How to Develop an Innovation District – Oklahoma City Innovation District Plan

The vision of the Oklahoma City Innovation District is to bring together the greatest minds in total collaboration, yielding world-changing results. Home to internationally-acclaimed organizations spanning Oklahoma’s diverse sectors – health, energy, aerospace, technology, research, academia, and more – the Innovation District provides opportunities for entrepreneurship, innovation, and community growth.

OKC’s emerging Innovation District currently encompasses about 1.3 square miles east of downtown –roughly between NE 13-16th Streets to the north and NE 4th to the south and Robinson and Lottie Avenues to the west and east. It crosses Broadway/Interstate 235 and includes Automobile Alley in addition to the Oklahoma Health Center, University Research Park, and numerous other institutions. The OKC Innovation District is also home to the heart of the city’s bioscience sector, where many institutions are already conducting groundbreaking research and fostering entrepreneurship and innovation. A significant center of job growth, the district reflects the shifting geography of the global economy and the emergence of dense hubs of economic activity where innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity, and placemaking intersect.

The purpose of the Innovation District is to capitalize on OKC’s dominant industries; investing in high-quality places where research institutions, firms, and talent concentrate and connect.The district will support the region in being more competitive, both in attracting investment and the talent necessary to continue our community’s economic expansion.And, not incidentally, it is critical that we provide more opportunities for area residents who are not currently connected to the innovation economy.As an existing employment hub, the home of major anchor institutions and research assets, and a site ripe for placemaking interventions, the innovation district could propel the Oklahoma City region forward.