Signature Research Centers

Nanoscience. Drug discovery. Sustainable "green" technologies. These are the focus of OSU's increasing collaboration with other Oregon research universities, the private sector, and state and federal agencies.

Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI)

Skip Rung, President and Executive Director
541-713-1331
Email: skip@onami.us
Website: http://www.onami.us/

ONAMI is Oregon’s first "signature research center" for the purpose of sustaining and growing Oregon's innovation economy. As is true of only three other states, technology is Oregon’s largest employer, with an average wage twice the statewide average. Growth of these kinds of job opportunities is the single most effective thing we can do for state financial health, schools, public safety and human services.

Our strategy has been 10 years in the making, and the selection of "nanoscience and microtechnologies" was based on a careful analysis intended to discover the largest possible intersection among:

• nationally competitive research in our universities,
• future commercial opportunities/growing sectors of the national economy,
• the existing skills of Oregon industry and its surrounding value chain ecosystem.

ONAMI is now a nationally recognized model for state innovation initiatives, and is frequently featured at events and in publications by the National Science Foundation, National Governors Association, and other organizations concerned with keeping the United States competitive in the global innovation economy.

The state of Oregon so far has invested $47 million in ONAMI, including $5.2 million from the Oregon Innovation Council (OECDD) for fiscal year 2012–2013. These funds are invested in OSU research and commercialization capacity in the form of matching funds for competitive extramural proposals, facility operations, and "gap" grants to assist in the formation of successful new products and startup companies.

ONAMI Staff and Leadership

ONAMI's leadership (executive director, research co-directors, 501c3 board) combines senior-level executive experience in both industry and academia.

President and Executive Director Robert D. "Skip" Rung worked for Hewlett-Packard for 25 years, most recently as director of Advanced Research and Development for HP's Corvallis, OR, facility, which is both the headquarters for HP's world-leading inkjet technology, as well as HP's most advanced and capable facility.

Working with Mr. Rung are Vice President of Operations Cindy L. Dahl (formerly area director for CH2M Hill), High-Tech Extension Director Janet M. Teshima (formerly Semiconductor Business VP for FEI Company), and Gap Fund Manager Jay M. Lindquist (formerly Corporate Development VP for FEI Company) and Office Manager/Webmaster Danielle Z. Clair (shared with the Microproducts Breakthrough Institute).

ONAMI Leadership Team Core Members:

Prof. Brian Paul, OSU/PNNL Microproducts Breakthrough Institute co-director. Dr. Paul is a professor of mechanical, industrial and manufacturing engineering at OSU, and a specialist in microfabrication technologies for MECS (Microtechnology-based Energy and Chemical Systems).

Prof. Goran Jovanovic, OSU/PNNL Microproducts Breakthrough Institute co-director. Dr. Jovanovic is a professor of chemical, biological and environmental engineering at OSU, and a specialist in chemical processes for fuel production, medical devices (e.g. hemodialysis filters) and many other applications.

Dr. Ward TeGrotenhuis, OSU/PNNL Microproducts Breakthrough Institute co-director. Dr. TeGrotenhuis is a senior scientist and team leader for hydrocarbon processing at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Prof. Douglas Keszler, OSU Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Principle Investigator for the NSF Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry (CSMC), is a pioneer in the preparation and characterization of new solid-state inorganic materials. Current efforts are directed to the development and study of laser hosts, nonlinear optical materials, phosphors, transparent conductors, wide band-gap semiconductors, and low-temperature deposition and crystallization of thin films. Professor Keszler's pioneering work is the basis for Brilliant Technologies, Deep Photonics, Inpria and Amorphyx all local start-up companies.

Prof. David Johnson, University of Oregon professor of chemistry and CSMC co-PI, is a solid-state chemist who has pioneered new method of synthesizing valuable new materials which cannot occur naturally. He is equally a pioneer in developing graduate student programs geared to the real career needs of students (most of whom will not become academics) and shared user facilities, which maximize the public value realized from investments in sophisticated equipment.

Dr. John Carruthers, Portland State University distinguished professor of physics, has worked at Bell Laboratories, NASA, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, and most recently Intel Corporation, where he was director of components research and development at Intel's Hillsboro, OR, facility—the world's most advanced semiconductor facility, e.g. the first to achieve 32nm production on 300mm substrates, now poised to take the lead on sub-20nm technology in its recently announced D1X facility.

