Oklahoma Innovation Institute Helping Startups Flourish

A group in Tulsa is using a super computer to help entrepreneurs flourish. The Oklahoma Innovation Institute is driving economic development one startup at a time.

Aaron Gaddy is less than one year into starting his own construction management company - Claymore Group. Already he has been hired to help with the multi-million dollar build out of Tulsa's Titan Sports and Performance Center.

"It is kind of a surreal feeling.  It really is," said Gaddy.

Aaron has construction experience. But, in order to launch his own company, he turned to a business incubator called Betablox.

It is just one of the programs under the umbrella of the Oklahoma Innovation Institute in Tulsa.

"It has helped me to better understand the business strategy and better understand the growth and has really mentally taken me to a completely different level.  Something I wouldn't have dreamed I would be doing in my first year," said Gaddy.

Chase Curtiss, executive director of the Institute, says the organization's goal is to help people better understand their business and help get through many of the hurdles start ups face.

"There are lots of investors interested in funding companies. I meet with them every week. They always say 'hey do you have companies because we are interested in investing but you cant invest in that early stage of an idea that doesn't have validation to it," said Curtiss.

Another tool used by the institute is housed deep within the walls of Tulsa's city hall. It is one of only a few supercomputers in the country available to private sector companies.

This multi million dollar machine gives small businesses the chance to test their products - and the Tandy super computer can run hundreds of jobs at any given time.

"We have a mission to help small and mid size companies can have access to the same advantages that big companies have been having over the years with advanced computing," said George.

And start building Oklahoma's work force - one start up at a time.