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Innovation Drives Prosperity

Innovation Drives Prosperity 
for Every Oregonian

Learn how Oregon InC and innovators help our communities thrive 


What is Oregon InC?

The Oregon Innovation Council (Oregon InC) is a public-private partnership that supports innovators to take new technologies from an idea to market. The partnership oversees Business Oregon’s innovation programs. Guided by Oregon’s 10-Year Innovation Plan, Oregon InC supports innovation-based businesses that create new high-wage new jobs for all Oregonians, increase spending with local businesses and bring millions of federal and private investment dollars to communities across the state. 


Our Impact


Oregon InC’s Signature Research Centers turn research and ideas into marketable products and high-growth companies, creating $30 of investment in Oregon jobs and businesses for each dollar of state investment. 


Oregon InC’s nearly $3 million Commercialization Gap Fund investments enabled entrepreneurs to attract $8 million in grant funds and $6.6 million in capital raised that allows them to hire and grow in their communities. 


Oregon Inc’s Small Business Innovation Research matching program provided $7.8 million in grants to companies that leveraged $67.9 million in federal research dollars, accelerating company growth and creating well-paying jobs. 

 

Why Innovation?

Innovation-based businesses, which are high-growth, scalable companies that develop novel products, services, processes or business models that can be sold to national and international markets, have a massive multiplier effect on the regions where they grow. Not only do they create new high-wage jobs and spend dollars locally with restaurants, hotels, bookkeepers, marketers, and other small businesses, they produce greater economic benefit and more tax revenues than most other companies.


Why is Innovation Funding Important?

Oregon InC guides the implementation of Oregon’s 10-Year Innovation Plan, which lays out a roadmap to strengthen and grow innovation-based businesses locally. If fully implemented, the 10-Year Innovation Plan will provide the early funding innovators need to prove their ideas work and grow, hire and positively impact their communities.

Early funding is extremely difficult for Oregon innovators to secure from private investors.

 

Other states are investing millions to grow and attract entrepreneurs.

 

Every dollar Oregon InC invests in innovators brings dozens more into the state to the benefit of everyday Oregonians. 

 

Learn More About Innovation In Your Area

The Oregon InC programs positively impact everyday Oregonians. For example, take Inpria, a Corvallis-based semiconductor technology company that spun out of Oregon State University. The company needed funds to prove its radical new approach to microchip manufacturing worked, which can take years to a decade or more in highly sophisticated semiconductor facilities. Oregon InC awarded it a $100,000 SBIR matching grant with an additional $250,000 from Oregon InC-funded ONAMI, allowing the company to qualify for millions in federal grants and private funding, hire for 80 high-wage positions in Corvallis, and later be acquired by JSR for $514 million. The company will now continue to grow in Corvallis, spending tens of millions on construction, supporting local businesses and attracting engineering and science talent to the area. 

Inpria is an example of what’s possible when Oregon fosters innovation-based businesses through the 10-Year Innovation Plan. Read about a few of the other Oregon InC-supported companies improving quality of life across the state below.

Link to Story​

Family wage jobs are essential to help our rural communities thrive and our statewide economy flourish. And many communities that have successfully grown these jobs have turned to innovation-based businesses for sustainable growth, as young, innovative firms create most new jobs in the U.S. One city that has had outstanding results with this approach is Pendleton, which has transformed itself into the Pacific Northwest's premier Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), or drone, testing site. The city is now attracting many innovators to rural Oregon and fueling the growth of local, high-wage jobs as covered in ZDNet.
 
Oregon Innovation Council (Oregon InC), a public-private partnership under Business Oregon, provided a $301,000 High Impact Opportunity Project (HIOP) grant that allowed Pendleton to reimagine its underused airport into the Pendleton UAS Range. As part of Oregon InC’s goal to build innovation into the DNA of how Oregon does business, HIOP grants support high growth and emerging industries through strategic investments that grow innovation capacity and increase the competitiveness of Oregon companies. With Oregon InC’s support, the Pendleton UAS Range has grown into a 200+ acre high-tech testing center for top drone manufacturers, one of only a select number of official FAA-approved sites in the country. It’s now one of the busiest drone testing ranges in the nation with over 20,000 UAS operations in 2022.
 
