Oregon BEST Commercialization Grants
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April 1
(application deadline)
The EPA seeks technical experts to serve on its Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC), a federal advisory committee to the Office of Research and Development. April 11 Lecture by Michael Wolcott, Regents Professor and Director, Institute for Sustainable Design, Washington State University. Corvallis, OR April 11
Southern Oregon Angel Conference
An angel-investor-driven business plan competition, where a lucky start-up company will win an estimated $125,000 investment from a network of regional accredited investors. Attendees include entrepreneurs, investors, venture capitalists, community/civic leaders, state officials, and service providers from across Oregon. Jacksonville, OR
April 16-17
Future Energy Conference
Sponsored by Oregon BEST!
Now in its seventh year, Oregon's leading clean energy conference connects policy with practice and addresses the industry's current challenges and opportunities. Content includes: the business of renewable energy, policy & economic development, the business of energy efficiency, and energy sector insights. Oregon BEST Member Faculty receive $50 discount off standard two-day conference registration (use discount code BEST13). Portland, OR
April 17
OEN Angel Oregon Conference
For entrepreneurs, investors, and networkers alike, OEN's Angel Oregon is where breakthrough ideas are nurtured, new markets are discovered, and invaluable business connections are made.
April 20-21
Cleanweb Hackathon
Cleanweb is a category of clean technology that leverages the capability of the internet, social media, and mobile technologies to address resource constraints. Held at the Earth Advantage Institute, this event will bring together industry innovators, entrepreneurs, and civic leadership to illuminate the opportunities for Cleanweb to create new efficiencies in energy, buildings, and transportation. Portland, OR.
May 9
Willamette Angel Conference
An investor conference that connects early-stage and seed businesses with angel and venture investors. Entrepreneurs and start-ups can submit a business plan for review and coaching, ultimately vying for an investment of up to $200,000. Corvallis, OR
May 15-17
Living Future unConference
Resilience & Regeneration is this year's theme. Finalists for the Oregon BEST Red List Design Challenge will be announced! Our own Johanna Brickman is a featured speaker! Seattle, WA.
May 23-24
Sponsored by Oregon BEST!
The GridWise Architecture Council, with support from PNNL, BPA, Smart Grid Oregon, PGE, and Oregon BEST, convenes this first international Conference & Workshop on Transactive Energy. Organized by the GridWise Architecture Council as part of its mission to further the advanced thinking about the guiding principles, or architecture, of a highly intelligent and interactive electric system, this conference brings together organizations and researchers that have been researching, developing, and deploying Transactive Energy techniques and business models. Portland, OR
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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
A Million Dollars of Grants Invested
 Greetings!
At Oregon BEST FEST '11, about 18 months ago, I announced that Oregon BEST would be investing approximately $1 million in Commercialization Grants over the next 12-18 months. Today, I'm pleased to let you know we have delivered on that plan! We recently signed the grant agreements that put us over the $1-million mark (watch for announcements from us in the next few weeks with specifics on the newly-funded projects) in funding for 13 new startup companies, in addition to the first four we funded in early 2011. In addition, we recently selected several more projects for which we will make awards, and we have a robust pipeline of startup companies partnering with universities to bring new clean technologies to market. Our Commercialization Program has become a flagship effort for Oregon BEST, and we plan to continue seeking and funding projects that help innovative companies solve environmental and energy challenges, while creating economic value for Oregon.
We've also just launched a Request for Information to Oregon BEST Member Faculty at our partner universities to identify areas of research and technical expertise that might yield new technologies in future years. We expect the findings of that RFI to help shape our programs in the coming months.
Thank you for your ongoing support,
David Kenney, President & Executive Director
Oregon BEST
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Save the Date! Oregon BEST FEST '13
Attend the Northwest's Premier Cleantech Innovation Conference
 Mark your calendars for the 5th Annual Oregon BEST FEST on September 11-12, 2013 in Portland, Oregon. In addition to our core all-day conference on Sept. 12th, we've added a slate of pre-conference activities on Sept 11th to accommodate growing interest from researchers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, government agencies, and others who are working to grow our region's reputation as an international leader in cleantech innovation. If you'd like to gain months of exposure leading up to Oregon BEST FEST by having your organization be a featured sponsor of the Pacific Northwest's premier cleantech innovation conference, download the Sponsorship Overview Brochure here and email Oregon BEST's Johanna Brickman to reserve your sponsor spot. |
Easier Vehicle Fueling of Natural Gas?
Oregon BEST researcher lands ARPA-E grant to advance technology
 Oregon BEST researcher Chris Hagen, an assistant professor in the Energy Systems Engineering program at Oregon State University-Cascades campus, hopes people might soon be able to fill their vehicle's natural gas fuel tanks in their driveways using the same utility pipe that heats their homes. Hagen recently received a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), along with collaborators at Colorado State University and the engineering firm Czero, to advance a technology that uses one cylinder of a vehicle's internal combustion engine to compress natural gas during fueling, reducing fill-time from eight hours to 90 minutes.  Relative to gasoline or diesel, natural gas forms less CO2 per unit of energy when burned, and at current prices, operating a vehicle on natural gas would cost about half that of gasoline. Hagen hopes to design an engine modification that costs approximately $400. Read the Discovery News story. |
Inspired Light Lands SBIR Grant
Oregon BEST Commercialization Grant recipient attracts funding  Inspired Light, an Oregon BEST Commercialization Grant portfolio company developing a solar energy system capable of harvesting 50 percent more energy per square foot of rooftop space on commercial buildings than conventional systems, has been awarded an SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Phase I Grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy.
