Upcoming
Events & Deadlines |
MARCH 16
The Oregon Entrepreneurs Network's ANGEL OREGON 2011, one of the nation's premiere angel investing competitions, spotlights promising Oregon and SW Washington companies. Portland, OR
MARCH 18
Deadline to nominate Pivotal Leaders.
MARCH 21
Deadline for business plan submissions for the May 12th WILLAMETTE ANGEL CONFERENCE to vie for the $150,000 investment prize. Corvallis, OR
APRIL 1 Nominations due for Sustainable Business Oregon's Innovation in Sustainability Awards APRIL 12-13 Future Energy Conference brings together members of the energy industry, policy makers, energy project hosts, and users of energy services. Combines both renewable energy and energy efficiency, and features project development, energy policy and strategy, and business analysis of key technology sectors. Portland, OR
APRIL 26
The GORGE ANGEL CONFERENCE matches the Columbia Gorge's brightest companies with qualified investors of the Gorge Angel Network and an investment prize of $100,000. The Dalles, OR
MAY 12
WILLAMETTE ANGEL CONFERENCE Corvallis, OR
MAY 24
Deadline for Cleantech Open business competition.
SEPTEMBER 12
Register Now!
Oregon BEST FEST '11, where researchers, entrepreneurs and business leaders come together to spark collaboration and help create jobs for Oregon's green economy.
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CONTACT US
Oregon BEST
P.O. Box 212
Portland, OR 97207
Tel. 503-725-9849
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Executive Director's Report
Connecting to Investment
In keeping with our mission of creating new clean-tech jobs by transforming research into new products and services via commercialization, Oregon BEST is proud to be sponsoring a flurry of upcoming Angel Conferences taking place around the state ( see Upcoming Events, left). Angel and venture investment is critical to helping startups move from the pre-revenue technology prototype stage to a marketable product or service. Oregon's reputation for investment-worthy ideas and research breakthroughs is growing, especially in the renewable energy and sustainable built environment clusters. While Oregon BEST isn't striving to build an entirely new investment infrastructure around these clusters, we are working very hard to connect all the threads of the existing ecosystem, including research, entrepreneur resources, and investors. In the spirit of our model of catalyzing connections and collaborations by tapping existing resources, we're helping Oregon attract the attention of both local investors and venture capital from beyond our borders.
In that same spirit, I'm happy to announce our new Sustainable Built Environment Research Consortium, a regional group of member firms, organizations, and researchers collaborating on applied R&D and commercialization of sustainable technologies and services for the built environment ( full story below). Speaking of collaboration, be sure to reserve your spot - as an attendee and/or a sponsor - at Oregon BEST FEST '11 on September 12 ( more below). Thank you for your ongoing support,
David Kenney, President & Executive Director
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New Research Consortium Launched!
Focus on the sustainable built environment will help local firms
 We're pleased to announce an exciting new program at Oregon BEST! The Sustainable Built Environment Research Consortium pools investments from industry Members and research grants to fund research on topics of shared interest, as well as a unique Demonstration Test Bed that provides proof of concept for important emerging products and technologies in the built environment.
The growing list of founding Consortium Members includes CertainTeed/Saint-Gobain, Skanska USA, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, and the Portland Sustainability Institute.
"We created the Consortium in response to a growing need for a mechanism to drive collaborations between industry and universities," says Oregon BEST's Johanna Brickman, Sustainable Built Environment Program Manager. "Creating a connecting entity like this Consortium allows companies to pool their investments to drive research according to their shared needs and priorities in a way that could be cost-prohibitive for individual companies."
Sign up as a Member by April 1st to participate in the Consortium's inaugural Industry Advisory Board meeting, where decisions on the first round of research investments will be made. More details and contact information here.
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Save the Date!
 Back for the third year and better than ever, Oregon BEST FEST '11 will bring together university researchers, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders engaged in renewable energy and the sustainable built environment for an all-day networking event and research expo in downtown Portland. The program features speakers, research presentations, and interactive workshops focused on creating jobs through informed innovation and filling the gaps in developing new products and services. Come discover how research, innovation, and collaboration are fueling Oregon's green economy. Register now to take advantage of early-bird rates: 
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SPOTLIGHT on Oregon BEST Research
The Power of High-Density Poplar
OSU teams with company to transform softwood into new jobs
 One of the four private-public partnerships awarded an Oregon BEST Commercialization Grant is working to transform hybrid poplar, a softwood grown predominantly as a source of paper pulp, into a green building material that has high strength and myriad uses.
Fred Kamke, Oregon BEST Researcher, OSU professor, and director of the Oregon BEST Green Building Materials Lab at OSU, is collaborating with Corvallis Tool Company (CTC) to design and fabricate mill equipment capable of processing poplar wood using an innovative combination of heat, steam, and pressure. The Commercialization Grant has enabled the company to hire engineers to work on the project. Read full story.
