABAA)

Keywords

• Science museum exhibits
• Interactive STEM education
• Mobile planetarium programs
• Animal ambassador programs
• School field trips

Headquarters

HQ city

Fort Walton Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. General Admission: Visitors pay admission fees to access the museum and its exhibits, workshops, and interactive experiences. Planetarium shows and special programs have additional fees.
2. Memberships: The center offers membership programs that provide free admission, discounts on programs, and other perks for members.
3. Donations and Sponsorships: The nonprofit accepts donations, monthly giving, animal sponsorship, and has corporate sponsors including IMPACT100, AFRL, FPL, and others.
4. Gift Shop: On-site gift shop selling science-themed merchandise and souvenirs.
5. Program Fees: Fees for special programs including birthday parties, field trips, private events, and Animal Tales shows.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

The Emerald Coast Science Center operates a hands-on science museum featuring interactive exhibits, a digital planetarium, and live animal ambassadors, providing science education programming for families, K-12 school groups, and community organizations across Northwest Florida. It also operates a mobile planetarium that travels off-site to schools, libraries, and community events.

Product overview

The Emerald Coast Science Center is a science museum offering a diverse portfolio of educational programs and interactive exhibits for families and children ages 2 to 102. The center features hands-on interactive exhibits including robotics and ecosystem displays, a mobile planetarium system (Digitarium Alpha) housed in the Galaxy Gateway building, sciPad featuring SMALLab Learning for embodied learning experiences, and live animal programs (Creature Features) with over 35 animal ambassadors. Additional offerings include chemistry demonstrations, STEAM workshops, field trip programs, birthday parties, a monthly podcast (Cultivate Curiosity), annual scholarships, and outdoor exhibits. The center operates as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization focused on inspiring and growing a scientifically engaged community through experiential STEM education.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• General museum admission

Quantifiable outcome

• $8,000 scholarship awarded annually to one graduating high school senior from Okaloosa County pursuing STEM degrees

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• AFRL (Air Force Research Laboratory)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAnnual partner and major sponsor of the Emerald Coast Science Center, supporting STEM education initiatives.
• FPL (Florida Power & Light)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPowers the planetarium at the Science Center. The planetarium is sponsored by FPL, supporting the center's space education programs.
• Okaloosa County School SystemcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLongstanding partner since the center's founding, working intimately with the school system to provide lab-based activities at the center and at local schools since 1992.
• Liza Jackson Preparatory SchoolminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDonated the STEAM Machine - a school bus converted into a STEAM classroom - to the Science Center in Summer 2021.
• University of West FloridaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with the center during its founding in the late 1980s to help establish the science museum in Fort Walton Beach.
• Okaloosa Walton Community CollegeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with the center during its founding in the late 1980s to help establish the science museum.
• Northwest Florida Astronomy AssociationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal experts from the association provide preshow content for Planetarium Nights, teaching families about space explorations and facts.
• If She CanminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partner with member logo displayed on the Science Center's website.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Arizona Science Center: Phoenix-based nonprofit science center with interactive exhibits, a planetarium (Dorrance Planetarium), and statewide STEM education programs — comparable product stack (exhibits + planetarium + K–12 outreach) at a meaningfully larger scale, providing a directional benchmark for how ECSC's programming could monetize if it reached similar attendance levels.
• COSI (Center of Science and Industry): Columbus, Ohio flagship science museum with broad hands-on exhibits, planetarium, and statewide STEM programming — same mission and product categories as ECSC but at substantially larger scale and operating budget, serving as the relevant broader-market peer for portfolio benchmarking on revenue mix and programming depth.
• Pacific Science Center: Seattle-based nonprofit science center with hands-on exhibits, a planetarium (PACCAR IMAX Theater), and large-scale K–12 STEM programming — directly comparable product categories (exhibits + planetarium + school programs) at a substantially larger scale, useful as a precedent for how ECSC's model can compound with growth.

Direct peers

• TELUS Spark: Calgary, Alberta nonprofit science center featuring interactive exhibits, a digital dome planetarium/theatre, and STEM educational programming across all ages — operates a near-identical exhibit + planetarium + school-outreach stack at a comparable mid-size scale, making it a structural analog for ECSC's operating model and revenue mix.
• Adventure Science Center: Nashville-based nonprofit science center with hands-on exhibits, a planetarium (Sudekum Planetarium), and school/community STEM programming — directly comparable as a mid-size regional science center with the same exhibit-plus-planetarium operating model that anchors ECSC's programming.
• Museum of Discovery and Science: Fort Lauderdale-based science museum serving South Florida with hands-on exhibits, an IMAX theater, and K–12 educational programming — same Florida geography, same regional science-center mission, and a comparable mix of exhibits and school outreach that competes with ECSC for state-level school partnerships and tourism visits.
• Orlando Science Center: Florida nonprofit science center with hands-on exhibits, planetarium, and STEM educational programming across multiple age tiers — directly comparable in mission, exhibits/planetarium product mix, and school-outreach model, while sitting in the same Florida tourism market that competes for ECSC's inbound visitors and field-trip budgets.
• Da Vinci Science Center: Allentown, Pennsylvania hands-on science center focused on K–12 STEM engagement, exhibits, and outreach programming — closely comparable as a small-to-mid regional science museum with similar exhibits-plus-outreach mission and a comparable revenue footprint to ECSC.
• The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature: Bradenton, Florida regional science museum combining natural history exhibits with hands-on STEM programming, a planetarium, and K–12 field-trip offerings — operates at a similar regional scale and product mix (exhibits + planetarium + school outreach) in the same state, making it a tight comparable for ECSC's go-to-market and revenue model.
• Sciencenter: Ithaca, New York hands-on science museum featuring interactive exhibits, animal ambassadors, and K–12 science programming — comparable single-site scale, similar mission (inspiring science engagement), and a closely matching product portfolio (exhibits, live animals, family programming) that mirrors ECSC's offerings tier-for-tier.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/ECSciencecenter
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCv6hoil0t7DYVp6SwXGjB-w/featured
• Facebookfacebook.com/emcoastscictr
• Instagraminstagram.com/ECsciencecenter
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ecsciencecenter

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about The Emerald Coast Science Center Inc