By facilitating the needed research and development in this field, the Pendleton UAS Range has flourished, creating a thriving drone industry locally. Tenants have included top businesses from around the country, including Amazon, Airbus, NASA, Verizon and Insitu (owned by Boeing). Nine companies now lease space year-round. UAS products currently being tested at the range include innovations in agriculture, communications, defense, medical and technology industries. For example, the startup Spright is trialing UASs that can transport medical samples between health clinics and laboratories, lowering patient costs.
 
The Oregon InC HIOP grant played a crucial role in helping the test range in its early years. With its grant, the Pendleton UAS Range purchased critical equipment needed to build out its rapid prototyping facility, which helped attract new tenants by significantly speeding up their product development process. This unique capability allows drone companies to create and test new parts which would otherwise create substantial delays in product development. With Oregon InC’s grant, the Pendleton UAS Range has become a world-class drone testing facility, attracting companies from all over the U.S.
 
In a county whose non-farm employment has remained flat over the last 20 years, the jobs created at Pendleton UAS Range have an outsized impact on the local economy. Powered by Oregon InC’s grant, employment connected to the UAS Range has grown from 20 to 200 jobs over the last six years. Workers are employed in a variety of roles including engineers, drone pilots, software experts and parts fabricators. Positions typically do not require a college degree and pay $60,000 - $100,000 per year with great benefits – much higher than the local average salary of $43,000 per year​.  
 
“We were able to stay the course through the early lean years because of the resources we received from Oregon InC. We knew we had a good business model and if we had the resources to hire experts and deploy our plan, the Pendleton UAS Range would create hundreds of new jobs both at the test range and with local restaurants, hotels and other businesses,” Pendleton Economic Development and Airport Director Steve Chrisman said.
 
The Pendleton UAS Range positions the city at the forefront of the next 100 years of drone development. As the drone industry grows in Eastern Oregon, more high-skill workers earning above average wages will be needed. Pendleton’s burgeoning drone workforce has in turn supported local businesses as they move their families to the city and spend locally. Already, Radisson has opened a 75-room hotel near the airport, drone companies are hiring local construction companies to build out their facilities, and restaurants and car rental companies have reported an increase in customer traffic.
 
Steve sees what’s happening in Pendleton as part of a larger opportunity in Oregon. If we take action to support innovation, a multitude of new high wage jobs will flourish and support our communities with sustainable economic growth. Innovation can happen anywhere in Oregon when the right funding is available.
 
“We have lots of creative minds in this state – freethinkers that are not afraid to take a risk. Leaps of faith like the investment made in the Pendleton UAS Range present great opportunities for Oregon if we’re nimble and aggressive in pursuing them.” ​
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Portland-based Biomotum and its CEO, Ray Browning, are on a mission to provide life-changing rehabilitation for patients with mobility issues. The startup has developed a wearable device that improves walking function for patients with conditions like cerebral palsy or who have experienced a stroke. Funding from the Oregon Innovation Council (Oregon InC), a public-private partnership under Business Oregon that supports innovators to take new technologies from an idea to market, was essential for Biomotum to advance product development and secure private funding that will allow them to grow, hire and contribute to Oregon’s economy. 

“You can’t start a business like this in a state that doesn’t have a focus on innovation,” Browning said. “Cities and states across the country are investing vast amounts to grow and attract entrepreneurs, and those investments are crucial to a startup’s ability to grow and benefit their region.” 

“Innovation produces businesses that have a positive feedback loop in their communities. In addition to creating jobs, they hire accountants and marketers, and support restaurants and local programs like libraries. Everyone in the community benefits when new innovation-based businesses emerge, either through the products directly as with our robotic exoskeleton, or through the increased tax base which funds important services like community colleges,” he said. 

Browning says support from Oregon InC was vital to help Biomotum increase its local impact and develop a product that improves the lives of people with mobility impairment. Biomotum first received support from the Oregon Translational Research and Development Institute (OTRADI), an Oregon InC-funded Signature Research Center focused on bioscience. OTRADI provided entrepreneurial mentoring, connections to other founders and investors and access to state-of-the-art bioscience facilities. 

Biomotum then received a $200,000 investment from Oregon InC’s Commercialization Gap Fund (CGF) to help get its robotic exoskeletons into the hands of patients who need them most. CGF dollars play a special role in helping young startups take the next step to bring new technologies to market. Funding for a developing company like Biomotum that needs early capital to turn their research into marketable products is difficult to secure due to the long-term return expectations on early-stage investments.

