EAA Oshkosh Show

What happened?

The Ada Jobs Foundation joined a team to represent the State of Oklahoma at the 2023 EAA AirVenure Oshkosh show. The show is one of the largest general aviation fly-in and trade show events in the world. Ada continued as a sponsor of this effort along with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission, Ardmore Development Authority, City of McAlester, Bartlesville Development Authority, and the Tulsa Airport Authority. The group promotes the state for business attraction, aviation, and tourism by maintaining a booth, meeting with companies, and sponsoring a luncheon to discuss aviation policy.

Aviation and Aerospace is the second largest industry in Oklahoma and they are target industries for the Ada Jobs Foundation’s economic development strategy. The group sets meetings with companies interested in locating manufacturing facilities in Oklahoma and the Ada Jobs Foundation staff develop industry intelligence and leads through conversations on the show floor and at events throughout the week. The show is also an important opportunity to build relationships with partner communities and agencies through many conversations throughout the week. This allows Ada Jobs Foundation’s staff to be more effective in gaining technical expertise on aviation-focused industrial projects.

Red Wing Ignite supports entrepreneurs and innovative companies in Red Wing, Minnesota. Like the Ada Jobs Foundation, they are also a member of the national Rural Innovation Network and were recipients of the EDA’s i6 Challenge (a precursor to the Build to Scale grant program) in 2019 and the Build to Scale Venture Challenge in 2022. They are working on a regional scale to deliver programs and entrepreneurial ecosystem building throughout multiple counties in Southeastern Minnesota with their “E1 Collaborative” program and they maintain a cowork space and innovation hub in downtown Red Wing.

Jim Eldridge visited Stacy Nimmo and Shannan Harris on July 26^th to see their innovation space and tour the community. The visit was incredibly helpful to lean how they are supporting a regional entrepreneurship effort and how they are leveraging grant funds from the EDA’s Build to Scale program. These are both current areas of focus for the Ada Jobs Foundation, and the CORI Rural Innovation Network is an important opportunity for Ada to connect to like-minded peer communities. We hope to continue collaborating with Red Wing Ignite and we appreciate all of their incredible hospitality and time to show us their community.

Ada Jobs Foundation

580-235-0070

www.growada.com

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