Part of Phase 2 of the Oklahoma Innovation Institute is the Entrepreneurship Center which focuses on leveraging existing entrepreneurial resources and filling identified gaps by providing education, training, promotion and networking to the entrepreneurial community, including entrepreneurs, investors and even children. The Center’s multifaceted objective is to support “home grown” growth companies and develop a business climate of entrepreneurial activity. The Oklahoma Innovation Institute collaborates with other community resources in the development of the Entrepreneurship Center. One of the Center’s efforts, the Kids Dreams and Ideas program is designed to foster a culture of STEM education, innovation and entrepreneurship with students from prekindergarten to high school. This is one reason Oklahoma enjoys a high national ranking in early childhood development.

Another program, the Entrepreneur Best Practices Service, identifies, enables and promotes companies and accelerates the entrepreneurial culture of the Tulsa region through best practice programs, mentoring and internships. It also builds relationships with colleges and universities’ entrepreneurial studies programs, as well as reaching out to technical training institutions across Oklahoma.

Lastly, the Investor Best Practices Service is devoted to the education and training of angel and venture capital investors, and creates alliances with the following national trade associations: the Angel Capital Association, the Venture Capital Institute, the National Venture Capital Association, the National Association of Small Business Investment, and the Kauffman Foundation.

• 2006: Step Up Tulsa! launches bottoms-up planning process
• 2006: Barry Davis and Tom Walker co-champion Economic Development Task Force
• 2007: The Oklahoma Innovation Institute is born
• 2009: Tulsa Research Partners hosts first research symposium
• 2011: OII receives federal grant to help build the country’s first community supercomputer
• 2013: OII announces the Tandy Community Supercomputer is officially open for business