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SPOTLIGHT on Oregon BEST Member Faculty
PSU Researcher Wins Latrobe Prize
Oregon BEST Researcher Palleroni honored with prestigious award
 The American Institute of Architects (AIA) awarded Oregon BEST Researcher and Portland State University professor of architecture Sergio Palleroni and three of his U.S. colleagues the 2011 Latrobe Prize for work in public interest architecture. Palleroni is internationally renowned in the architecture industry. The $100,000 prize, one of architecture's most prestigious honors, will enable Palleroni and colleagues to explore ways of designing and building less expensive and more sustainable housing. The proposal was selected from 500 for the prize that is given every two years. Read full story.
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Creating Sustainable Oregon Cities
UO program winning national awards, media attention
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Oregon BEST researcher Nico Larco
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The University of Oregon's three-year-old Sustainable Cities Initiative, a cross-disciplinary program that promotes education, service, public outreach, and research on the design and development of sustainable cities, is winning national awards and media coverage in the New York Times for its work helping Oregon cities become more sustainable and economically successful. The program was co-founded by Oregon BEST researchers and UO professors Nico Larco and Marc Schlossberg, and just hired Robert Liberty as its first executive director. This year, it is working with the city of Salem, where some 600 UO students studying architecture, planning, law, journalism, and business are exploring ways Oregon's capitol might grow green business clusters, design energy-savvy municipal buildings, reuse industrial byproducts, connect more parks with bicycle paths, and more. Last year the program worked with the City of Gresham. The program just won the Bridge Builders Award from the national nonprofit, Partners for Livable Communities ( read more), and the New York Times calls the program, "... perhaps the most comprehensive effort by a U.S. university to infuse sustainability into its curricula and community outreach." Read the full NYT Story. |
Nominate Clean-Tech Leadership
Help select visionary people, products, and businesses
 Oregon BEST is proud to sponsor Pivotal Leaders - a unique way to identify and recognize the human capital that is delivering on the Pacific Northwest's strong leadership potential in clean technology. Pivotal Leaders are community-nominated and peer-selected from our region's prospective clean-tech venture entrepreneurs. You can help identify future leaders - people who will ensure that our region's clean-tech R&D will shape and drive the green economy. Nominations are now open. But hurry! The deadline is March 18th. Nominate now.
AND while you're at it, nominations for Sustainable Business Oregon's Innovation in Sustainability Awards are being accepted through April 1 in four categories: Sustainable Product, Sustainable Supply Chain, Sustainable Operations, and Sustainability Advocate. Nominate now. AND the national 2011 Cleantech Open business competition is underway. If you know a clean-tech startup with great potential, encourage them to enter now. Deadline is May 24. |
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From greenwashing to bioplastics to better Burgervilles
Oregon BEST Researchers IN THE NEWS...
 ··· University of Oregon's KIM SHEEHAN, a professor and director of the Master's Program in Strategic Communication has played a key role in developing the Greenwashing Index, which trots out the best and the worst of environmental advertising, offering a user-driven platform to call out misleading green ads and showcase honest ones. Full story...
 ··· Oregon Institute of Technology  professors JIM LONG (left) and HUGH CURRIN are working with Green Lite Motors, recipient of an Oregon BEST Commercialization Grant, to develop software for the company's hybrid-electric vehicle . Full story...
 ··· OSU civil engineering professor and director of the OSU College of Engineering's sustainable programs CATHERINE MATER was featured on OPB's Ecotrope, in a story about Oregon's "Living Laboratory of Sustainability," where researchers are trying to upgrade new forest biomass scanning technology to include carbon scanning. Full story...
 ··· With guidance from Portland State University professor of architecure JOHN JEFFREY SCHNABEL, PSU graduate students took on the challenge of redesigning a Burgerville building to reflect the company's community mission and focus on local ingredients and sustainable practices. Full story...  ··· Oregon State University professor of wood science & engineering LECH MUSZYNSKI has been in discussion with a company that manufactures signs from waste wood and No. 2 plastics and is considering siting a manufacturing facility in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Full story... |
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The Oregon Built Environment & Sustainable Technologies Center (Oregon BEST) connects Oregon businesses with the state's shared-user network of university facilities to transform renewable energy and sustainable built environment research into on-the-ground products, services, and jobs that power Oregon's green economy. Oregon BEST's founding partner universities include Oregon State University, the Oregon Institute of Technology, Portland State University, and the University of Oregon.
Oregon BEST · PO Box 212 · Portland, OR 97207-0212Tel. 503-725-9849 · On the web: oregonbest.org |
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