The managing director of Tulsa Innovation Labs is making sure the future economy works for everyone
Most conversations about the future of tech start and end on the coasts, but Jennifer Hankins is working to change that. As Managing Director of Tulsa Innovation Labs, she is building the case that a city like Tulsa, Oklahoma can compete at the highest level and bring its whole community along for the ride.
What is Tulsa Innovation Labs and what is its main mission?
Tulsa Innovation Labs is a tech-led economic development organization. We were started by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, a $5 billion local philanthropy that is investing in Tulsa to make it the best place it can possibly be. Our mission is to make sure that we have an economy that is rooted in innovation and resiliency, and for us, that means a handful of industries where Tulsa has the right to win. We focus on building those industries to make sure that Tulsans have access to good, resilient, high-paying jobs in the economy of tomorrow.
When people think of tech and innovation, they still think of Silicon Valley. How is Tulsa positioning itself?
That is a problem we are out to solve. Tulsa is a city deeply rooted in innovation across sectors like aerospace. You probably know us best for energy and oil and gas, and now we are emerging in technologies like autonomous systems and AI.
We partner extensively with our local community, higher education, tribal nations, the private sector, and government. We work across all of those to identify places where we can build new initiatives and new efforts that help position us at the forefront of those industries.
One great example is AI. What does that mean for communities? What does it mean for the industries that hold communities together? We partnered with Black Tech Street, which shares our vision of what if we could position this community at the forefront instead of always playing catch-up.
We worked with them and Microsoft and a handful of other local organizations to increase our community’s ability in AI fluency. Black Tech Street is working on getting the community engaged with AI and teaching them how to use it. On the other side of that is a co-innovation lab to make sure that our manufacturers, startups, and educators also have access to building AI tools.
You opened the Greenwood AI Center of Excellence through that partnership. What is it for?
The Greenwood AI Center of Excellence has been a vision a long time in the making. How do we think about place-based efforts at the cornerstone of technology and innovation? It is two parts. It is a community engagement tool. It is a place literally in the physical Greenwood community, across from a middle school, which is exciting when you think about engaging young people.
It hosts a community engagement apparatus around AI fluency, talking to people who maybe did not think AI was for them. And then there is a co-innovation lab where Microsoft will be working alongside those industries, innovators, entrepreneurs, and business owners to build tools that help grow their businesses.
Why is it important to make sure that more people, including those from diverse communities, can participate in the future economy?
This is all about Black Tech Street’s vision and their theory around asking ourselves if Greenwood had not been destroyed, but instead been invested in, where would that community be today? We are passionate about making sure that everybody sees themselves in these technologies. That does not just mean go get a job in technology. That means using the technology and knowing how to build it and use it yourself.
What is exciting about this too is that when community members engage with it, they are teaching the AI models something. You have this opportunity to define community-driven AI. Most communities are small, mid-size, rural, and fast-growing, just like us. If we can do it, our goal is to make sure that other communities are well-positioned for this as well.
What do you want to say to people who are still unsure about AI or feel like it is not for them?
Now you have access. In Tulsa, it was very important for us that this was geographically located where it was, because it is no longer just an idea. Go and experience it yourself. See how your companies are thinking about these technologies.
I am all about the idea of a living lab. A lab is not just a place where people in white coats go. Black Tech Street is leaning into the accessibility piece of this. You can come and spend a full day learning how to build AI tools through their ASPIRE program. They provide childcare, they provide computers and all the technology. There are zero barriers other than whether you are going to go and do it. The more we can get people comfortable with it and productive in their own way, then we all win.
What role does federal investment play in Tulsa’s innovation strategy?
Tulsa Innovation Labs is the strategist and convener of this work. We have been able to secure a tech hub designation, which came with $51.7 million. We are investing that across several areas in our community. First, advanced manufacturing. A lot of people are hearing about onshoring and re-industrialization, so we have a project dedicated to making sure we are onshoring critical component manufacturing in a way that is smart and scalable for our region, in partnership with one of our tribal nations.
Second, we are investing in safe and secure testing of drone technology. We also talked about the Greenwood AI Center of Excellence. And then workforce and talent, which is really everything. We are being intentional about making sure it is not just a four-year degree. It is that plus technical training, plus community college, plus upskilling so people do not have to leave the workforce to secure a better job.
Four years ago, we also won a Build Back Better Regional Challenge, which gave us a research and technology testing facility and port infrastructure. All in, about $90 million from the federal government to help reposition our community. And we do not stop there. We have secured an additional $200 million in private and public dollars. We are betting big here in Tulsa. We are here to win.
What excites you most about where Tulsa is headed?
So much of America looks just like us. Most places are not major metropolitan areas with multiple industries fueling their local economy. What is exciting about Tulsa is how genuine this is. We want to be a proof point for other places. If a city of about a million people in a rural economy can do it, there is no reason any other place across the country cannot. Can we build community-level AI fluency? Early indicators say we are well on our way.
Where can people find Tulsa Innovation Labs and connect with the work?
Everyone needs to come to Tulsa, we are aggressively hospitable. You can catch articles about our culture scene in the New York Times. And of course, tulsaInnovationlabs.com. We also have a LinkedIn page and an Instagram. We really try to make sure we are reaching all folks.