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By Scott Meacham Entrepreneurs are the rising tide that lifts all our boats. It is the season to count our blessings and the people and things for which we are most thankful. In some industries, the last few weeks of the year provide time to take a breath and take a break. That is notRead more

By Scott Meacham It is time to lean into the opportunities that are already in front of us to build our own Oklahoma version of the economy of the future. Will Rogers, Oklahoma’s Cherokee cowboy philosopher, delivered a quote that aptly sums up our state’s challenge with innovation and the “new” economy. As Will putRead more

By Scott Meacham Oklahoma companies change people’s health and their lives. In a recent conversation, an associate described Dr. Steve Prescott’s impact on Oklahoma’s bioscience economy as “standing on the shoulders of a giant.” Indeed, as the leader of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF), Steve was a visionary who got things done. However, SteveRead more

By Scott Meacham Let’s raise our eyes and raise our goals Oklahoma. Christian Kanady is a fourth-generation Oklahoman. “My roots don’t touch any state besides this one,” he said. “Like most Oklahomans, I grew up steeped in this state’s sense of being both an underdog and a pioneer.” These days, Kanady is channeling that pioneeringRead more

By Scott Meacham In building a startup pipeline, keep it simple. Occam’s razor (also known as the law of parsimony) is a principle attributed to William of Ockham, a Franciscan friar and philosopher born around 1288. William did not originate the problem-solving model named for him; however, he practiced it relentlessly. Plus he was aRead more

By Scott Meacham In entrepreneurship and venture investing, “what if” is the cornerstone of our industry. Entrepreneurship is built on promise and possibility—the willingness to imagine the unimaginable and take the risks to make it real. We all engage in the “what if” game. Oklahoma bought into “what if” in the late 1980s with theRead more

By Scott Meacham Fifty years before the world wide web and more than 80 years ahead of the phenomenon of social media, Wiley Post, was (in today’s parlance) an “influencer.” Oklahoma offers resources for today’s influencers. Wiley Post went from being a dare-devil barnstormer and pilot of the rich and famous to becoming the firstRead more

By Scott Meacham Oklahoma businesses and college students benefit from OCAST internship program.  Across Oklahoma, our college and university students, who have been pulled from pillar to post these last few months, are gearing up for internships. The time is right for Oklahoma’s startups and corporations to get in the hunt. The OCAST (Oklahoma CenterRead more

By Scott Meacham In 1943, when the musical Oklahoma opened on Broadway, our state had only been a state for 36 years. Oklahoma not only gave us the best state song in the entire country, this play, named for our state, spawned innovation at every turn. Before Oklahoma, Broadway musicals were a series of bigRead more

i2E, Inc. had a record-breaking number of investments in FY2020 with $12.89M in closed investments across its 4 venture funds and concept fund. In total, 19 Oklahoma companies received financing and attracted an additional $16.34M from private investors, for a total of $29.3M invested in Oklahoma-based companies. i2E Management Company Inc. (iMCI ), i2E’s investmentRead more

By Scott Meacham It is hard to start a business — very, very hard. This is true on Main Street, for information technology businesses and in biotech. For all entrepreneurs, building a company is a race against time, a race in which every milestone of success increases the pressure on the business plan. The biggestRead more

By Jim Stafford STILLWATER – Don’t look for a sign in downtown Stillwater advertising the presence of HostBridge Technology, which has maintained its headquarters just off Main Street for two decades. There isn’t one. Founded by Russell Teubner in 2000, HostBridge Technology occupies a historic building along E. 7th Street, just off Main Street. TheRead more

By Scott Meacham This time of year, Christmas music is everywhere. Some people get a little tired of it, but for me it’s all part of the season, and I like it. Christmas music reminds me of family, friends, and memories of Christmas mornings and meals. The other day, I was on an errand, andRead more

By Jim Stafford Once a year, the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) gathers scientists from across the state who are currently receiving funding from its health research program in a sort of show-and-tell educational event. Recently, about 100 OCAST-funded life science researchers assembled at the Samis Family Education Center onRead more

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

  March 26, 2019   Contact: Sarah Seagraves, Senior VP for Marketing (405) 813-2403 sseagraves@i2E.org  Oklahoma-based BPEndo is creating an innovative device assists physicians in properly inflating the colon during a medical procedure known as a colonoscopy OKLAHOMA CITY — i2E, Inc., recently led a $1.2 million Series A investment round in BPEndo, LLC, aRead more