Evan Brown serves because the Government Director of EDGE (Financial Growth Development and Growth) on the Oklahoma Division of Commerce. With earlier roles as Deputy Secretary of State and Deputy Director of Enterprise Growth 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 development and develop financial alternatives statewide, with a robust emphasis on attracting know-how corporations 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 heart, a key milestone within the state’s ongoing push to draw innovation and high-tech business development.
Let’s begin with the large information—Google has acquired land in Stillwater, Oklahoma for a future knowledge heart campus. Are you able to inform us how this challenge got here to life and what it means for the native and state economic system?
Google has known as Oklahoma residence for over a decade, investing $4.4 billion in its knowledge heart at MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor, Oklahoma. The corporate has been a improbable accomplice with the state, each using tons of of Oklahomans and giving again to the local people the place it’s situated. Google has additionally continued to put money into STEM training by awarding grants to varsities and different organizations, which additionally helps guarantee a gentle 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 know-how. What makes Oklahoma such a strategic location for this type of improvement?
Oklahoma’s central location, reasonably priced power prices and dedication to being probably the most business-friendly state within the nation make it good 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 corporations. Companies solely have to name us, and we are going to present them precisely why Oklahoma is the suitable state for them to develop or develop.
In 2023, Oklahoma noticed 71 bulletins for brand spanking new and increasing corporations. What developments are you seeing within the kinds of companies selecting Oklahoma, and what’s driving this momentum?
Not solely is Oklahoma the proper location for brand spanking new know-how corporations, however it’s also changing into a hub for nationwide protection. We’ve got 5 army installations that the Division of Protection continues to put money into, and our staff can also be engaged on a number of protection manufacturing initiatives that might deliver greater than 1,000 jobs and $1 billion in funding. We’ve got Lengthy Wave, an Oklahoma Metropolis-based firm, which was lately awarded a subcontract to assist develop the Navy’s new plane. The contract is for tons of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} over six years, and they’re including 150 new jobs. We’re additionally taking steps to onshore crucial mineral manufacturing within the U.S., decreasing the nation’s dependence on different international locations. In Stillwater, we’ve got USA Uncommon Earth, America’s first uncommon earth steel 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 choice displays confidence in Oklahoma’s infrastructure. May you elaborate on what makes the state’s infrastructure notably well-suited for large-scale knowledge facilities?
All of it comes right down to our reasonably priced power and business-friendly insurance policies. Information facilities require a considerable amount of power, and proper now, we produce 60% extra power than we eat in Oklahoma. Communities even have the flexibility to work instantly with these corporations to give you designated energy technology for knowledge heart improvement or different initiatives.
With power prices almost 20% beneath the nationwide common and a #1 rating from CNBC for price of doing enterprise, Oklahoma is clearly aggressive. How are you leveraging these strengths in your financial improvement technique?
In Oklahoma, we produce 60% extra power than we eat, and that’s an enormous benefit when recruiting knowledge facilities or different comparable 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 elements of the nation. Our objective is to be probably the most business-friendly state within the nation. We’re centrally situated, we’ve got the furthest inland port within the nation, state management is dedicated to reducing pink tape, we’ve got reasonably priced power, 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 initiatives like Google’s?
SITES stands for Supporting Industrial Transformation and Financial Success. It’s our means of partnering with communities throughout the state to proactively tackle infrastructure wants to fulfill the demand of present companies and firms trying to set up operations in Oklahoma. Communities can apply if they’ve a website with infrastructure wants, and if chosen, we accomplice with the group to assist cowl a few of the prices of these enhancements. This exhibits corporations trying to develop or transfer to Oklahoma that the state is dedicated to having a website 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 group and making ready them for financial development. It’s like once you’re purchasing for a brand new residence. We would like the enterprise to see its potential spot, fall in love with the location and group, and be enthusiastic about transferring in.
How is Oklahoma making ready its expertise pipeline—particularly in areas like tech and superior manufacturing—to fulfill the calls for of those new investments?
We’re dedicated to making sure each scholar who graduates highschool is college-ready or career-ready. We’ve got 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 corporations perceive the abilities they want and incorporates that data 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 be taught from this profitable public-private partnership?
We perceive the worth of private and non-private partnerships. Financial improvement shouldn’t be achieved in a silo. It’s not state or group; it’s state partnering with communities to grasp their wants and needs for development. We should deliberately put money into sturdy relationships throughout our state by elected officers and group companions to make sure we totally perceive the property. If we’re out pitching to an organization that Oklahoma is the place to be, we’ve got to grasp all of our property so we may help join a enterprise to the group that most closely fits their wants.
How do you see this Google funding shaping the way forward for financial improvement in Oklahoma? May it pave the way in which for comparable tech-focused initiatives or corporations to observe?
We perceive that the free market creates jobs, not the federal government. We don’t wish to put our thumb on the dimensions and decide winners and losers. Due to our business-friendly insurance policies and benefits in power 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 corporations thinking about Oklahoma and probably discovering a group accomplice that might finest match their wants.
Wanting forward, what’s your imaginative and prescient for Oklahoma’s function within the nationwide economic 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 convey the world again to Oklahoma. In 2024 alone, our staff hosted 19 consulate representatives, two ambassadors, and a Crown Prince. We coordinated eight worldwide outbound missions to international locations like South Korea and Japan and assisted with six worldwide MOU agreements. We’re working to construct relationships instantly between Oklahoma and different international locations.