Oregon InC’s investment in such early-stage companies is essential to help innovators turn their ideas into successful businesses that can hire and grow in Oregon. Further, Oregon InC’s funding provided Biomotum with evidence its idea could be successful, and the company has since been able to secure $1.3 million in investment.  

“We wouldn’t be an entity without Oregon InC and OTRADI,” Browning said. 

The Oregon InC funding allowed Biomotum to improve its products and business plan and begin building a go-to-market strategy. Biomotum used the funds to hire two new engineers, pay for local legal, accounting, insurance and software development services, and fund production of devices for the first customers. With the support of OTRADI, Oregon InC, and angel investors, Biomotum is now offering its mobility systems to medical researchers and is currently seeking FDA clearance.

Biomotum sees these state investments in innovation as a way of bridging divides.

“Innovation brings people together,” Browning said. “It’s something folks can rally behind, no matter their differences. It also creates a funnel for young people to grow their careers without leaving their communities. Innovation gives the next generation space to try, fail and try again, which is essential to solving difficult challenges in our state and society.”


For medically underserved rural communities and communities of color, lack of access to proper disease testing is a major hindrance to healthcare accessibility and quality of life. It’s long been incredibly challenging to test for fatal or incapacitating diseases in regions where there are few facilities with full-scale testing equipment. 

Portland-based Hemex Health is one of many Oregon businesses taking this global challenge head on. They’re empowering the frontlines of healthcare with an inexpensive, portable and easy-to-use diagnostic device named the Gazelle. The product provides affordable, accurate testing for diseases like sickle cell anemia, beta thalassemia and COVID-19 in challenging locations like the remote regions of India. 
     
To develop and launch the Gazelle, Hemex Health sought funding from the Oregon Innovation Council (Oregon InC), a public-private partnership under Business Oregon that supports innovators to take new technologies from an idea to market. Oregon InC supported Hemex Health with $300,000 in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Matching and Enhanced Innovation Grants. Hemex Health also received access to state-of-the-art lab facilities from the Oregon Translational Research and Development Institute (OTRADI), an Oregon InC-funded Signature Research Center focused on bioscience. OTRADI has provided Hemex Health with networking opportunities with other companies, introduced them to granting organizations from which they’ve received funding and support, and flexible space needed to expand during COVID-19 to maintain operations.

With the seed funding provided by Oregon InC, Hemex Health was able to hire three people, including lab technicians and engineers, and two Oregon contract engineering firms to supplement internal staffing. The focus of their work was finishing design and running clinical studies to ensure the diagnostics performed well.  

“Even though it may seem like a small amount of money in comparison to traditional angel or venture capital funding, it makes a big difference in our ability to expand locally and deploy our technology,” Hemex Health Co-founder and CEO Patti White said. 

That crucial early funding from Oregon InC led to Hemex Health receiving an additional $1.8 million in federal grants that supported Oregon jobs and local spending. In addition, the Oregon InC funding enabled the company to enter the market and is now selling the Gazelle in 27 countries. Today, the company has sold more than 950 Gazelles and over 350,000 tests, which are being used in underserved communities worldwide. Hemex Health plans to submit for FDA clearance to sell the sickle cell test in the U.S toward the end of 2023.
     
Hemex Health is a prime example of the growing biotech/biomedical industry in Oregon, an industry that directly generated $2.0 billion in wages, 22,690 jobs and $4.4 billion in exports in 2020​. Oregon InC’s funds have made way for the Hemex Health team to scale operations, and it now has 20 staff working high-wage jobs in Oregon and an additional 10 in India. When looking at the impact the Gazelle has already had, the benefits that Oregon’s economy receives from investing in biomedical innovation are apparent.  

“Innovation builds greater entrepreneurs and produces a ripple effect where folks want to stay in their communities, continue innovating, and start new companies that will grow and benefit Oregonians,” White said. “Businesses like ours are problem solvers who take on the world’s challenges. Oregon is uniquely positioned to take the lead in addressing big issues, especially in healthcare, if we set innovators up for success.”​


Water scarcity and drought are growing concerns for Oregonians. According to a recent survey, 40% of people across the state see water shortages as a very serious problem. What many don’t know, however, is that there are innovators here in Oregon working on solutions to increase water resilience and improve housing sustainability locally and across the nation. One of those innovators is Bend-based LeapFrog Design, a company that develops natural water treatment and reuse systems for homes that increase water conservation. Its technology stands to bring the rapidly growing water recycling industry to Bend.