Prof. Jim Hutchison, University of Oregon professor of chemistry and UO Associate VP for Research, is a pioneer of green chemistry and leading innovator in nanofabrication and assembly processes that maximize material yields and minimize use and release of harmful reagents. Professor Hutchison is the leader of ONAMI's Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Initiative (SNNI), and also a founder of Dune Sciences, LLC.

ONAMI Inc. (501c3) board of directors members are senior executives from CH2MHill, Intel Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, FEI Company, Life Technologies Corporation, PNNL/Battelle, Sharp Laboratories, and all four of Oregon's major research universities. Ron Adams, dean of the College of Engineering at OSU, was formerly director of research and development at Tektronix' color printing operation (now Xerox), which is the world leader in solid inkjet printing, and Xerox’s most successful division.

Four Major Research and Commercialization Thrusts

Microtechnology-based energy and chemical systems ONAMI researchers are developing and fabricating unique bulk fluidic microsystems that accelerate, miniaturize and distribute energy, chemical and biomedical processes. Applications include:

• Compact, highest-performance heat exchangers
• Novel miniaturized HVAC cycles
• Medical devices, e.g. dialysis filters
• Fuel processing, e.g. hydrogen reforming
• Fuel atomization for small engines using greener fuels
• Continuous production and direct deposition of nanomaterials
• Water sterilization

This work is based on the principle that mass and heat transfer are best accomplished in microchannels which, when fabricated (typically via micro-lamination) into massively parallel structures, enable "bulk" throughputs without pressure drop penalties. Revolutionary results—in terms of component size, weight and energy efficiency—can be applied to military energy, medical devices and other specialty chemical products.

A dedicated facility, the Microproducts Breakthrough Institute (http://mbi-online.org/), supports project activity for research and development by both institutional researchers and numerous companies. A good overview of several applications and fabrication capabilities may be found at http://mbi-online.org/our-research.

Professors Goran Jovanovic, Brian Paul, and Kendra Sharp of Oregon State University and Dr. Ward TeGrotenhuis of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, jointly lead this team.

Nanoelectronics, Nanobiotechnology, and Nanometrology. ONAMI and Oregon's strong industrial and academic experience in semiconductor electronics, microscopy and microanalysis, analytical tools, and test and measurement, remains engaged on key semiconductor industry challenges (new devices, more demanding measurement challenges). They are also being leveraged to enable large opportunities and confront serious measurement challenges in the emerging field of nanomedicine (the application of engineered nanomaterials and nanoscale electronic, magnetic, and optical devices for medical diagnostics and therapeutics). The long history of equipment and instrumentation advances in the engineering and physical sciences, enabling great breakthroughs in the medical and life sciences, suggest that this is a very opportune time for the physical, engineering and medical sciences to collaborate closely on developments in nanobiotechnology. Applications are emerging in single cell analysis at the point-of-use in real time for cancer and other disease diagnosis.

N3I research projects span the following areas:

Nanoelectronics

1. Carbon-based nanoelectronics
2. Analog memory applications of nanoscale devices
3. Nanoscale energy conversion and storage

Nanobiotechnology

1. Imaging/sensing/diagnostics at the nanoscale
2. Drug delivery/cell membrane behavior
3. Intracellular behavior and regenerative medicine

Nanometrology

1. Nanoscale optical near-field nanoscopy and photo-electron emission
2. Spatio-temporal-compositional imaging at the nanometer and femtosecond scales
3. Nanoscale electron crystallography
4. Nanoparticle characterization

Dr. John Carruthers, Distinguished Professor of Physics at Portland State University and former director of Components Research at Intel Corporation, heads up this research collaboration.

Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Initiative. The goals of ONAMI's Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Initiative (SNNI) are to develop new nanomaterials and nanomanufacturing approaches that offer a high level of performance, yet pose minimal harm to human health or the environment. Research under the initiative merges the principles of green chemistry and nanomaterials design and synthesis strategies to produce safer nanomaterials and more efficient nanomanufacturing (including critical purification steps) processes in the context of producing nanoparticles and nanostructured materials for applications in fields such as photovoltaics, nanoelectronics, and sensors.

