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By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2019, The Oklahoman In today’s world, a state’s economic growth demands investment in innovation and high-tech industries — especially for a natural resource-rich state like ours that must leverage our existing resource base to diversify our economy for the future. It’s a straightforward proposition. If we believe that more andRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2019, The Oklahoman Oklahoma is a great place to live. Oklahoma is a great place to work. We are a state that seems ready to seize the moment and leverage the quality of life and business-friendly advantages here to add innovation and technology-based economic development to Oklahoma’s list of “greats.”Read more

By Jim Stafford Copyright © 2019, The Oklahoman Five patients are waiting to see their doctor, each displaying different symptoms. One has a bright rash on her face. Another is suffering from arthritis. Still another has kidney failure, while the fourth patient suffers from heart problems and the fifth is fatigued all the time. TurnsRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2019, The Oklahoman When Gov. Kevin Stitt announced his vision for making Oklahoma a Top 10 State, those of us representing the Oklahoma Innovation Model — comprising OCAST (Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science & Technology), the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance (OMA), Oklahoma State University New Product Development Center (NPDC)Read more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2019, The Oklahoman Innovate. Innovate. Innovate. That’s the common theme in today’s economy. Innovation stimulates entrepreneurship. Successful entrepreneurship creates net new jobs. Driving innovation through collaboration to create jobs is the entire reason for being of the public-private consortium of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and TechnologyRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2019, The Oklahoman I always tell every new company that I talk to: You have to crawl before you walk and walk before you run. The same thing applies to the capital path. The great thing for startups in this state is that The Oklahoma Innovation Model, which is uniqueRead more

By Jim Stafford Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoman As keynote speaker at last week’s Oklahoma Center for Science and Technology (OCAST) Health Research Conference, James A. Rogers III, with Mayo Clinic, delivered a sobering forecast for scientists seeking to commercialize discoveries made in their laboratories. “It’s a bit of a roller coaster to be involvedRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoman   I’m a numbers guy; lately, the number 22,000 has been stuck in my mind. That’s how many Oklahoma jobs have been created so far through the public/private partnerships of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST). When you think about it, 22,000Read more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoman It seems like the conversation everywhere today is about how much or how little government should or should not do. No matter which side you take in that particular debate, I believe that it makes economic and business sense for government — both federal and state —Read more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. It seems like the conversation everywhere today is about how much or how little government should or should not do. No matter which side you take in that particular debate, I believe that it makes economic and business sense for government — both federal andRead more

By Jim Stafford Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. The Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) was created by the state Legislature during the depth of the oil bust in 1987. OCAST was established to diversify and grow Oklahoma’s economy through science and technology-based activities that would ensure that theRead more

Scott Meacham Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Company There’s always a lot of discussion around pros and cons of state-sponsored venture capital funds. A recent Kauffman Foundation white paper even postulates that states should avoid state VC funds. The suggestion is that state-sponsored funds don’t match private VC funds when it comes to returnRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2016, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. Author, visionary, and predictor H.G. Wells has been called the father of science fiction. In his most famous book, “The Time Machine,” Wells propels his main character forward by more than 800,000 years to imagined worlds. When Wells was drafting this best-seller (long before thereRead more

If you are in a decision-making position in an Oklahoma company, is there any reason you wouldn’t want to consider doing business with a startup? You might think that there’s too much risk with a startup. Personally, I like optimism and passion. I favor businesses that stretch, that run lean, and that focus on cashflow. And I like to be part of helping a new business grow. I bet when you think about it, you do too.

The Tech Showcase audience also heard presentations from Pryor’s HE&M Saw; Optecks and Synercon, both of Tulsa; Spiers New Technologies from Oklahoma City; and Amethyst Research Inc. of Ardmore. The event was sponsored by the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST).

Another legislative session has come and gone. A session that began with a great challenge in the form of a historic $1.3 billion budget “hole” and a bold vision from Gov. Mary Fallin for how to close that hole while moving the state forward on several fronts, has ended in a lot of disappointment.

Mills Machine was founded in 1908 by Chuck Mills’ grandfather, W.H. Homer Mills, as a repair shop in the central Oklahoma community that was a railway crossroads with a growing industrial base. W.H.’s son, David, acquired the company in the early 1970s, with Chuck purchasing it in the 1980s.

A promising career as a securities lawyer awaited Doug Branch when he graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 1982. Oklahoma was the heart of a booming energy economy with lots of oil and gas firms that needed legal work as they raised capital and dealt with regulators.

The Legislature created OCAST, and when they did, as part of the enabling statue, they required OCAST to create something called the “commercialization center,” an entity required to be a private, not-for-profit company under the OCAST umbrella with the mission of providing commercialization services, attracting and retaining technology, and attracting capital to build high-growth companies in Oklahoma.

It’s a rare moment that the leaders and scientists of Oklahoma’s bioscience industry can come together to share the collaborative spirit that is such a part of who they are and what they are creating. The annual OKBIO Summit and BioScience Awards dinner is one of those moments.