Strength in numbers: How Tulsa's Tech Hub is aligning our region toward good jobs for all

This blog is the third in a series featuring seven component projects outlined in the Tulsa Hub for Equitable and Trustworthy Autonomy’s (THETA) phase 2 application for the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Tech Hubs program in which Tech Hub designees are eligible to apply for up to $70 million in implementation funding.

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At the root, Tech Hubs is a program designed to serve people, whether that means creating better jobs for our neighbors or ensuring security for our communities.

Tulsa's Tech Hub, the Tulsa Hub for Equitable and Trustworthy Autonomy (THETA), is a product of the innovation and infrastructure northeastern Oklahoma has been building for more than a century. Aerospace and defense is the state’s second largest industry, supported by our strength in manufacturing and geographical assets for testing.

More than 147 STEM post-secondary pathways across 19 institutions include certificates, associate’s degrees, bachelor’s degrees, and advanced degrees. Institutions across the region, such as Impact Tulsa, Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance, and Tulsa Higher Education Consortium, have spent years building deep relationships, trust, and integrated data across regional organizations in their field.

As the budding industry of autonomous systems takes root in our region, Oklahomans want to access the economic opportunity it opens–economic opportunity that previously hasn’t been accessible to many Oklahomans across our Tribal nations and Black and immigrant communities. But with any budding industry, it can be risky to take the first step. Industry doesn’t want to gamble on establishing operations in a community that can’t meet their workforce demands, while students and workers are anxious about investing in training for jobs that don’t yet exist. In this chicken and egg scenario, there has to be a mechanism to de-risk change for industry, institution, and the individual.

To de-risk taking the first move, THETA proposes expanding workforce programs to align training with industry needs, provide upskilling and offer on-the-job training opportunities.  To do this, we need to build a workforce intermediary that will align partners (e.g., industry, education, etc.) to identify their needs and build our autonomous systems workforce.

This workforce intermediary has three core functions:

1. Align partners to spur action by sitting at the table together across industry, nonprofit, education, and workforce partners. We can’t expect industry to take the first step alone, nor education, nor workforce development. Instead, they have to take the first step together. Not only does this mitigate their risk, but it creates a nimble environment where information flows as the industry continues evolving.
2. Drive with data not as our sole source of truth, but as a conversation that we continue to update and iterate. The data alone doesn’t tell the whole picture, we need our partners providing the context and stories that help us understand what the data is telling us.
3. Create Awareness of the industry and pathways that allow Oklahomans to embark on a career in the autonomous systems industry. We can’t expect to “build it and they will come.” Oklahomans are here and have to understand the landscape of opportunity. Whether that means starting a new training program, enrolling in an educational program, trying an internship in the field, or pivoting careers, our region needs to understand there’s a variety of skills, roles, and pathways into the industry.

The vision for this workforce intermediary is an enabling organization, providing a central capacity to help partners move in the same direction with a shared understanding of the landscape. Making sure that Oklahomans see a larger picture of the variety of ways this industry could be their next career move. 

If we do this right, Oklahomans won’t view the workforce intermediary as what is building the industry–they will see themselves as the architects of Oklahoma’s next frontier.

‍Tulsa was one of 31 regions designated a “Tech Hub” in phase 1 of the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Tech Hubs program in October 2023.  The EDA is expected to announce the phase 2 winners this summer.