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Tom Love I-Hub Announces New Grant Funded Programs

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The Tom Love Innovation Hub Announces Several New Grant Funded Programs

Tom Love Innovation Hub Building

The Tom Love Innovation Hub announces the following new grant funded programs:

NEW I-Hub Grant Funded Programs

  • Oklahoma Innovation Hub is a $564,250 Economic Development Administration University Center program, in partnership with the Gallogly College of Engineering (Drs. Shivakumar Raman and Shridar Radhakrishnan), to launch I-Hub programs in Tulsa and Oklahoma City and expand I-Hub commercialization, program management, and prototyping support for Oklahoma small businesses.  This program will specifically focus on four activities: (1) working with partners across Tulsa and Oklahoma City to develop an implementation strategy for I-Hub programs; (2) launching I-Hub programs across Tulsa and Oklahoma City and develop new programs as needed to meet community needs; (3) providing commercialization, program management, and prototyping support for five Phase I SBIR/STTR award winning small businesses each year through the Oklahoma Catalyst SBIRx program; and (4) creating a fee-for-service model to facilitate accelerated startup product development and I-Hub student staff experiential learning. The period of performance for Oklahoma Innovation Hub is 10/1/2018 to 9/30/2023, funded in $112,850 annual increments.
  • Oklahoma Catalyst Programs 2018/2019 is a $275,000 Small Business Administration FAST and Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) program to dramatically improve Oklahoma’s participation in the federal $2.9B SBIR/STTR funding program through networking, training, and mentoring programs. Partners include Rural Enterprise Institute Oklahoma (REI OK), Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance (OMA), Oklahoma Small Business Development Center (OKSBDC), Oklahoma Bid Assistance Network (OBAN), Innovation to Enterprise (i2E), Oklahoma State University (OSU), University of Tulsa, SBA UAS Cluser Initiative, Thunder LaunchPad Accelerator, Association for Women in Science, Oklahoma Women in Technology, Women’s Energy Network, and Society of Women Engineers. Specific Oklahoma Catalyst Programs include the AFSC SBIR and DoD Vision Workshop, Oklahoma Women Impacting STEM & Entrepreneurship (OK-WISE) Conference, Catalyst Researchers, SBIR Connector, SBIR Accelerator, SBIR Reviewer Training, and SBIRx. This effort builds upon the recently completed and highly successful Oklahoma Catalyst Programs 2017/2018 (which was a $275,000 program from 9/30/2017 to 9/29/2018). The period of performance for Oklahoma Catalyst Programs 2018/2019 is 9/30/2018 to 9/29/2019.
  • Agile Collaborative Prototyping Center is a $40,000 Oklahoma Business Roundtable and Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) pilot program to work, side-by-side with startup and small business founders and technical staff to bring their ideas and early concepts into practical realizable prototypes. The ACPC draws upon the core capabilities of the Tom Love Innovation Hub, as well as additional resources at the University of Oklahoma such as the Gallogly School of Engineering and the Ronnie K. Irani Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth. The focus of this program will be to pilot ACPC with five to ten startups and small businesses across Oklahoma. Companies will be paired with ACPC staff who will then provide a mix of design, prototyping, product development, and entrepreneurial expertise and hands-on assistance. All of this support will, in turn, help bring Oklahoma’s newest and most brilliant ideas as close to production-ready as is possible. The period of performance for the Agile Collaborative Prototyping Center is 9/1/2018 to 8/31/2019.
  • A new $87,500 subcontract from Oklahoma State University as part of their Economic Development Administration i6 Challenge grant to the Tom Love Innovation Hub will support their effort to establish statewide capabilities in prototype development supporting entrepreneurs and small manufacturers from concept generation to limited production runs. The period of performance for the Oklahoma State University subcontract is expected to be 10/1/2018 to 9/30/2020.

Example SBIR/STTR awards to Oklahoma startups through Tom Love Innovation Hub Oklahoma Catalyst Program assistance

  • Next Frontier, LLC has received $900,000 in Air Force SBIR funding including a $150,000 Phase I SBIR award in 2017 and a $750,000 Phase II award in 2018. The focus of this SBIR funding with Next Frontier is to develop a highly accurate software tool for hypersonic simulations. Next Frontier was founded by Dr. Prakash Vedula, a University of Oklahoma professor in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and is based in Norman, OK.
  • Ocupath, LLC has received $124,921 in Navy SBIR funding through a Phase I SBIR award in 2018. The focus of this funding with Ocupath is to develop virtual reality based training for anti-submarine warfare concepts. The I-Hub is continuing to work with Ocupath, through our SBIRx program, to help them secure $1M+ in additional SBIR funding. Ocupath was founded by University of Oklahoma alumni Greg Hallman and is based in Oklahoma City, OK. Ocupath is also a startup graduate of the Thunder Launchpad Accelerator program.
  • WeatherDeep has received $50,000 in Air Force SBIR funding through a Phase I SBIR award in 2018. The focus of this funding with WeatherDeep is to develop highly accurate long-range weather forecasting tools for the Department of Defense. The I-Hub is continuing to work with WeatherDeep, through our SBIRx program, to help them secure $1M+ in additional SBIR funding.  WeatherDeep was founded by University of Oklahoma alumni Dr. Ashton Robinson Cook and is based in Norman, OK.   

Previous I-Hub Grant Funded Programs

  • SBIRx is a $40,000 Oklahoma Business Roundtable and Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) pilot program to support Phase I SBIR/STTR awardees in Oklahoma through commercialization and program management support. The period of performance for SBIRx is 7/1/2017 to 6/30/2019.
  • Oklahoma Catalyst Programs 2017/2018 was a $275,000 Small Business Administration FAST and Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) program to dramatically improve Oklahoma’s participation in the federal $2.9B SBIR/STTR funding program through networking, training, and mentoring programs. The period of performance for the Oklahoma Catalyst Programs 2017/2018 was 9/30/2017 to 9/29/2018.

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