In addition to greening the production of nanomaterials, SNNI seeks to understand the biological and environmental impacts of nanoparticles. As part of an international research community, it is [i] working with organizations to develop reference materials and standard practices, [ii] creating well-characterized nanomaterial libraries and [iii] developing effective methods protocols for both physico-chemical characterization and biological effects assays for many different types of engineered nanomaterials. Distinctive features of our research portfolio are the critical importance of using only well-characterized nanomaterials and acquiring rich information sets from biological impacts studies. This approach establishes a foundation of fundamental knowledge and advances predictive strategies based upon structure-activity relationships. A long-term commitment to this strategy is required because it is simply not practical to test all significant permutations of nanoparticles (composition, size, shape, surface functionalization, etc.) in bioassays to assess safety.

Professor Jim Hutchison of the University of Oregon leads this initiative that is bringing together key scientists in the life sciences, materials sciences and engineering. Visit the Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing website at http://www.greennano.org.

Since 2005, SNNI has spearheaded the highly regarded Greener Nano series of annual conferences, with "GN11" coming in the late spring of 2011: http://www.greennano.org/GN11.

Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry. ONAMI member researchers and collaborators in both academia and industry are leading a growing collaboration in the study and design of environmentally benign chemistry platforms for the fabrication of high-performance inorganic electronic devices. Beginning from groundbreaking work on transparent electronics and atomic-precision synthesis using both low-temperature solution chemistry and gas-phase assembly techniques, the range of applications for these greener (i.e. benign and earth-abundant elements, lower cost fabrication methods) materials platforms includes many aspects of electronics manufacturing, optics, sensors, thermoelectrics, magnetics, coatings and metrology standards.

ONAMI researchers have recently demonstrated atomically dense and atomically smooth solution processed inorganic films, functionally graded materials from modulated elemental reactants, and a growing range of composite electronic materials.

This work has direct implications for:

• Nanoscale patterning for semiconductors and other applications
• High-performance thin film electronic elements, e.g. MIM electronics
• Printed electronics on non-traditional substrates
• Large area and lower cost display backplanes
• High-performance thermoelectric cooling
• Low cost thin-film photovoltaics

Learn more about the NSF Phase I Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry at http://sustainablematerialschemistry.com/.

Professors Douglas Keszler at Oregon State University and David Johnson at the University of Oregon lead this collaborative research initiative.

Facilities (NWNanoNet™)

Twenty million dollars of Oregon's initial investment in ONAMI and several million dollars in matching funds have been applied to three user facilities, which are open to all Oregon academic users on equal terms, and to industrial collaborators at commercially competitive rates. The open/shared facility model not only supports diverse research projects with advanced and well-maintained fabrication and characterization tools, it provides an essential resource to Oregon companies, the vast majority of which cannot afford to buy such capabilities for dedicated in-house usage.

Among the many users of the ONAMI-affiliated facilities are the ONAMI gap fund portfolio companies, which, led by Home Dialysis Plus, have raised over $70 million in leveraged investment since late 2006.

The NWNanoNet™ facilities are:

• The Microproducts Breakthrough Institute (http://mbi-online.org) in Corvallis enables research and product development for microchannel devices and other microfluidics-related fields. Laser micromachining, nano-imprinting/hot embossing, microlamination, diffusion bonding, nano-particle injection micromolding, electroplating, atomic layer deposition, and high temperature sintering under precision loads are among the staple processes.


• The Center for Advanced Materials Characterization (http://camcor.uoregon.edu/) in Eugene is the most capable university-based materials analysis and microscopy facility in the Pacific Northwest, offering user access and/or expert operator service for SEM (with e-beam lithography), HR-TEM, dual-beam FIB, Electron Microprobe, XRD, XPS, AFM, TOF-SIMS, UPS, FTIR, NMR, Mass Spec, and basic semiconductor device fabrication. CAMCOR serves clients all over the U.S.


• The Center for Electron Microscopy and Nanofabrication (http://www.pdx.edu/cemn/) in downtown Portland has been home to one of the most advanced TEMs (200Kev) dual-beam FIBs in the Pacific Northwest. CEMN regularly serves over 40 companies in the silicon forest high-tech region centered around Portland, and also holds regular user training workshops.


