FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT :
Steve Paris
OCAST Public Information Officer
405-319-8405
OCAST's call for $40 million investment
means support and growth for Stillwater R&D
OCAST's governing board this week voted to seek an additional $17.5 million for the state's technology-based economic development agency. If they are successful, Oklahoma will invest $40 million per year in research and development beginning in the 2009 fiscal year.
Current funding for the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology is $22.9 million, a slight increase over the agency's 2007 budget of $22.4 million.
What does the proposed increase mean to Stillwater? Stillwater businesses can compete for more funds for aviation and aerospace services and manufacturing techniques. Stillwater already is the center of the state's sensor technology base. New techniques for livestock and crop monitoring and green technology will be a large part of the Stillwater area's future. Stillwater's position as home to a comprehensive research institution coupled with advanced R&D will position the region for growth.
“Our request is bold but not without sound reason,” said Michael Carolina, executive director of the 20-year-old state science agency. “Oklahoma has experienced too many years of lean times brought on by an economy that is not as diversified as it should have been. We have achieved a level of diversification. Now we should fund this time-tested initiative while we have the opportunity.
“Investment in health and applied research and new initiatives we are unveiling, will help Oklahoma weather economic downturns in the future with quality jobs and improved health, processes and procedures.”
Carolina also noted recent Oklahoma Department of Commerce reports showing the state's high technology sector paying an average $65,302 in annual wages, almost twice Oklahoma's overall average annual wage.
The bold initiative calls for funding the following:
· $10.7 million more for existing OCAST programs
· $5 million for a Research Equipment Program
· $1.8 million for the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute
The increase for existing OCAST programs would include increased health research funding by $3.6 million, applied research by $2.8 million, plant science research by $800,000, technology commercialization by $1.6 million, industrial extension by $250,000, small business research assistance by $429,000, inventors assistance by $38,000 and a seed capital program by $4.8 million.
Carolina cited growth and diversification of the Oklahoma economy as the main thrust of the first 20 years of OCAST. “Over the next 100 years, we will see our state research community excel in advanced materials and nanotechnology, bioscience and biotechnology, complex manufacturing, electronics and sensors, energy, green technology, information technology and meteorological sciences,” said Carolina.
Current OCAST programs support business development at all levels from college-level interns to financial support for commercializing technology. “We have a full suite of services. Our new programs will enhance what has proven to be successful and help our state stake its claim on another growing core competency – aviation and aerospace,” according to Carolina.
