Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science & Technology

[SXSW]

Interesting article I came across from the Tulsa Business Journal.  It definitely underscores how important higher education is to Tulsa and its future.  OCAST sounds like a great program that deserves more funding. 

OCAST's 2010 Impact Report favorable to Tulsa

Monday, May 10, 2010

By Jimmy Hart

The Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science & Technology released its 2010 Impact Report to the state legislature in March. Among the report's many facts and figures was evidence of an increased investment in the Tulsa area.

OCAST is a state agency focused on technology-based economic development. Since 1987, it has awarded funding on a competitive basis to scientific research and development, progressive manufacturing and other innovative projects with potential to grow and diversify the state's economy. In 2009, OCAST allocated more than $15 million, according to the report.

The report also showed that in the 18 months preceding its release, there was a 437-percent increase in OCAST funding awarded to Tulsa-area projects.

Michael Carolina, executive director of OCAST, said several factors contributed to the rapid growth of investment in Tulsa. The agency's local office is in its third year, and outreach efforts are paying off. Tulsa has enjoyed growing success in key industries, such as aerospace, bioscience, manufacturing, computer science, energy and nanotechnology. Moreover, a number of OCAST strategic partners are located in the area.

"Tulsa is fertile ground for research and development," Carolina said. "There are industry clusters that we are excited to support, there is a wealth of public and private sector research taking place, and the centers of learning are producing very talented professionals."

Carolina points to programs at all of Tulsa's institutions of higher education, such as the computer security program at the University of Tulsa, nanotechnology research at Oklahoma
State University-Tulsa and medical and biotech work at Tulsa Community College, as ones that can help support growth industries across the state.

Incentivizing the students and faculty of such learning centers to stay in Oklahoma is the focus of OCAST-sponsored R&D Intern Partnerships. OCAST reported it helped create or retain 2,815 Oklahoma-based jobs in 2009. Those working for companies that received funding from OCAST were paid 19 percent more than Oklahoma's average per capita income.

"Our mission is to grow and diversify Oklahoma's economy," Carolina said. "If we strengthen our industrial base and existing technology fields and support innovative programs that complement that, we are on the path to create high-tech, high-paying jobs that will keep our best talent here and attract new talent from other regions."

One field where Carolina said he sees dramatic growth potential for Tulsa is new energy. That's one reason OCAST has invested in the National Energy Policy Institute at TU.

"Tulsa has an opportunity to take a world leadership position," he said. "Looking at not only energy technology, but also energy policy, Tulsa has all the pieces to really strengthen its economy through that emerging industry."

In energy, as with the other growth sectors, the rate at which Tulsa will benefit from innovation will be determined by the ability of public agencies, private companies and centers of research to work in collaboration, then the ability of those collaborations to yield long-term, sustainable projects.

"OCAST is a catalyst for collaborations," Carolina said. "At the end of the day, it's about competition, how we compete in the technology, creating high-skilled, high-paying jobs that increase our per capita income and add to our overall economic development."