• The OSU Electron Microscopy Facility (http://www.science.oregonstate.edu/emfacility/) at Oregon State University. The Electron Microscopy Facility  (EMF) provides service to the research community of both life sciences and materials science related studies. The facility was first established in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology in 1967, and has been in continuous operation. In addition to supporting faculty and students, the facility welcomes external academic and government institutions and industry. The facility maintains and operates the following instruments:
  • FEI Quanta 3D Field Emission Dual Beam Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM/FIB)
  • FEI Quanta 600F Field Emission Environmental SEM
  • FEI Nova NanoSEM 230 High Resolution SEM
  • FEI Titan 80-200/ChemiSTEM Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)

All microscopes are equipped with X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectrometers (EDS) to conduct chemical analysis. The OSU EMF is located in the Linus Pauling Science Center, room 145, 2900 SW Campus Way, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331.

Corporate Partners

ONAMI is uniquely situated in the midst of the world's most advanced collection of "small tech" research and development assets: Intel, Hewlett-Packard, FEI Company, CH2M Hill, ON Semiconductor Corp., Electro Scientific Industries, Xerox, Maxim, IDT, Sharp Labs, Microchip, Life Technologies/Invitrogen, Planar Systems, Wafertech, Flir, Mentor Graphics, Synopsys, Novellus, TriQuint, Siltronic, SEH America, Solarworld, Sanyo, Solaicx, Peak Sun Silicon and many exciting startup companies.

We have many opportunities to do joint research with nearby industries only a few minutes' drive away for research faculty and graduate students, and it is quite possible that highly capable corporate partners can be found to participate in new ONAMI federal projects.

Oregon Translational Research and Development Institute (OTRADI)

Jennifer E. Fox, Executive Director
503-227-1814
Email: jfox@otradi.org
Website: http://www.otradi.org

What is OTRADI?

OTRADI is a nonprofit research and development organization, supported in part by the state of Oregon, that strives to promote bioscience industry growth and job creation in Oregon. OTRADI achieves this goal via collaboration with private and public sector entities in the bioscience community to discover, develop, and commercialize therapeutics, vaccines, diagnostics and other life sciences products important for human health. OTRADI’s specialized high-throughput drug discovery robotic equipment is unique in the Northwest, offering previously out-of-reach drug screening capabilities as well as the expertise necessary to analyze results and quickly identify the best products to commercialize. OTRADI uses its equipment and expertise to rapidly screen thousands of chemical compounds developed by Oregon research laboratories and companies to identify new potential drugs, speeding progress on global health concerns, and bringing more economic development and scientific talent to Oregon.

A Unique Opportunity for Oregon Researchers

OTRADI brings the lab to the market via partnerships with Oregon universities, private bioscience companies, the life science industry, and public and private funders. Collaborating with OTRADI offers many advantages:

Collaboration

• OTRADI partners with university researchers and small biotech companies to help produce preliminary data in new areas and helps develop strategies and helps write grants.
• When grants are funded, OTRADI continues working with the investigator as a subcontractor on the grant.
• Investigators have access to opportunities for licensing and commercialization of novel chemicals and drug targets.



Training

• Researchers, faculty, postdocs and students
• Internships and fellowships



Expertise

• Experience and knowledge in assay development for cell biology, pharmacology, infectious diseases, cancer, inflammatory diseases, etc.



Instrumentation and Resources

• State-of-the-art drug discovery robotic equipment for high-throughput screening and high-content analysis
• Novel and commercially available chemical compound libraries comprised of more than 70,000 compounds for screening

Grant Partnering

• Actively involved in grant writing and attracting follow-on and new federal and private funding to Oregon universities and small businesses
• OTRADI Innovation and Commercialization Fund (OICF) awards available for bioscience researchers at Oregon small businesses or Oregon universities to support and promote projects with potential for future commercialization

How OTRADI Works

Every day, Oregon researchers make progress in the fields of biology, medicine, agriculture, marine biology and chemistry that may lead to promising new therapeutics or drug targets. While university researchers are experts within their own fields of science, they often lack the specialized scientific equipment and/or expertise necessary to translate their discoveries into potential new therapeutics. OTRADI fills this crucial gap by providing:

• State-of-the-art high-throughput screening capabilities for testing tens of thousands of chemicals per day for drug activity
• Cutting-edge high content analysis to determine exactly how these chemicals are working within cells in the body to fight disease
• An arsenal of experimental tests designed to effectively screen chemicals for activity against many crucial diseases and drug targets

Supplied with the new experimental data that OTRADI produces, university researchers can provide federal granting agencies and/or pharmaceutical companies with the crucial evidence and support necessary (e.g., preliminary data) to prove that their discoveries have increased value and worth as possible drugs, drug targets or diagnostic agents. OTRADI’s activities have and will continue to increase federal grant funding success, spark small-business development in Oregon, foster student involvement in applicable research, accelerate connections between Oregon university researchers and biopharmaceutical companies and lead to the creation of high-paying jobs in Oregon.

