Oregon Business

There’s so much opportunity in China, even the little guy can win big jobs.

Oregon’s economy is putting at risk Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s aggressive plans for tackling global warming.

Why be CEO when you can call yourself Chief Wisdom Officer? President sounds pretty dull, compared with Consultant of Leisure. And unlike a receptionist, a Director of Smiles can spread cheer with her nameplate alone.

SolarWorld employs more than 2,200 worldwide, including about 400 at its $440 million Hillsboro factory, which opened in October to produce solar crystals, wafers and cells. The plant, billed as the largest solar factory in the Americas, is capable of producing enough material each year to generate 100 megawatts of electricity.

Portland’s much-loathed free Wi-Fi network formally gave up the ghost in June. Its antennas continue to haunt streetlights around town; defunct contractor MetroFi opted to abandon them.

Oregon’s traded-industry sectors — natural resources, high-tech, manufacturing, creative services and green technologies — act as key indicators for the state’s economic performance. Here’s a snapshot of how some are doing and their ideas for weathering the recession.

Oregon’s top business leaders are weighing in on one of the state’s touchiest tax issues: recommending that the state divert at least some of the popular kicker tax rebates into a rainy day fund to help protect schools from budget cuts.

Intel’s latest chip technology was largely created at the company’s Hillsboro research factory, known as D1D, where about 600 engineers worked to build the chip on a scale many times narrower than a human hair. Intel is Oregon’s largest private employer, with about 15,000 workers in Washington County.

Venture firms outside Oregon have shown fresh interest in the state lately. Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group and Voyager Capital each stationed new representatives in Portland this year.

We look forward to seeing more cities score higher, and we expect an increasing pace of innovation adoption across the board.