Summit discusses economic growth in Stillwater

Venugopalan Anantharamakumar
Senior Staff Writer
The Daily O'Collegian

The economic growth of Stillwater was discussed by businessmen and experts.



Stillwater’s economic progress and development were discussed at the third economic summit at the Wes Watkins center Friday.

Rex Horning, president of Stillwater National Bank and chairman of the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce, presented the opening remarks.

“The purpose of the summit is validating the path taken by our businessmen during the last two years,” Horning said. “We want to ensure we are making the right base for economic progress and what types of goods and services that can be sold in the future.”

Mark Snead from the William S. Spears School of Business and Mike Woods from Cooperative Extension Service spoke of the state of economy and retail trends and gap analysis.

This was followed by a presentation of sensor technology cluster analysis by Ellen Harpel, president of Business Development Advisors.

Harpel stressed the benefits of setting up a cluster of sensor businesses. She detailed the nature of facilities needed to set up the same and the cost and quality of services required.

“Apart from homeland security, sensor technology also plays an important role in agricultural security and food safety, radiation dosimeter and chemical bio-detection,” said Harpel.

David Myers from North Central Alliance gave a presentation on the report of survey results.

“Money follows people,” Myers said. “We are in a position to make ourselves counted and be competitive in the global economy.”

After lunch, served by Meditations, a video, “Forward Stillwater,” was screened. It depicted how Stillwater is a great place for investors to invest and start businesses. The chief reasons highlighted in the video were the availability of the ethical work force made up of OSU students, housing, security and opportunities in research and technology.

The last speech was from Charles Kimbrough of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. He identified the concerns and constraints that lead to fulfillment of a project from a big company like Dell to invest in its Oklahoma City project.

“The reasons for success is our flexibility and ability of the partners involved to deliver on their promises,” Kimbrough said. “The concerns to be addressed include labor, training, cost and availability of skilled people.”

John Fowler, president and CEO of the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce, thanked all the speakers and the delegates present at the gathering.

“It was a very powerful meeting and the information we received from the speakers have great implications to local businesses and students,” said Fowler. “There were great discussions about some important issues and how Oklahoma State can prosper.”

February 2005