Rapid Growth

Initial funding for OTRADI originated from a 2007 legislative allocation to the Oregon Innovation Council and is administered by the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department. Since its inception, OTRADI has:

• Established a state-of-the-art high-throughput drug discovery lab capable of testing 10,000 chemicals a day for drug-like activity
• Attracted over 200 scientific researchers from Oregon universities to participate as OTRADI-affiliated researchers
• Performed work and/or contributed to grants from 20 Oregon biotech companies and 80 university researchers
• Assembled the "Oregon Collection"—a library of novel locally-sourced chemicals contributed by researchers from Oregon State University, University of Oregon, Portland State University, and Oregon Health and Science University to be mined for drug-like activity against any number of diseases or targets
• OTRADI identified 50 chemicals from the Oregon Collection with novel antimalarial and/or antibacterial (E.coli and MRSA) activity

How to Partner with OTRADI

Oregon university researchers and small businesses are encouraged to join OTRADI as affiliated researchers. As such, affiliated researchers are qualified to collaborate with OTRADI and apply for OTRADI Innovation and Commercialization Fund (OICF) awards. Partnering with OTRADI provides researchers access to unique expertise and drug-discovery equipment as well as assistance with assay development, grant writing, and achieving the next steps to commercialization of new drug discoveries in Oregon. To learn more, see its website at http://www.otradi.org or contact OTRADI’s Director, Jennifer E. Fox, PhD, at jfox@otradi.org or 503-227-1814.

The Oregon Built Environment & Sustainable Technologies Center (Oregon BEST)

David Kenney, President and Executive Director
503-725-9849
Email: david.kenney@oregonbest.org
Website: http://oregonbest.org

An Economic Engine for Oregon’s Cleantech Economy

An economic development catalyst, Oregon BEST is the nexus for clean technology innovation—building capability, convening collaborations, and accelerating solutions to environmental challenges that deliver prosperity to all corners of Oregon.

By connecting Oregon startups and existing businesses with a range of programs, university lab facilities, and research experts, Oregon BEST helps grow the state’s cleantech economic sector. Fostering and supporting public-private collaborations, Oregon BEST sparks economic growth through commercialization of research—resulting in on-the-ground products, services, and jobs that power Oregon’s cleantech economy.

Oregon BEST’s work not only adds value and enhances competitiveness for Oregon businesses, it also grows the state’s research revenue, expands research programs, enhances workforce development, and positions Oregon to recruit new cleantech companies.

Since its establishment as an independent, nonprofit organization by the Oregon Legislature in 2007, Oregon BEST’s 210-plus Member Faculty have attracted more than $78 million in research revenue to Oregon from federal, industry, and foundation sources. Building on Oregon’s international reputation as a sustainability innovator, Oregon BEST offers a range of programs, expertise, and research facilities described below.

Oregon BEST Shared-User Research Facilities

Oregon BEST supports a statewide, university-based network of shared-user research facilities worth millions of dollars that offers Oregon industry access to cutting-edge research tools, faculty expertise, and workforce development opportunities. This unique, distributed network of labs, managed by Oregon BEST Member Faculty, helps Oregon firms compete globally and Oregon universities grow research revenue and educational opportunities.

To date, the Oregon BEST Shared-User Research Network includes the following facilities:

• SuNRISE Photovoltaics Laboratory at the University of Oregon
• Oregon Process Innovation Center (OPIC) for Sustainable Solar Cell Manufacturing at Oregon State University
• Green Building Research Laboratory at Portland State University
• Green Building Materials Laboratory at Oregon State University
• Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory with locations at the University of Oregon in Eugene and in Portland
• infraStructure Testing and Applied Research (iSTAR) Laboratory at Portland State University
• High Performance Environments (HiPE) Lab at the University of Oregon

People throughout Oregon benefiting from this shared-user network range from architects and construction firms engaged in sustainable built environment materials and design, to farmers and forest products companies producing biomass for clean fuels and bioproducts, to large and small companies generating solar, wind, geothermal, and wave energy.

