As used in the Oklahoma Science and Technology Research and Development Act:

1. "COEAT" means Center of Excellence for Aerospace Technology, an initiative within the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute that undertakes applied research, development and technology transfer that has long-term potential for commercial development;

2. "CASQ" means Center of Aerospace Supplier Quality, an initiative within the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute that serves as a conduit between Oklahoma's military installations and the aerospace industry;

3. "Applied research" means those research activities occurring at institutions of higher education, nonprofit research foundations, and in private enterprises which have potential commercial application;

4. "Basic research" means any original investigation for the advancement of scientific knowledge not having a specific commercial objective, but having potential long-range value to commercial interests;

5. "Board" means the Oklahoma Science and Technology Research and Development Board;

6. "Center" or "OCAST" means the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology;

7. "Commercialization Center" means a private, nonprofit corporation contracting with and funded in part by OCAST to:

a.attract to, and retain in, Oklahoma technology and technology-based enterprises,

b.promote and assist with the development and expansion of scientific and technology-based industry in the state,

c.facilitate the development of incubators for technology-oriented enterprises,

d.assist technology-based enterprises in developing and expanding their businesses, obtaining financing and funding, attracting capital, including seed capital and venture capital, and attracting and retaining key management personnel, scientists, and skilled labor, and

e.develop, operate, and manage programs to facilitate entrepreneurial activity with respect to technology, scientific-based, biomedical, biomedical-technical, and technology-oriented enterprises in this state;

8. "Enterprise" means a firm with its principal place of business in Oklahoma;

9. "Health research project" means a specific examination, experimentation or investigation, or initiative to provide research resources oriented principally toward basic, applied, and developmental scientific inquiry related to the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of human diseases and disabilities and mental health and emotional disorders, and the rehabilitation of persons afflicted with such diseases, disabilities, and disorders; new knowledge, better understanding, and innovative methods to improve the processes by which health care services are made available and how they may be provided more efficiently, more effectively and at a lower cost, for all the citizens of this state; and the development of new products and services which shall form the basis of new high-technology health research and care industry for this state;

10. "Industrial Extension System" means a coordinated network of public and private manufacturing modernization resources, the purpose of which is to stimulate the competitiveness of Oklahoma small and medium-sized manufacturing firms;

11. "Institutional Review Board" means a committee composed of investigators, lay representatives, and legal counsel, which is established at each institution of higher learning and each nonprofit research institution receiving funds from a health research project, for the express purpose of determining the appropriateness of any research involving human subjects;

12. "Institutions of higher education" means public and private colleges and universities in the state;

13. "Investigator" means a person who proposes research projects and is primarily responsible for the execution of the proposed projects and is employed by or affiliated with an institution of higher education, a nonprofit research institution in this state, or a private enterprise;

14. "Nanotechnology" means technology development at the molecular range (1nm to 100nm) to create and use structures, devices, and systems that have novel properties because of their small size;

15. "New technology" means methods, products, processes and procedures developed through science or research;

16. "Nonprofit research institution" means any not-for-profit public or private facility in this state which has the capabilities for research projects and which is not a subsidiary of any corporation, partnership, or association organized for profit, nor is its stock or assets owned or controlled by a corporation, partnership, or association organized for profit;

17. "OAI" means Oklahoma Aerospace Institute, a strategic partnership that will focus available resources to promote cooperation and collaboration among Oklahoma businesses, manufacturers, military installations, commercial aviation, higher education institutions, nonprofit research institutions, and state government;

18. "OAME" means the Oklahoma Alliance for Manufacturing Excellence, Inc., a corporation to be formed pursuant to the provisions of Title 18 of the Oklahoma Statutes and Section 5060.26 of this title;

19. "ONAP" means the Oklahoma Nanotechnology Applications Project;

20. "OSTRaD" means the Oklahoma Science and Technology Research and Development Act;

21. "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation or joint venture carrying on business or proposing to carry on business within the state;

22. "Plant science research" means those research activities occurring at institutions of higher education, nonprofit research institutions, and in private enterprises, which have potential commercial application and concern plant productivity, renewable biomass, plant-based environmental applications and chemical platforms, plant-based solutions to improve nutrition, human and/or animal health or performance, process applications, and seed management and the development of new products and services that shall form the basis of new, high-technology plant science/agriculture industry for this state;

23. "Product" means any outcome, device, technique or process, which is or may be developed or marketed commercially and which has advanced beyond the theoretical stage and is in a prototype or practice stage;

24. "Professional service contract" means a written agreement providing funds for the performance of a research project; for salaries and fringe benefits of personnel associated with research programs; for research equipment; for operating expenses associated with a research program; or for services provided in connection with the evaluation of applications submitted to the Center;

25. "Qualified security" means any public or private financial arrangement, involving any note, security, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement, preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable security, investment contract, certificate of deposit for a security, certificate of interest or participation in a patent or application therefor, or in royalty or other payments under such a patent or application, or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a "security" or any certificate for, receipt for, guarantee of, or option, warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase any of the foregoing to the extent allowed by law;

26. "Seed-capital" means funding, capital, and financing that is provided and made available for the creation, development, validation, refinement, protection, manufacturing, marketing, and commercialization of a product, process, concept, invention, or innovation, whether for the startup of a new enterprise or for the expansion, growth, or restructuring of an existing enterprise; and

27. "Technology transfer" means a two-way process by which ideas or inventions for processes or products (developed in research programs usually on a laboratory or pilot-plant scale) are converted to commercial use.

Added by Laws 1987, c. 222, § 19, operative July 1, 1987. Amended by Laws 1992, c. 230, § 3, eff. July 1, 1992; Laws 1994, c. 288, § 6, eff. July 1, 1994; Laws 1995, c. 279, § 1, eff. July 1, 1995; Laws 2002, c. 484, § 5, eff. July 1, 2002; Laws 2006, c. 76, § 1, eff. July 1, 2006; Laws 2006, c. 263, § 2, eff. July 1, 2006; Laws 2007, c. 1, § 79, emerg. eff. Feb. 22, 2007; Laws 2010, c. 464, § 4, eff. July 1, 2010; Laws 2013, c. 227, § 43, eff. Nov. 1, 2013.

NOTE: Laws 1994, c. 287, § 7 repealed by Laws 1995, c. 279, § 9, eff. July 1, 1995. Laws 2006, c. 297, § 1 repealed by Laws 2007, c. 1, § 80, emerg. eff. Feb. 22, 2007.