About Stillwater, Oklahoma

Located in north-central Oklahoma, Stillwater is a university community of about 50,000 people and the region’s center for education, employment, healthcare, business, and culture. Home to Oklahoma State University, Stillwater combines the energy, talent, and research capacity of a major university with the close connections and collaborative spirit of a smaller community.

At the center of Stillwater’s innovation ecosystem is Oklahoma State University, a top-tier research institution whose work spans areas including agriculture, aerospace and advanced mobility, energy, health, and technology. OSU also provides pathways for translating research into businesses and products through Cowboy Enterprises and the Cowboy Innovations Accelerator, which helps advance OSU-affiliated technologies toward venture-backable startups and commercial opportunities.

Those research assets are complemented by a strong network of workforce and entrepreneurial resources. Meridian Technology Center provides career and technical education, customized training, and business support through its Center for Business Development, including incubation, coaching, classes, and workspace for early-stage companies. Downtown, WorkIT Coworking Center gives freelancers, entrepreneurs, remote workers, and microbusinesses another place to work, connect, and grow. The coworking center has also recently expanded to offer more office space.

Together, these assets support a diverse economy that includes education, healthcare, manufacturing, advanced technology, agribusiness, and business services. More important is the way Stillwater is working to connect them. The community’s current economic development strategy specifically emphasizes partnerships among the City of Stillwater, Oklahoma State University, Meridian Technology Center, employers, and entrepreneurs as a foundation for sustainable growth, job creation, and a more resilient regional economy.

Community Partners

 

Stillwater Chamber of Commerce

Grow Stillwater, the Economic Development Division of the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce, serves as the community’s lead economic development organization through a partnership with the City of Stillwater. Grow Stillwater works to attract, retain, and expand diverse and sustainable businesses while bringing together community partners around job creation, workforce development, quality of life, entrepreneurship, and long-term economic prosperity. Its strategy centers on collaboration and the community’s existing strengths to grow businesses, develop talent, support entrepreneurs, attract investment, and strengthen the regional economy.

Oklahoma State University

Oklahoma State University is a major research university and one of Stillwater’s most significant assets for talent, research, innovation, and economic development. As a Carnegie R1 institution, OSU brings together researchers, students, industry partners, and entrepreneurs across fields ranging from agriculture and engineering to aerospace, energy, health, and emerging technologies. The university’s land-grant mission also extends that expertise beyond campus to communities throughout Oklahoma.

OSU also plays an important role in turning research and ideas into economic opportunity. Through Cowboy Enterprises, the university supports technology commercialization, industry partnerships, startup development, and investment. Its Cowboy Innovations Accelerator provides a suite of resources for OSU-affiliated innovations, including customer discovery, mentorship, commercialization support, connections to applied research, and pathways toward venture-backed companies or technologies ready for industry licensing.

Meridian Technology Center

Meridian Technology Center is a key workforce and entrepreneurial development partner serving Stillwater and communities across the surrounding region. From its main campus in Stillwater, Meridian provides career and technical education, customized industry training, professional development, and workforce services designed to connect people and employers with the skills they need to succeed. Its service district extends across portions of five counties, giving the institution an important regional role.

Meridian is also a direct resource for entrepreneurs. Its Center for Business Development in Stillwater is a state-certified business incubator offering scalable workspace, one-on-one coaching, business education, consulting, networking, and startup assistance. That combination of workforce development and entrepreneurship support makes Meridian an important bridge between skills, ideas, new businesses, and the needs of the regional economy.

“We are excited to learn how to translate the exceptional concentration of assets into measurable economic opportunity for our community and the rural region we serve.”

Kari Moore, Director, Economic Development, Stillwater Chamber of Commerce

What Being a Member of the Network Means to Stillwater

For Stillwater, joining the Rural Innovation Network is not about starting an innovation ecosystem from scratch. The community already has an exceptional concentration of research, talent, workforce development, entrepreneurial support, and economic development capacity. The opportunity is to connect those assets even more effectively and translate them into greater opportunities for entrepreneurs, businesses, and residents.

Network membership gives Stillwater a national community of peers with whom it can exchange ideas, learn from approaches working in other rural regions, and explore new ways to move people and ideas from education and research into entrepreneurship, business growth, and investment. Because Stillwater serves as a hub for a much broader rural region, strengthening that ecosystem could create opportunity well beyond the city itself.