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Evan Brown serves because the Government Director of EDGE (Financial Improvement Progress and Growth) on the Oklahoma Division of Commerce. With earlier roles as Deputy Secretary of State and Deputy Director of Enterprise Improvement and Legislative Director on the Division of Commerce, Evan brings a wealth of expertise in public service and financial technique. At EDGE, he leads initiatives to drive enterprise progress and develop financial alternatives statewide, with a powerful emphasis on attracting expertise firms to Oklahoma.Evan has helped advance Oklahoma’s place as a aggressive hub for tech funding—highlighted by Google’s current land buy for a future knowledge middle, a key milestone within the state’s ongoing push to draw innovation and high-tech business progress.Let’s begin with the massive information—Google has acquired land in Stillwater, Oklahoma for a future knowledge middle campus. Are you able to inform us how this challenge got here to life and what it means for the native and state financial system?Google has referred to as Oklahoma residence for over a decade, investing $4.4 billion in its knowledge middle at MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor, Oklahoma. The corporate has been a incredible associate with the state, each using lots of of Oklahomans and giving again to the area people the place it’s situated. Google has additionally continued to put money into STEM schooling by awarding grants to colleges and different organizations, which additionally helps guarantee a gradual workforce pipeline for years to return.Oklahoma was particularly named as a beneficiary of the $20 billion overseas funding aimed toward boosting AI and cloud expertise. What makes Oklahoma such a strategic location for this sort of growth?Oklahoma’s central location, inexpensive vitality prices and dedication to being essentially the most business-friendly state within the nation make it excellent for any important funding. Our state is all the time open for enterprise, providing incentives and state-of-the-art infrastructure for brand spanking new and increasing firms. Companies solely have to name us, and we are going to present them precisely why Oklahoma is the best state for them to develop or develop.In 2023, Oklahoma noticed 71 bulletins for brand spanking new and increasing firms. What tendencies are you seeing within the kinds of companies selecting Oklahoma, and what’s driving this momentum?Not solely is Oklahoma the right location for brand spanking new expertise firms, however it’s also turning into a hub for nationwide protection. Now we have 5 army installations that the Division of Protection continues to put money into, and our group can also be engaged on a number of protection manufacturing tasks that would carry greater than 1,000 jobs and $1 billion in funding. Now we have Lengthy Wave, an Oklahoma Metropolis-based firm, which was not too long ago awarded a subcontract to assist develop the Navy’s new plane. The contract is for lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} over six years, and they’re including 150 new jobs. We’re additionally taking steps to onshore essential mineral manufacturing within the U.S., decreasing the nation’s dependence on different nations. In Stillwater, now we have USA Uncommon Earth, America’s first uncommon earth metallic manufacturing facility. They produced their first batch of magnets earlier this 12 months. There’s additionally Stardust Energy, a lithium refining firm, that broke floor on a $1.2 billion refinery in Muskogee earlier this 12 months.Google’s resolution displays confidence in Oklahoma’s infrastructure. May you elaborate on what makes the state’s infrastructure significantly well-suited for large-scale knowledge facilities?All of it comes all the way down to our inexpensive vitality and business-friendly insurance policies. Knowledge facilities require a considerable amount of vitality, and proper now, we produce 60% extra vitality than we eat in Oklahoma. Communities even have the flexibility to work instantly with these firms to provide you with designated energy technology for knowledge middle growth or different tasks.With vitality prices practically 20% beneath the nationwide common and a #1 rating from CNBC for value of doing enterprise, Oklahoma is clearly aggressive. How are you leveraging these strengths in your financial growth technique?In Oklahoma, we produce 60% extra vitality than we eat, and that’s an enormous benefit when recruiting knowledge facilities or different related high-energy-consuming companies. Our grid is dependable as a result of we’re members of the Southwest Energy Pull, so we don’t expertise the rolling blackouts you see in some components of the nation. Our purpose is to be essentially the most business-friendly state within the nation. We’re centrally situated, now we have the furthest inland port within the nation, state management is dedicated to slicing pink tape, now we have inexpensive vitality, and we provide direct entry to state management.The SITES Program has been instrumental in figuring out industrial and mega websites throughout the state. How does this program work, and the way has it helped appeal to tasks like Google’s?SITES stands for Supporting Industrial Transformation and Financial Success. It’s our manner of partnering with communities throughout the state to proactively deal with infrastructure wants to satisfy the demand of present companies and firms trying to set up operations in Oklahoma. Communities can apply if they’ve a web site with infrastructure wants, and if chosen, we associate with the neighborhood to assist cowl a number of the prices of these enhancements. This exhibits firms trying to develop or transfer to Oklahoma that the state is dedicated to having a web site prepared for them to get operations up and operating as shortly as potential. It additionally exhibits Oklahoma communities that the state is dedicated to investing of their neighborhood and making ready them for financial progress. It’s like while you’re looking for a brand new residence. We would like the enterprise to see its potential spot, fall in love with the positioning and neighborhood, and be enthusiastic about shifting in.How is Oklahoma making ready its expertise pipeline—particularly in areas like tech and superior manufacturing—to satisfy the calls for of those new investments?We’re dedicated to making sure each scholar who graduates highschool is college-ready or career-ready. Now we have colleges just like the Aviation Academy in Norman, the place excessive schoolers can work in the direction of their pilot license or technical certificates in aviation upkeep. We’re taking steps to develop internships and apprenticeship packages whereas additionally constructing partnerships between colleges and companies. Oklahoma has a terrific CareerTech system, which helps firms perceive the talents they want and incorporates that info within the classroom.Stillwater’s collaboration with a number of native companions was important to securing this challenge. What classes can different cities or states study from this profitable public-private partnership?We perceive the worth of private and non-private partnerships. Financial growth isn’t performed in a silo. It’s not state or neighborhood; it’s state partnering with communities to know their wants and wishes for progress. We should deliberately put money into sturdy relationships throughout our state by elected officers and neighborhood companions to make sure we totally perceive the property. If we’re out pitching to an organization that Oklahoma is the place to be, now we have to know all of our property so we will help join a enterprise to the neighborhood that most closely fits their wants.How do you see this Google funding shaping the way forward for financial growth in Oklahoma? May it pave the way in which for related tech-focused initiatives or firms to observe?We perceive that the free market creates jobs, not the federal government. We don’t need to put our thumb on the size and decide winners and losers. Due to our business-friendly insurance policies and benefits in vitality and different areas, we’ve created an setting the place entrepreneurs and companies can thrive. We get weekly calls from knowledge facilities, uncommon earth companies, and different tech-focused firms occupied with Oklahoma and probably discovering a neighborhood associate that may finest match their wants.Wanting forward, what’s your imaginative and prescient for Oklahoma’s position within the nationwide financial system, particularly as AI, cloud computing, and digital infrastructure proceed to develop?Governor Kevin Stitt all the time says he desires to take Oklahoma to the world and produce the world again to Oklahoma. In 2024 alone, our group hosted 19 consulate representatives, two ambassadors, and a Crown Prince. We coordinated eight worldwide outbound missions to nations like South Korea and Japan and assisted with six worldwide MOU agreements. We’re working to construct relationships instantly between Oklahoma and different nations.
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