As part of the Oregon BEST-funded project, the company's engineers are collaborating with Oregon BEST researchers at the University of Oregon's SuNRISE PV Characterization Lab and Oregon State University's Oregon Process Innovation Center for Sustainable Solar Cell Manufacturing, both signature research facilities of Oregon BEST. |
Agenda Development Series: A Success!
Program impresses potential funders and collaborators in DC
 Six months ago, Oregon BEST launched our Agenda Development Series, which brings together industry leaders to articulate research priorities in a given technology or interest area. Since then, we have:
- hosted three half-day Forum events
- engaged a diverse array of 150+ subject-matter experts in interdisciplinary collaboration
- published three research agendas (available online) to be used to generate teams and funding
- articulated 33 research projects reflecting the priorities of leading practitioners
Oregon BEST's Johanna Brickman recently took these agendas, which provide unique insight into the demand side of innovation, to Washington, DC, where they were well received by potential funders and collaborators in a wide range of organizations and agencies. While we build support for teams to pursue these research topics, we are preparing for our next Agenda Development Series, which will begin again in September, in conjunction with Oregon BEST FEST '13.
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Oregon BEST Lab Monitors TrekHaus
Energy efficient duplex offers 'living lab' for researchers
 TrekHaus, a duplex built in southeast Portland, Ore. to Passive House standards, is serving as a "living lab" for Oregon BEST researchers from Portland State University's Green Building Research Laboratory, a signature research facility of Oregon BEST.Led by Oregon BEST Faculty David Sailor, researchers have been monitoring both units of TrekHaus, studying building performance, energy use, and occupant behavior in net-zero homes. The research team is also investigating how the phase-change material installed inside walls is minimizing temperature fluctuations. The material stores excess daytime heat by changing from solid to liquid, reducing the need for mechanical cooling. And when temperatures drop overnight, heat is released as the material changes back to solid form.
In December, the house passed its one-year mark of occupancy with better than net-zero results. Occupants in the west-unit used 3,322 kilowatt hours of electricity, or about 9 kWh a day. Read more and look inside the TrekHaus.
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Using Sunlight to Split Water
Oregon BEST researcher advances thin-film technology
University of Oregon chemists say ultra-thin films of nickel and iron oxides made through a solution synthesis process are promising catalysts to combine with semiconductors to make devices that tap sunlight to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. R  esearchers in the Solar Materials & Electrochemistry Laboratory of Shannon Boettcher, an Oregon BEST researcher and UO professor of chemistry, studied the catalyst material and developed a computer model for applying catalyst thin films in solar water-splitting devices as a tool to predict the effectiveness of a wide range of catalyst materials for solar-hydrogen production. More. |
Sen. Merkley Helps Grow Green Jobs
Oregon Senator awarded chair of green jobs subcommittee
 Oregon BEST extends our congratulations to Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, who was recently awarded the chairmanship of the Green Jobs and the New Economy Subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
This subcommittee oversees the deployment of sustainable infrastructure, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other clean energy practices. "I look forward to finding new ways to create jobs in Oregon and across the country through investments in clean energy, electric vehicles, mass transit, and energy-efficient retrofits," Merkley said. Read a Q&A session with the Senator about his new position.
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From slowing the spread of noxious weeds and forecasting rip currents to award-winning faculty and more...
Oregon BEST Researchers IN THE NEWS...
 ··· PANKAJ JAISWAL, an assistant professor in OSU's Dept. of Botany & Plant Pathology, and colleagues have assembled transcriptomes of a noxious weed commonly known as slender false brome, which are providing an extensive genetic tool for studying how invasive species successfully spread into novel ranges. More.
 ··· TUBA OZKAN-HALLER, an associate professor in the OSU College of Engineering and the OSU College of Earth, Ocean, & Atmospheric Sciences who specializes in wave dynamics and the interaction of waves with wave energy devices, has been working to develop a model to identify and forecast the location of life-threatening rip currents up to a day in advance. More.
 ··· View this short video of Oregon BEST researcher CINDY COOPER, director of the Social Innovation Incubator at Portland State University, who was selected by the Portland Business Journal as one of its "Forty Under 40" awardees.  ··· Watch Oregon BEST researcher MATEO ABOY, Associate Provost & VP for Research at Oregon Tech, talk about his passion for eduction. He was selected by the Portland Business Journal as one of its "Forty Under 40" awardees.
 ··· KATHRYN HIGLEY, professor and head of the OSU Department of Nuclear Engineering & Radiation Health Physics, has been helping analyze the progress and effectiveness of the cleanup operations at the site of the Fukushima reactor following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. More.
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The nexus for clean technology innovation, Oregon BEST builds capability, convenes collaborations, and accelerates the solutions to environmental challenges that deliver prosperity in all corners of Oregon. Our 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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