The Oklahoma City Innovation District will soon welcome a “once-in-a-generation” biomanufacturing workforce training center (BWTC) program to benefit all Oklahomans.  

One of the only programs of its kind within the United States, the BWTC program presents inclusive, non-degreed careers within the city’s emerging bioscience industry.  

The Oklahoma Biotech Innovation Cluster (OBIC), spearheaded by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, will directly benefit from the BWTC program’s output of skilled technicians that are able to step directly into the roles needed at local research labs and generate data more quickly.  

The OBIC was recently awarded $35 million through President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which allotted $1 billion to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) to be administered through their Build Back Better Regional Challenge. The cluster was selected as one of 21 challenge recipients. The BWTC program will build on these efforts by training, retaining and attracting new talent to the Innovation District.  

“This training center positions OKC as one of the few hubs for biomanufacturing talent in the U.S., on top of the state’s benefits of cost, location and infrastructural advantages,” said Dallas Browning, partner over research and investments at Echo Investment Capital, a fellow OBIC coalition organization. 

Read the full story on VeloCityOKC.com.