invest in public and private sector infrastructure to support cluster growth. In 2021, the U.S. Economic Development Administration awarded the Oklahoma Biotech Innovation Cluster a $35 million grant through its Build Back Better Regional Challenge to help expand Oklahoma City’s role as a national hub for drug development, testing and manufacturing. Two years earlier, OKC voters approved, as part of the MAPS 4 initiative, $10 million for the construction of an innovation hall in the city’s Innovation District. The innovation hall will serve as a central place where activities to grow Oklahoma City’s innovation economy can be facilitated. It will house the Biomanufacturing Development Training Center, which will help meet the growing demand for skilled labor in the state’s bioscience cluster. The innovation hall will be part of a $177 million development known as Convergence: a 2.7-acre mixed- use development site. “As was expressly stated during the successful Build Back Better grant process and repeatedly echoed by our Biotech Innovation Cluster, we must leverage the power that collaboration has created amongst all the biotech industry players in the region,” said John Hanak, chief innovation and corporate officer at the University of Oklahoma. Stephanie Wickham, Ph.D., senior director of research and development at OKC pharmaceutical manufacturer Cytovance Biologics, said the growth of the bioscience cluster and its importance to the region is nothing short of inspirational. “Harnessing the talent and ingenuity of the universities by providing resources and cultivating that into startup companies right here, we can attract even more to the state. We will also be able to tap into the hardworking backbone of the Oklahoma workforce, creating perfect synergy for the bioscience cluster and ultimately the state,” Dr. Wickham said. Christian Kanady, founding partner and CEO of
Echo Global, a financial technology company based in Oklahoma City, echoed those thoughts, stating Oklahoma City’s emerging bioscience sector continues to make important strides. “This progress is thanks to the alignment of numerous strategic partners committed to moving our region forward. Echo is proud to be part of these efforts to not only identify and leverage our strengths but further collaborate on areas to unlock innovation, develop our workforce, and ultimately, position our city to become the next biotech hub,” he said. Jeff Seymour, executive vice president for economic development for the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber said that “while the region has continued to make great strides in building out a bioscience cluster, now is the time to lean further into the sector. Oklahoma City has a clear opportunity to play a larger role in the nation’s bioscience strategy and we are anxious to use this study to guide how we update the tools and partnerships we use to maximize growth.” The region’s bioscience, biotechnology and health sector has grown into a nearly $7 billion industry. With established bioscience players such as the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation; the OU Health Sciences Center; several pharmaceutical manufacturers; and the proximity of two major research universities in OU and OSU, Oklahoma City is poised for continued growth in the bioscience sector. The month Wheeler Bio celebrated the grand opening of its 35,000 square-foot state-of-the-art biomanufacturing facility in downtown Oklahoma City.
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