Turning a great idea – like a household greywater recycling system – into a product fully ready for purchase is an expensive, multiyear project. Development of innovative products can sometimes take 5-10 years or longer. And many Oregon entrepreneurs report that there are very few funding options for early-stage companies bringing high-impact products to market. 

Like many Oregon startups, LeapFrog Design needed financial support to continue testing and development after developing its initial concept. They turned to the Oregon Innovation Council (Oregon InC), a public-private partnership under Business Oregon that supports innovators to take new technologies from an idea to market, to fill crucial funding shortages. 

Oregon InC’s Commercialization Gap Fund (CGF) provides funding for businesses like LeapFrog Design that need early-stage funding to turn research and development into new products and companies. The CGF provides critical first investments in new companies that enable them to unlock additional private investment. In turn, innovators hire in their communities, spend funds with local small businesses like restaurants and accountants, and increase their region’s economic resilience.

“The timeline for developing a product like ours is often extended and slower than in industries like software or tech,” Co-founder and CEO Adam DeHeer said. “Without support from Oregon InC, it can be very difficult to get private equity for innovations that take years to see financial returns. Oregon InC’s funding allows entrepreneurs to cross the bridge between developing an idea and getting it to market, which enables us to positively impact our communities.”     

Oregon InC’s $250,000 CGF investment enabled LeapFrog Design to test its water reuse products in the field with Oregon homeowners. LeapFrog Design was able to hire a project manager and engineering technician essential for testing its products. They were also able to submit treated water from their system for third-party testing, which showed that LeapFrog Design's water reuse system is successfully measuring at drinking water quality and beating all treatment standards. Additional funds were used to file a full patent protecting the intellectual property of this technological innovation. Through its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Matching Grant Program, Oregon InC also supported LeapFrog Design by providing matching funds to its nearly $1 million SBIR federal grant. Leapfrog Design is using this critical cash to hire sales, marketing and communications employees in Oregon, and for communication materials and registration to attend industry trade shows. 

Oregon InC’s assistance is supporting LeapFrog Design to grow substantially and hire in Central Oregon as it prepares to launch its products. This puts Bend at the forefront of the rapidly expanding water recycling and reuse industry, which is expected to be worth nearly $30 billion by 2026​. 

LeapFrog Design has a bright future ahead of it in Central Oregon. Its progress and the investment dollars it has brought into our state will benefit Oregonians for years to come – and it’s an example of what’s possible when our state takes action to support innovation.

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When it comes to something as critical as spinal surgery, having the safest and most efficient medical tools possible makes a massive difference on patient outcomes and healthcare costs. One Oregon City-based company, NeuraMedica Inc., is making giant strides in improving spinal surgery. And it’s doing so with the help of the Oregon Innovation Council (Oregon InC), a public-private partnership under Business Oregon that supports innovators to take new technologies from an idea to market, bringing millions in investment dollars into our state as a result. Oregon InC’s ongoing support for NeuraMedica has sustained the company through the rigorous U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance process and allowed it to launch its first product commercially.  
     
NeuraMedica’s innovative surgical clip allows neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons to close spinal dural incisions in a fraction of the time compared to a traditional suture closure. The dura mater, or dura, is the membrane that covers and protects the brain and spinal cord and also houses the cerebrospinal fluid. Quickly closing the dura can substantially reduce potential life-threatening complications. The bioabsorbable clip, which dissolves into the body after use, emerged from research first conducted at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) by neurosurgeon, Co-Founder, and Chief Medical Officer Neil Roundy M.D. NeuraMedica’s other co-founder and CEO, Rachel Dreilinger, who is Diné (Navajo), is one of the few Native medical device company founders in the U.S.  

Oregon InC’s investments have been a “life saver” for NeuraMedica, according to Dreilinger, providing funding at times when the company most needed support. MedTech companies like NeuraMedica design products that take many years to develop and achieve FDA clearance. Research, testing, and product development needed for FDA clearance can span many years during which startups will not be profitable. 

