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

Innovation creating a more diverse Oklahoma economy

Get in Touch

By Scott Meacham
Copyright © 2018, The Oklahoma Publishing Co.

In writing this series of columns, it has been enjoyable and informative to consider current innovation in Oklahoma in the context of innovation and inventors from our history. I like history as a teacher, and from readers’ comments, so do you.

We’re making innovation history today in Oklahoma. In a hundred years when future generations look back, they will draw lessons from the products and solutions we are creating today. We don’t know which of those will have the staying power of Sylvan Goldman’s shopping cart or Carl Magee’s parking meter, but you can bet some bright Oklahoma innovator is making history right now.

The cornerstones of innovation — then, now, and in the future (even with artificial intelligence and machine learning) — are humans with great ideas and the passion and tenacity to act.

But great ideas alone can’t propel innovation. It takes community, learned expertise, and infrastructure for a state to leverage the spirit and creativity that turns innovation into wealth and jobs.

That brings me to the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST), the state’s agency for technology development and commercialization.

This organization is Oklahoma’s champion of innovation and the bridge that connects ideas, research, and inventions to business needs. OCAST gets results, as the metrics prove: more than 2,450 jobs created or retained with average wages of $52,866 — a total payroll exceeding $93 million with a total financial impact exceeding half a billion dollars.

OCAST knows how to foster innovation, and they’ve learned what works for Oklahoma. In the Oklahoma Innovation Model (OIM), the framework of coordinated resources and services they have built and adapted over time boosts Oklahoma’s competitiveness in the knowledge economy. OIM is a public-private collaboration that consists of OCAST, two not-for-profit organizations, i2E and the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance, and the New Product Development Center at OSU.

“Invention, innovation and entrepreneurship are key drivers to the growth and diversification of Oklahoma’s economy,” said OCAST Executive Director Michael Carolina. “Thanks to the efforts of our strategic partners, such as i2E and its focus on technology commercialization and startup capital, we are seeing substantial innovation and growth in areas that complement our rich energy and agricultural heritage — areas such as aerospace, life sciences and biotechnology, manufacturing and information technology.”

That diversification is key. When OCAST was created 30 years ago, state leaders envisioned innovation in new, nontraditional industries for a state that historically relied almost exclusively on energy and agriculture. Then, 1 in 11 Oklahoma workers was in energy; today, that number is 1 in 27.

Invention and technology are the springboards of innovation; history provides the perspective. The spirit of innovation transcends products and technology.

In 75 years when future generations look back to the innovation landscape of today’s Oklahoma, they will learn lessons from the legacy of our innovation, just as today, we find lessons in the shopping cart and the parking meter.

Scott Meacham is president and CEO of i2E Inc., a nonprofit corporation that mentors many of the state’s technology-based startup companies. i2E receives state support from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology and is an integral part of Oklahoma’s Innovation Model. Contact Meacham at [email protected].

Read the article at newok.com

 

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