Oklahoma has some great startup communities, including the one from which I’m writing these words – the Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park here in Oklahoma City. It’s full of new life science companies working diligently to advance groundbreaking therapeutics that will treat a variety of illnesses and debilitation conditions such as Crohn’s Disease, Sickle Cell, vision-related conditions and Diabetes.
The i2E offices are three floors below Selexys Pharmaceuticals, which last fall closed an investment valued at $26 million to take its Sickle Cell drug into Phase II human trials that, if successful, will be followed by an acquisition by Novartis Pharmaceuticals valued at up to $665 million. It’s the biggest deal ever for an Oklahoma life sciences company.
There are other startup communities clustered in cities throughout Oklahoma, many of which focus on cool software products and applications for phones and tablets. I’m thinking of Tulsa, Norman and Stillwater, as well as Oklahoma City, in particular. Each has its own areas of excellence.
All of which leads me to a new website I saw today, thanks to the Innovation Daily blog. It is called ID8 Nation and it offers a potential new way that Oklahoma can tell the world about our startup communities. ID8 Nation is an Entrepreneurship.org site that focuses on cities and the people who start businesses in them. Entrpreneurshp.org is a website that is part of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, so it has a great pedigree.
In its mission statement, ID8 Nation says it “explores and reviews the entrepreneurial ecosystems in cities across the U.S.”
So, how can Oklahoma’s startup communities get on the ID8 Nation radar screen? We can nominate our cities to be included among those around the nation that it is highlighting in a series of articles and videos. The first city highlighted was Pittsburgh and the many areas of the city in which entrepreneurship has blossomed. San Diego will be the next city highlighted.
The good news for the rest of us is that ID8 Nation is taking nominations for future featured cities. I hope that Oklahoma’s startup communities receive enough nominations to turn some heads at iD8 Nation and cause them to shine the spotlight on our startup communities.
So, go ahead, click this link and nominate away. I’ll do the same.
