Turning Deep Technology Into Surgical Impact
Jeff Potts keeps a pair of goggles within reach for calls. As Chief Technology Officer, he is building software that allows surgeons to see clinical imaging overlaid directly onto a patient’s body.
A surgeon puts on the headset and sees vessels to avoid, where an implant should land, and where bone cuts should be made. Guidance appears in three dimensions, exactly where it matters.
Xironetic builds the software that enables augmented reality in surgery.
“It’s basically X-ray vision,” Potts said, describing a platform that blends augmented reality, computer vision, and AI into a tool designed for the operating room.
The technology is FDA cleared and already used across several surgical domains. Surgeries have been performed across multiple states and internationally, but the nucleus of the company remains in Oklahoma.
Deep Tech, Real Stakes
Healthcare is built on evidence and risk mitigation. That makes it powerful, and slow.
In surgical technology, getting the first contract is often harder than building the product. Hospitals require proof. New workflows take time. Adoption moves at the pace of trust.
A Funding Story That Changed the Business
This is where OCAST enters the story.
Potts applied to the Industry Innovation program twice. The first time, reviewers saw a compelling technical idea but not enough near-term commercialization. It read more like research than a revenue-generating business.
So the team refined the scope and clarified the path to adoption. When they applied again, it worked.
The funding helped Xironetic hire talent and develop functionality that allowed multiple headsets to connect and share the same experience. That capability strengthened institutional traction and helped convert early engagement into multiyear service contracts.
What Leaders Need to Understand
Potts does not believe deep-tech companies are common in this region, not due to a lack of ideas, but a lack of adequate early resources to support them.
Augmented reality for surgery is unfamiliar. It takes time to prove, but it can also become an economic bellwether if it succeeds.
There is a middle zone where innovation is high potential, timelines are practical, and funding is hardest to secure. Potts believes this is where targeted state investment can have outsized returns.
Not because the market fails, but because early support can de-risk the unfamiliar long enough for the commercial story to become undeniable.
And when it works, it does more than create revenue. It builds talent, attracts expertise, and proves that frontier technology can scale from Oklahoma.
