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
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By Scott Meacham We are in difficult times — and when times are difficult, individuals, business, and even entire states have to do things differently. Think back to what was happening in Oklahoma in the eighties. It was like living The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath jammed into less than ten short years.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 Jack Money Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Company Oklahoma’s manufacturing industry took a little bit of a hit in 2016. Still, the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance managed to bring in 969 new, high-paying jobs into the state and save 910 more from leaving during the year. The organization also helped state manufacturers make aboutRead more
By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2016, The Oklahoma Publishing Co. As 2016 draws to a close, entrepreneurs and early stage investors in Oklahoma are ending the year with big smiles. In the past few weeks, the exits of Selexys and WeGoLook have been strong validations that in this state we do have the talent, capitalRead more
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.
When the Oklahoma Legislature created the Oklahoma Center for Science and Technology (OCAST) nearly three decades ago, they perhaps underestimated how visionary they were. Legislators did realize that to be consistently strong, an economy must be diversified and that science and technology would be the drivers of jobs and wealth into the millennium.
I once saw a documentary on the making of the iconic Gateway Arch in St. Louis. It was completed in 1965 with opposite sides going up simultaneously until they met 630 feet above the ground. Engineers had to ensure that when each side reached the other it was exactly where it needed to be to connect. There was no margin for error.
A walk through history reveals the profound influence of innovation. From the Stone Age, to the Iron Age, to the Industrial Age, to the Information Age, it has been humankind’s innovations that propelled the world.