Oregon BEST Member Faculty

A statewide network of 210+ Oregon BEST Member Faculty across four universities offer expertise and advice to industry to help Oregon companies, ranging from startups to existing firms, compete in the cleantech economy. The research expertise of Oregon BEST Member Faculty covers clean technologies of all kinds, as well as cleantech business expertise.

Oregon BEST Commercialization Program

This program accelerates the commercialization of technologies developed by universities and small businesses in Oregon. The program focuses on creating commercialization partnerships between industry and Oregon universities or leveraging existing collaborations between Oregon companies and Oregon BEST’s Member Faculty.

The commercialization collaborations that are catalyzed by Oregon BEST create much-needed jobs for Oregonians in the cleantech sector, which is expected to experience significant growth for decades to come. Simultaneously, the technologies commercialized help address the challenges of climate change, our nation’s dependence on fossil fuels, the environmental impacts of energy generation and building materials production, and the quality of our indoor environments.

The Commercialization Program has two main elements:

• Oregon BEST Commercialization Grants help bridge the gap between traditional R&D funding sources and the availability of private investment – a gap commonly known as the "valley of death." By working with Oregon BEST Member Faculty at our partner universities, the university tech transfer offices, and small businesses, we identify opportunities for small investments to make a big impact in moving products and services to market and to achieving success in securing follow-on financing and initial customer traction.
• Commercialization acceleration support services connect experienced entrepreneurs-in-residence on the Oregon BEST team with researchers and startups that need assistance in making the transition from "technology readiness" to "investment readiness" and "commercial viability." We provide consulting and mentorship to assist in the areas of business strategy, product strategy, acquisition of private capital, strategic business development, and management team formation. Oregon BEST leverages the wide range of entrepreneur support services available from other entities and provides a focal point for the development of cleantech products and cleantech companies.

Oregon BEST Sustainable Built Environment Research Consortium

This is a regional group of member firms, organizations, and researchers collaborating on applied research, development, and commercialization of sustainable technologies and services for the sustainable built environment.

The Oregon BEST Sustainable Built Environment Consortium and its members not only address a critical global need, but also help the region create jobs, increase intellectual capital, and advance Oregon’s role as an internationally recognized center for the commercialization of cutting-edge innovations in the built environment. Consortium members collaborate to achieve the consortium’s overarching goals, while creating a competitive advantage for member companies and organizations.

Consortium Members benefit from participation in a range of ways: Developers improve the success of their projects and businesses benefit from the unique opportunity to demonstrate their products and services as part of their commercialization pipeline. The unique nature of this test bed and the opportunity to evaluate product performance over time and over a broad range of projects will help boost the region’s economy by driving private partner revenue. Download the Sustainable Built Environment Research Consortium brochure.

Proposal Matching Program

The Oregon BEST Proposal Matching Program assists Oregon BEST Member Faculty and research teams win competitive proposals for research grants/contracts, research equipment acquisition, and product development/commercialization. The Oregon BEST matching funds provides support of activities that strengthen the competitiveness of proposals that might be difficult to fund with the primary funding agency’s funds.

Visionary Leadership

Oregon BEST’s leadership includes executives from some of the world’s most respected sustainable built environment and renewable energy companies: SolarWorld, Portland General Electric, Gerding Edlen Development, Collins Companies, CH2M HILL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Perkins Coie.

These executives join research leadership from Oregon BEST’s founding partner universities (see below), venture capital and corporate investors, and members of the Oregon Legislature to make up a visionary Board of Directors, a Commercialization Advisory Board, and staff—all committed to fueling Oregon’s green economy.

History and Founding Universities

Oregon BEST was established as an independent, nonprofit organization in 2007 as part of the Oregon Innovation Council’s legislative recommendations. Initial funding came from the Oregon Legislature, with additional support from the Oregon University System and the Meyer Memorial Trust. Founding partner universities include the Oregon Institute of Technology, Oregon State University, Portland State University, and the University of Oregon.