John Nickel, Assistant Director
Cowboy Enterprises - Oklahoma State University
John Nickel is the Assistant Director of Cowboy Enterprises at The Innovation Foundation within Oklahoma State University (OSU), where he is dedicated to advancing emerging technologies both at OSU and across Oklahoma. Mr. Nickel oversees the Cowboy Innovation Accelerator at OSU, a program designed to move proof-of-concept technologies in the energy, aerospace and advanced mobility, agriculture, and One Health sectors toward venture-backable startup companies and licensable technologies of interest to industry. He also manages OSU’s National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps program for customer discovery and product market fit. Over the last two years, under his leadership, 12 Oklahoma teams have been awarded NSF’s $50,000 National I-Corps grants, which strategically helps teams build commercialization plans for gap funding opportunities. Additionally, Mr. Nickel currently oversees OSU’s Economic Development Agency’s University Center grant, which provides commercial grant assistance to companies in the Northeast region of Oklahoma. Prior to his role at OSU, Mr. Nickel worked with a research group that focused on extracting a chemical used in the pharmaceutical industry, derived from an invasive species in Oklahoma.
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