The buzz about Bend, Oregon is drawing a high-tech crowd

When Chris Reese came to Bend a dozen years ago, the city was just getting over the economic downturn of the 1980s. Back then, a computer programmer working for a video-game company in Bend was unusual, a far cry from the loggers of previous years.

Today, Reese, co-director of Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Bend studio, is one of many high-tech workers making their homes here. The Sony studio alone has about 60 employees, and other technology-oriented companies such as IdaTech, Bend Research and Chemica Technologies to name a few are growing rapidly.

The conventional wisdom is that Bend is a great place to retire, but increasingly it is a great place for young, technically savvy people to live and work, too.

Bend officials envision an industrial park and university campus at the north end of town. The so-called Juniper Ridge project could become the cornerstone of an invigorated regional economy based on science, engineering and innovation.

If those companies materialize as planned, they will bring even more skilled workers to the region, workers like Marshall Simmonds, Morgan O’Neal and Reese.

By Chrisian Trejbal, The (Bend) Bulletin

Full Story: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-04-26-tech-in-bend_x.htm