Maintaining Oregon's leadership in the clean tech economy

In this column, Pivotal Leaders network member Colin Sears of the Portland Development Commission’s Clean Tech Team discusses Oregon’s clean tech economy as a model for growth and the vital roles both policy and public-private partnerships play.

Oregon is in a unique position with our clean tech economy. Our aggressive policies over the last few decades have brought us to the forefront in clean technology, allowing us to grow significant jobs in the service sector as well adding to our manufacturing base. Going forward in the midst of our current budget crisis we will need to come up with creative solutions for maintaining our position as a North American clean tech leader. And such policies will need to be revenue-neutral at that.

This year was a banner one for clean tech in Oregon. Vestas committed to Portland and expanded their North American headquarters by investing in a piece of property that represents not only a win-win for the wind industry but also for our robust green development industry, with a major energy retrofit of a building that has long been derelict. SolarWorld in Hillsboro expanded and its location is now home more than 1,000 workers, making Oregon the number one state for photovoltaic solar manufacturing. Revolt Technology, a Swiss company, has committed to moving their R&D and North American headquarters to Portland as well. 

At conferences and tradeshows across North America and throughout Europe and Asia, Oregon's reputation as a great place to start, grow, expand or relocate clean tech businesses has continued to be substantial. In addition to these widely recognized successes, midsize and smaller companies have seen job growth and investment as well, during a year that was otherwise economically difficult for many in the Portland region. Companies such as Fluid Market Strategies and McKinstry added significant jobs during this year as the energy efficiency sector took off and energy efficiency retrofit work increased, specifically with the addition of Clean Energy Works Portland.

For the last several years, outsiders have been looking at the United States as a great, sleeping giant getting ready to wake in terms of market potential for clean technology and renewable energy. Since President Obama has taken office, outsiders and insiders alike have been frustrated with the lack of speed and tenacity with which his administration has tackled creation of aggressive policies for the clean tech sectors over all. From an international perspective, companies in Germany and Japan, among others, are beginning to look at the United States as 50 separate markets and 50 small countries, each with unique policies and incentives with respect to clean technology and renewable energy.

I have the humble privilege of being able to join the U.S. Economic Development Administration/International Trade Administration's Clean Tech Trade & Investment Mission. In late November we met with members of their clean tech clusters in the Rhone Alps region of France. Lyon and its neighboring communities have recently emerged as one of Europe's leading centers in clean technology. This was done with thoughtful planning and foresight, as 10 years ago companies in this region had very little expertise, know-how or significant critical mass in this arena. The French government took a proactive approach to organizing companies within their clean tech industries, while the businesses themselves stepped up to make significant investments in efforts to drive innovation and R&D within their industries.  Since the initiative was launched last decade, companies have been consistently adding jobs and expanding into new markets.

Just as government and industry came together in the Rhone Alps region to promote, grow and act upon growing their clean tech clusters, the state of Oregon and the Portland region can continue do the same in our region and beyond. Oregon has a strong history of successful public-private partnerships and our green development cluster was started specifically through these types of partnerships. As we look towards the next decade we must continue to have the public and private sectors committed to one another, to work together to grow these clusters in Oregon in order maintain a leadership position in an increasingly competitive environment.

The upcoming 2011 legislative session offers promise but certainly will be challenging for the clean tech clusters in Oregon. Through being creative, yet realistic, and having the private sector lead the conversation, clean tech leaders in the state should promote creative solutions around restructuring incentives and partnering with the public sector on policies that can impact the growth of the sectors. Just as with biotechnology in the past, a handful of winners within clean technology will emerge over the next decade. If we can maintain our leadership during this period, this will mean significant job growth in Oregon and the Portland region. Because of the effective, clean tech leadership at the corporate level, I believe that we can maintain our leadership position and further cement our global reputation as a leader in cleantech.

Colin Sears manages the Portland Development Commission's Clean Tech Team. Colin and his staff focus on retention, expansion and recruitment of Portland clean tech businesses in the wind industry, electric vehicle/energy storage and green development clusters.

The Pivotal Leaders business network aims to grow the Northwest clean tech industry by cultivating leadership in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and British Columbia. Through this twice-monthly column, members of the Pivotal Leaders network take turns discussing some of the most pressing issues and trends facing cleantech entrepreneurs in the Northwest and beyond.