Evan Brown serves because the Govt 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 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 latest land buy for a future information middle, a key milestone within the state’s ongoing push to draw innovation and high-tech trade progress.
Let’s begin with the large information—Google has acquired land in Stillwater, Oklahoma for a future information middle campus. Are you able to inform us how this undertaking got here to life and what it means for the native and state financial system?
Google has known as Oklahoma house for over a decade, investing $4.4 billion in its information middle at MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor, Oklahoma. The corporate has been a improbable associate with the state, each using lots of of Oklahomans and giving again to the area people the place it’s positioned. Google has additionally continued to put money into STEM training by awarding grants to varsities and different organizations, which additionally helps guarantee a gradual workforce pipeline for years to come back.
Oklahoma was particularly named as a beneficiary of the $20 billion overseas funding geared toward boosting AI and cloud expertise. What makes Oklahoma such a strategic location for this sort of improvement?
Oklahoma’s central location, inexpensive 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 new and increasing firms. Companies solely must name us, and we are going to present them precisely why Oklahoma is the fitting state for them to develop or develop.
In 2023, Oklahoma noticed 71 bulletins for brand new and increasing firms. What developments are you seeing within the varieties of companies selecting Oklahoma, and what’s driving this momentum?
Not solely is Oklahoma the right location for brand new expertise firms, however it is usually changing into a hub for nationwide protection. We’ve got 5 navy installations that the Division of Protection continues to put money into, and our workforce can also be engaged on a number of protection manufacturing initiatives that would 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 lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} over six years, and they’re including 150 new jobs. We’re additionally taking steps to onshore vital mineral manufacturing within the U.S., lowering the nation’s dependence on different international locations. In Stillwater, we now have USA Uncommon Earth, America’s first uncommon earth metallic manufacturing facility. They produced their first batch of magnets earlier this yr. There’s additionally Stardust Energy, a lithium refining firm, that broke floor on a $1.2 billion refinery in Muskogee earlier this yr.
Google’s resolution displays confidence in Oklahoma’s infrastructure. May you elaborate on what makes the state’s infrastructure notably well-suited for large-scale information facilities?
All of it comes all the way down to our inexpensive 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 power to work instantly with these firms to give you designated energy era for information middle improvement or different initiatives.
With power prices practically 20% under 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 information 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 purpose is to be probably the most business-friendly state within the nation. We’re centrally positioned, we now have the furthest inland port within the nation, state management is dedicated to reducing pink tape, we now have inexpensive 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 entice initiatives 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 fulfill the demand of present companies and firms seeking to set up operations in Oklahoma. Communities can apply if they’ve a website with infrastructure wants, and if chosen, we associate with the neighborhood to assist cowl a number of the prices of these enhancements. This reveals firms seeking 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 rapidly as attainable. It additionally reveals Oklahoma communities that the state is dedicated to investing of their neighborhood and getting ready them for financial progress. It’s like if you’re searching for a brand new house. We would like the enterprise to see its potential spot, fall in love with the positioning and neighborhood, and be enthusiastic about transferring in.
How is Oklahoma getting 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 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 abilities they want and incorporates that info within the classroom.
Stillwater’s collaboration with a number of native companions was important to securing this undertaking. 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 improvement isn’t carried out in a silo. It’s not state or neighborhood; it’s state partnering with communities to grasp their wants and needs for progress. We should deliberately put money into sturdy relationships throughout our state by means of elected officers and neighborhood companions to make sure we completely perceive the belongings. If we’re out pitching to an organization that Oklahoma is the place to be, we now have to grasp all of our belongings 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 improvement in Oklahoma? May it pave the best way for comparable 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 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 information facilities, uncommon earth companies, and different tech-focused firms fascinated about Oklahoma and probably discovering a neighborhood associate that may finest match their wants.
Trying forward, what’s your imaginative and prescient for Oklahoma’s function within the nationwide financial system, particularly as AI, cloud computing, and digital infrastructure proceed to develop?
Governor Kevin Stitt all the time says he needs to take Oklahoma to the world and convey the world again to Oklahoma. In 2024 alone, our workforce 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.