Oregon Economic Development

The company cited Oregon’s efforts to nurture renewable sources of energy.

For the first time in the three decades since Intel came to Oregon, significant numbers of the chip maker’s alumni seem similarly inclined. Some, like Muray, are starting their own companies. Others are taking skills learned at Intel to established Oregon tech businesses, refreshing a high-tech economy that has been stagnant since the dot-com bust.

The report, according to a release from the Governor’s Office, shows Oregon is making strong progress in terms of economic growth, public safety and livable communities, while challenges remain in other areas, including education, civic engagement, social support and the environment based on established state goals.

The fountain of new companies, jobs and tax revenue that was supposed to flow from taxpayers’ investment has not materialized as rapidly as envisioned. And OHSU’s new president, Joseph Robertson, acknowledges that the university’s projections were "optimistic" and "exuberant."

Few tall pines sprout in Oregon’s Silicon Forest, but the state turns out to be pretty good at nurturing transplants.

Can Oregon, Metro and Portland learn from the rest of the nation in their new planning efforts: Regulation and policy, alone, do not produce development.

As towns such as Missoula, Montana, and Sun Valley, Idaho, have also found, trees are more valuable standing than chopped down for lumber, says Nina Chambers, a researcher with a think-tank called the Sonoran Institute.

Practical applications – The center will draw on researchers at all seven state university campuses

The Oregon Innovation Council (Oregon InC), which spent a year reviewing how best to expand the state’s economy by leveraging industry-supported initiatives with public investments, may get to see the toils of its labor come to fruition.