OCAST Seeks More Funds To Build 'Knowledge Economy'

Sunday, September 9th 2007, 6:54 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The head of Oklahoma's technology-based economic development agency says its $40 million budget request for the upcoming year will bring hundreds of millions of additional dollars to the state.

Michael Carolina, director of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology, bases his claim on the agency's historical return on investment to the state. That's an annualized 17.4% over its 20-year history.

Last spring, OCAST received a funding increase of about $500,000 from the $22.4 million appropriation it received from the state Legislature the previous year.

The budget request for the fiscal year that begins July 1 is $17 million _ or 78% _ more than it received in the current fiscal year.