Workforce agreement has broader applications than Lawton

An agreement with r-4 Technologies would make Lawton the headquarters for a concept that has statewide and nationwide applications, FISTA Innovation Park President and CEO Krista Ratliff said.

Members of the FISTA Development Trust Authority said earlier this month the Connecticut-based company, created in 2013 by the founders of Priceline, specializes in using artificial intelligence (AI) to collect data for specific purposes. For FISTA Innovation Park, that would mean mean matching employers with employees, an application that could be expanded to other employers. The same is true for the second half of what r4 Technologies wants to do: link surplus food that would go to waste to those with food insecurities.

Ratliff said the company already has experience using AI to tackle problems, noting, for example, the company created a system to streamline the shipment process for the U.S. military.

The benefit for FISTa is workforce development, something Ratliff said would be expanded, first statewide, then nationwide (there already are states that have funding identified for such programs, she said). AI would be used to align jobs with people, lowering unemployment as well as “under” employment. The end result is putting students and adults on paths to jobs they know they can do, matching job to worker through AI, she said, adding AI also could match executives to companies.

Ratliff said local officials and r4 Technologies already have discussed options with state officials, to include Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, who was named Oklahoma’s first secretary of workforce development earlier this summer. In addition to serving employers beyond FISTA tenants, the Department of Defense could be a beneficiary, FISTA officials said, noting the wealth of skills military personnel bring with them when they leave active duty.

As far as food and nutrition, AI will be used to match food that otherwise would be thrown away as waste to those with food insecurities, something Ratliff said could be called “Priceline for food.” That also has a nationwide application, she said, of plans that could be used to bring nutritional food such as fresh produce to those in “food deserts,” areas where it is difficult for those with food insecurities to obtain fresh food.

FISTA Development Trust Authority Chairman Mark Brace said the firm was referred to Lawton by Cornerstone, the authority’s Washington, D.C.-based consultant.

“This company puts people to work,” he said.