Oregon, Thinking Big, Goes Small With Nanotechnology

If nanotechnology is the new frontier in high-tech research, Oregon is positioning itself to stake an early claim.

Buffeted by economic trends that gave it the nation’s highest jobless rate for the past two years, the state needed a bold gesture to compete for the next wave of high-tech economic development. Politicians, university deans, researchers, venture capitalists, corporations and a federal laboratory have pooled resources in the past year to create the Oregon Nanotechnology and Microtechnologies Institute, or Onami.

By:
Paula L Stepankowsky
Wall Street Journal

http://www.nasvf.org/web/allpress.nsf/pages/9188

Nanotechnology refers to man-made structures less than 100 nanometers in size. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.

The nonprofit institute, headquartered near the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis, was the only newly funded project to come out of the cash-strapped legislature last year. Formally opened at the end of May with $21 million in state funding, Onami’s goal is to produce research that can be turned into commercially viable technologies to create jobs in Oregon.

"We looked at it as a way to jump-start economic development and put a stake in the ground in an area where our universities could become world class," said David Chen, a partner in venture capital company OVP Partners and chair of Onami’s advisory board.

Given Oregon’s relatively small size, advocates believed that only by pooling resources in the nanotechnology and microtechnology fields could the state make a name for itself.

"The whole point is to serve the entire state and bring about a collaboration involving the strongest portion of each of the research universities," said Skip Rung, Onami’s director.

This unprecedented cooperation between historically rival universities, coupled with the proximity of major corporate research centers owned by Intel Corp. (INTC) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), gives the Oregon effort an edge.

"We have a unique set of resources and an unparalleled commitment from every level of government and the private sector to make it go," said U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires. "We understand our pockets aren’t as deep as New York’s, but nobody is going to outwork us."

Wyden has a particular interest in nanotechnology. He pushed through a federal bill to fund a series of federal nanotechnology research centers around the country. Onami has applied to be a center.

Wyden was also instrumental in getting $10 million for two research projects at Onami included in the 2005 Defense spending bill now being considered by the full Senate.

Division Of Labor

Researchers from Oregon State University, the University of Oregon and Portland State University are working with researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., on Onami. Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland is also participating.

"The idea of taking nanotechnology and putting it in micro devices to help commercialize it is very appealing to us at the lab," said Ed Baker, division director for process science and engineering at Pacific Northwest.

The collaboration is also working because each university’s nanotech research is focused on a different area, said Ron Adams, dean of the College of Engineering at Oregon State.

Oregon State, for example, is working on micro heaters, while the group at the University of Oregon is working on materials that produce electricity when heated.

"Each party has a different strength to bring to the table," Adams said.

Commercialization of products is the ultimate goal. While no one has a time line for products or technologies, research at Oregon State so far has produced a technology that is being used by Home Dialysis Plus, a start-up company in Portland, to develop a small, in-home dialysis machine that may one day be worn or implanted. If successful, it will create jobs in Oregon.

Ties To Corporations

Onami also will have close ties and cooperate with companies like Intel and Hewlett-Packard. Until Onami moves into headquarters on the Oregon State campus, it is being housed at H-P’s research lab.

Corporations will be able to support Onami by licensing technology it develops, fund research in exchange for intellectual property rights or contribute money or equipment, Rung said.

The fact that Intel and H-P have such large research operations in the Portland area isn’t well known, Chen said.

"This is the hidden asset in Oregon," he said, adding that Onami researchers can try their theories in lab facilities.

The presence of regional venture capitalists who are interested in Onami is also a plus, Chen said. Three years ago, OVP Partners began to pay more attention to funding ventures within Oregon and Washington.

"I saw it as an opportunity where I could play a role – bring it to life and put a fine point on it by taking the abstraction out of the economic development discussion and making it very tangible," Chen said.

Onami advocates in Oregon aren’t worried about nanotech going the way of the dot-com and telecom bubbles.

Wyden said regardless of perceived buzz, the science of miniaturization is a trend that is inevitable in communications, transportation and many other areas.

"Onami is a real program that exists – it’s not just a semi-baked business plan that may or may not ever come to pass. Real people do real research, which is in demand," he said.