Tulsa Sets Sights On Becoming The 'Drone Capital Of The World'

A year after issuing a challenge to make Tulsa the “Drone Capital of the World,” Mayor G.T. Bynum says the Blue Ribbon Commission he created came up with the roadmap to get there.

Bynum said the goal was "using drones to grow our economy, using drones to make Tulsa safer," as the report was released calling for more effort to recruit drone-related businesses to Tulsa and more emphasis on education and research.

The Commission was led by Jennifer Hankins of Tulsa Innovation Labs and Bailey Siegfried of Nordam.

With 11 days left in office, Mayor Bynum wanted the report on how Tulsa can dominate the drone industry ready to hand over to Mayor-elect Monroe Nichols.

Siegfried said, "With Tulsa's rich history in aerospace, there's so much we can do to build on our past to take us forward into a new future."

The Director of OSU Advanced Air Mobility, James Spencer, said the University can, "Take research, turn it into products and services and then use that technology to create companies, and those companies create jobs"

The city estimates $100 million dollars of drone investment has come to Tulsa in the last two years, and the Economic Development experts at the city believe there's much more out there, with the potential for Tulsa to be an essential link in research and development of how drones will be used worldwide.