LaunchPad FT selected for 2016 PACE Economic Development Award
Francis Tuttle Technology Center’s business incubator, The Launch Pad FT, recently received the 2016 Oklahoma PACE Economic Development Award. The award recognizes individual or collaborative team efforts to creatively provide assistance relating to business start-up/entrepreneurship, expansion/retention, recruiting/job creation, government bid award, and/or economic growth and development.
Launch Pad FT director Fred Green said “The Launch Pad FT is a significant factor in our local economy. While the only real criteria for a business incubator is the sustainability of graduates, we also track and measure the economic impact on the local economy. The incubator’s 2015 year-end economic report shows fourteen companies employ 61 full-time employees and 11 interns or part time employees with a combined payroll of more than $3 million.”
The mission of the Oklahoma Association of Career and Technology Education’s PACE (Postsecondary Adult Career Education) division is to “be advocates for career and technology professionals, serving business and industry,” and is the state chapter of the national Association of Career and Technical Education.
