Skip to content
i2E
  • Programs
    • For Startups
      • E3
      • Bridge2
      • OCN
    • For Students
      • Entrepreneur’s Cup
    • For Corporations
    • For Investors
  • Client Portfolio
  • About
    • Our Values
    • Meet Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Partners
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Programs
    • For Startups
      • E3
      • Bridge2
      • OCN
    • For Students
      • Entrepreneur’s Cup
    • For Corporations
    • For Investors
  • Client Portfolio
  • About
    • Our Values
    • Meet Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Corporate Partners
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Media
Search

Coalition to lead OKC’s bioscience industry

Get in Touch

By Steve Lackmeyer

Copyright © 2013, The Oklahoma Publishing Company

Oklahoma City’s leading economic development and biosciences organizations are banding together to form a new coalition intended to take over the role of recruiting and growing bioscience companies.

The Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park at NE 8 and Lincoln has served as the main incubator for such efforts over the last 20 years through subsidized rents. The foundation itself was formed with the 1985 sale of Presbyterian Hospital to Hospital Corporation of America.

The $85 million sale of the research park to the University of Oklahoma is set to close on Oct. 1.

The new coalition will consist of the Presbyterian Health Foundation joining with i2E Inc., the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City Redevelopment Authority.

Carl Edwards, chairman of the Presbyterian Health Foundation, said the sale will allow the organization to resume awarding grants, 90 percent of which will be done through the new coalition.

“The Presbyterian Health Foundation made the decision to sell the research park a couple years ago,” Edwards said. “We’ve made a very good deal for both sides. At the same time we are using the proceeds to reload. We took our endowment pretty low while building several hundred thousand square feet of building space.”

In addition to the grants, the Oklahoma City Redevelopment Authority is looking at tapping into the health sciences center tax increment finance district to also assist biotech startups.

The coalition was designed by Dan Batchelor, attorney for the Oklahoma City Redevelopment Authority, and fellow attorney John Michael Williams as a response to concerns the 700,000-square-foot research park would be switching from reduced rent for biotech startups to a market-based rent that will be charged by OU.

Dr. Stephen Prescott, president of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, was among those who worried that as the university expands its health-sciences campus east of downtown Oklahoma City that a space shortage might hurt emerging companies.

“We’re all in,” Prescott said Wednesday as the coalition arrangements were discussed by the Oklahoma City Redevelopment Authority. “The OMRF has 16 spinoff companies in Oklahoma City, most are still here, and many more are in the pipeline.”

Scott Meacham, president of i2E Inc., a nonprofit corporation that mentors many of the state’s technology-based startup companies, advised such a coalition is necessary to nurture an industry that is tough to start up and maintain.

“If you look at Oklahoma City and what drives this community, it’s energy, aerospace and biosciences,” Meacham said. “For the community to grow and thrive in the future, we have to do what we can to help those industries — and biosciences is the most difficult.”

More News

Loading...
Blog, Featured, News
06.25.25

i2E Showcases Startup Innovation at Bridge2 Cohort 3 Demo Day

Read more
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.25.25

Oklahoma Collegiate Entrepreneurs Take Home Over $167K at Entrepreneur’s Cup

Read more
Blog, Featured, News
12.16.24

MidAmerica and i2E Announce Award Winners

Read more
Blog, Featured, News
11.21.24

i2E & Plains Ventures Surpasses $100M Milestone in Total Investments

Read more
Blog
09.30.24

i2E Receives 2024 Excellence in Economic Development Award from IEDC

Read more
Blog
06.18.24

Bridge2 Demo Day Returns, Highlighting Promising Oklahoma Startups

Read more
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
05.13.24

Student Entrepreneurs Triumph at 20th Anniversary Entrepreneur’s Cup, Winning $158,000 in Prizes

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.24.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – Jessica Kinsey

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.23.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – Nathan Fountain

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.23.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – Srijita Ghosh

Read more
Default Featured Image
Blog, Entrepreneur's Cup Featured, Entrepreneur's Cup News
04.18.24

Beyond the Cup: Tracking Success Stories from the Entrepreneur’s Cup Series – MaxQ

Read more
Blog, i2E
01.30.24

i2E Celebrates Success of Inaugural Bridge2 Demo Day

Read more
i2E

Oklahoma City Office

201 Robert S Kerr Ave, Suite 600
Oklahoma City, OK 73102
+1 (405) 235.2305

Tulsa Office

12 N. Cheyenne Ave, Suite 112
Tulsa, OK 74103
+1 (918) 582.5592

  • Client Portfolio
  • About Us
  • Media
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Resources
  • Funding
  • Venture Advisory

© 2025 i2E Privacy Policy

Follow us:

Linkedin Twitter Facebook Instagram Youtube

Programs

  • For Startups
    • E3
    • Bridge2
    • OCN
  • For Students
    • Entrepreneur’s Cup
  • For Corporations
  • For Investors
  • For Startups
    • E3
    • Bridge2
    • OCN
  • For Students
    • Entrepreneur’s Cup
  • For Corporations
  • For Investors
  • Client Portfolio

Services

  • Access to Funding
  • Venture Advisory Services
  • Events
  • Contact
  • About
  • Our Values
  • Our Team
  • Board of Directors
  • Corporate Partners
  • Media
i2E