Autonomous Systems Innovation Center (ASIC)
The mission of the Autonomous Systems Innovation Center (ASIC, formerly known as the Unmanned Systems Innovation Center - the USIC) is to aggregate the people and resources required to support and grow unmanned and autonomous systems: for example, curriculum, training, education, licensing, vehicle certification, robotics, driverless vehicles, additive and advanced manufacturing into one of the largest and most successful segments of technology enablers within the Oklahoma economy.
The Autonomous Systems Innovation Center (ASIC) is a nexus for the development of Oklahoma's ever-increasing high-tech industry, strategically located within the aerospace and defense cluster at Tinker Business & Industrial Park.
Together with Green Valley Farms Living Laboratory (GVF LL) and DII, LLC, a constellation of advanced technology companies, the ASIC serves to provide a synergistic place for all things relating to the expansion of innovative industry sectors and entrepreneurial ventures. (Click on GVF LL Entrepreneurship)
There are three components to the ASIC. They include:
- ASIC Research—R&D and Technology Commercialization
- ASIC Knowledge—Education, Training & Certification
- ASIC Capital—Multi-Tier Capital Facility
In August of 2014, TBIP officially kicked off the USIC with a day-long event before a capacity crowd. Featured speakers included then Representative and now Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, and Michael Toscano, the former executive director of the national unmanned systems advocacy organization, AUVSI. Governor Mary Fallin - who could not be present – opened the event with a video in support of this exciting expansion of one of Oklahoma's largest industry sectors. The video can be viewed by clicking on the link, below.
Just as Governor Mary Fallin endorsed the creation of the Unmanned Systems Innovation Center (USIC), once the rebranding of the USIC is complete, it is expected that the new Governor of Oklahoma will support the much more robust Autonomous Systems Innovation Center – the ASIC.