From the Emerald Isle to Green Country: OSU welcomes Oklahoma Ireland Business Conference

Monday, March 16, 2026

Media Contact: Jeff Hopper | Communications and Media Relations Manager | 405-744-5827 | [email protected]

Storied connection between Ireland and Oklahoma is spreading its roots to the aerospace industry

Tulsa's annual Irish Fest serves as a celebration of Irish culture and an opportunity to build relationships across industries through the Oklahoma Ireland Business Conference, organized by Irish Fest founder Don Burdick. On Friday, that focus honed in on the rapidly growing aerospace industry and the mutually beneficial relationships that could develop between Ireland - a European leader in uncrewed aircraft systems - and the state of Oklahoma, which holds a similar position in the US.

"We want to take Oklahoma to the world and bring the world to Oklahoma," said Lieutenant Gov. Matt Pinnell, speaking Friday at OSU-Tulsa's Helmerich Research Center.. "There's a natural connection between Oklahoma and Ireland…through shared industries, innovation and cultural exchange."

Oklahoma and Ireland share a storied past, from the Choctaw Nation's donation to Ireland for famine relief in 1847, to sculptures celebrating the connection of the two nations in Cork, Ireland and Durant, Oklahoma, to the settlement of a number of Irish immigrants in Oklahoma during the railroad boom. The two locations have remained connected and paved the way for connections that will change the future.

Dr. Jamey Jacob, executive director of the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute for Research and Education, called the relationship between Ireland and Oklahoma unique.

"That foundation that allows us to build upon this shared sense of responsibility for collaboration," he said. "How can we take emerging aerospace technology and utilize it for the best good of the citizens of each nation and across the world? OAIRE's vision is to have a global reach with regional impact and this event represents that beautifully."

James Grimsley - executive director for advanced technology initiatives for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, home to one of the few Federal Aviation Administration UAS test sites in the nation - echoed Jacob's sentiment and believes there are numerous opportunities for collaboration between Oklahoma and Ireland.

"There are many opportunities for collaboration with Ireland in emerging aviation, as we learned last summer on the wonderful state visit to Ireland," he said. "Going back over 150 years, we have many common bonds and we are working to solve similar problems. The conference accentuated these opportunities perfectly."

Vision for the future

The aerospace industry is the second leading industry in the state of Oklahoma - behind energy. Many believe that in the next 3-5 years it will take over the top spot.

That growth is attracting companies from around the world to Oklahoma as a home for their businesses in the United States. One such company from Ireland already has a road map to making Tulsa the global hub for autonomous drone delivery.

Dublin based company Manna Air Delivery has made over 300,000 deliveries over the last seven years in Ireland and is rapidly growing. Everything from burritos to coffee to a single onion, Manna delivers goods to a customer's back yard in a matter of minutes. The company's CEO Bobby Healy is looking to expand globally and has his eyes set on Oklahoma.

"This conversation started a few years ago with the Choctaw nation and flight tests," Healy said. "Then after we had conversations with the Oklahoma delegation - the lieutenant governor and Oklahoma State University - that came to Ireland last year, we started to see that they were very serious about bringing our company to Oklahoma."

Those relationships and conversations between Manna, OAIRE and many others are close to bringing the idea of drone delivery in the Tulsa metro to reality.

The hope being that, should all things go according to plan, Manna would be serving 120,000 households in the Tulsa metro within the next 12 months as part of their first phase of development. Phase two would dramatically expand that over the following 24 months and would easily make Tulsa the drone delivery capital of the world, according to Healy.

Manna's plan has obvious benefits for consumers in Tulsa, however Healy also stated that he wants to have the entirety of the U.S. fleet built by U.S. parts, fostering a demand for parts and services in the U.S.

As a live demonstration of the partnership and collaboration unfolded in front of the attendees eyes. Healy mentioned a key obstacle being the need for electric motors that aren't foreign made. Jeremy Fernandez - with OAIRE industry partnerships - has contacts in the Tulsa and Stillwater areas that manufacture the parts Healy is looking for and seemingly solved the problem in real time.

Manna is just one example of the relationships that OAIRE and the State of Oklahoma continue to foster and the impact that those relationships can have on economies and communities across the state could be immeasurable.

New connections

Another shining example of an Irish and Oklahoma relationship that is making impacts right now is that of OAIRE researchers and the National Center for Geocomputation (NCG) at Maynooth University just outside of Dublin.

OAIRE's expertise in first responder support and disaster relief and assessment spurred a conversation between Jacob and Dr. Stephanie Keogh, research project manager for U-Flyte out of the NCG, which aims to integrate drone technology into emergency services.

Keogh's team has been developing a data analysis tool which will help better respond to natural disasters in Ireland. Jacob's team has been delivering data from some of their test flights as a means to both test the tool for NCG and provide almost real-time analysis of OAIRE data.

"Our specialty is all things geospatial and the data that surrounds all those things," Keogh said. "One of our projects is the DECAMAP project which was created to answer the question 'How do we fight wildfires in Ireland more effectively?' Through our collaboration with Oklahoma State University and Dr. Jacob's team, we've been able to validate our product and prove its efficacy."

The partnership has helped Keogh and her team create a viable tool that will be commercialized by the end of 2026 and provide solutions for first responders across the globe to better fight wildfires.

Legacy of collaboration

The foundation for these transformational relationships began nearly 200 years ago when soon after facing their own hardships of relocation, the Choctaw Nation sent aid to the people of Ireland who were in the midst of the fallout of the potato famine in the 1840s.

That simple gesture established a connection between the two nations that has continued into the 21st century and paved the way for entities like OAIRE and the Irish NCG to connect research with industry partners from across the world.

"The Choctaw nation bailed us out during our famine, and we've been linked ever since," said Irish Senator Aubrey McCarthy. "Someone said that Oklahoma is the Ireland of the U.S. and I agree. I believe that the Ireland-Oklahoma relationship is in its infancy, but I think we could have something very special. The president of the chair of the Irish services, Senator Mark Daly, asked me to come here today on behalf of the Irish government because Oklahoma is important to the Irish government."

The connection between Oklahoma and Ireland may have deep historical roots that created the foundation for others to build on, but the relationships that will shape tomorrow are being built and fostered today.

"That's really what it's about," Healy said. "Relationships are everything in Ireland. And most relationships in Ireland start with great conversations."