This gap makes it extremely challenging for biomedical innovators to secure venture capital funding, because the longer development timeline delays investor returns. Dreilinger says that Oregon InC came through for NeuraMedica when they were between federal grants or faced substantial expenses that federal grants do not cover – such as patent filing – an essential step on the long road to FDA clearance. Continuous, ongoing state funding is needed to help biomedical entrepreneurs make progress and bring their products to market. 

To power NeuraMedica’s research and development, Oregon InC awarded it $300,000 in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Matching Grants, which multiply the impact of federal funding, while the Oregon InC-funded Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI) invested $250,000. An additional ONAMI grant of $45,000 allowed NeuraMedica to hire two postdoctoral interns in 2016 and led to follow-on federal funding, with which NeuraMedica hired its first two employees in 2017. Additionally, this early funding helped NeuraMedica with: 
  • Clip and polymer development
  • Bench, cadaver, and biocompatibility testing
  • Large animal feasibility study
  • FDA documentation
  • FDA pre-submission contact

The SBIR Matching Grants also covered critically important patent costs, sales and marketing expenses, equipment, production mold tooling, and process development – all activities that were not covered by other grants and funding.

Early-stage support from Oregon InC enabled the company to obtain competitive federal grants and attract a private investment of $1 million by Michael Tippie of ​Alignment Ventures, bringing those funds into our state’s economy. 

In spring of 2020, the company received a $50,000 Oregon InC Enhanced Innovation Grant when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the economy hardest. The money was essential to completing a major study required for FDA clearance at a moment when many funding opportunities were drying up. 

Now, NeuraMedica is celebrating a major milestone. Its surgical clip received clearance from the FDA in July 2022 which enables it to launch commercially. NeuraMedica is now targeting expansion and growth which will create well-paying local jobs and attract and retain bioscience and medical professionals in our state.  
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Our Programs

Oregon InC is the primary investor in three Signature Research Centers (SRCs)​: Oregon Nanoscience & Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), Oregon Translational Research & Development Institute (OTRADI) and VertueLab. Our SRCs support hundreds of entrepreneurs across the state, helping them advance product development and win investment capital. The SRCs have generated $30 of economic impact for each dollar of state investment (*includes research dollars, private funding and company revenue, does not include state tax revenue). ​

The next iteration of the SRCs is launching in Fall 2023. Oregon InC’s Centers of Innovation Excellence (CIEs)​ are public-private partnerships that will develop funding, facilities, talent and support services in key industry sectors where Oregon has a competitive advantage. The CIEs will focus on technology commercialization and applied research and development in sectors such as semiconductor, bioscience, climate tech, food and beverage manufacturing, mass timber housing and more.

Oregon InC has two main programs that help innovators turn promising ideas into viable businesses that benefit their communities. The first is our Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) matching grant program, which accelerates crucial research and development needed to launch a business and attract capital. It generates nearly $9 of community investment for each $1 of state funding. The second is our Commercialization Gap Fund​ which provides early investments to science and research-based companies to bridge financial gaps until private investment is accessible. Over 57% of this program’s investments have gone to women and/or founders of color.​​

Oregon InC’s High Impact Opportunity Project (HIOP)​ grants grow high value industry sectors by giving financial support for research, development, testing and bringing products to market. HIOP funds support industries like metals manufacturing, chemical processing, digital health, biosciences, unmanned aerial systems, agriculture, wood products and food & beverage. ​

Oregon InC partners with universities and industry groups to solve some of the toughest issues facing our citizens, local industries and society. We collaborate with manufacturers, and higher education institutions at the Oregon Manufacturing Innovation Center (OMIC) to scale and advance the state’s manufacturing capabilities. We also lead the University Innovation Research Fund​, which enables Oregon’s public universities to better compete at the national level for federal research funds aimed at economic innovation.​

One of the 10-Year Innovation Plan’s key strategies is the creation of Regional Innovation Hub​s across the state. Each hub will provide Oregon’s innovation entrepreneurs with access to technical assistance, capital, networking, mentorship, and talent development. They’ll coordinate existing support and cultivate new resources, maximizing them and enhancing their accessibility for diverse and rural entrepreneurs who have historically struggled to access the resources necessary to start innovation-based businesses. Business Oregon’s hubs will play an integral role in scaling high growth businesses within communities statewide and creating a culture of innovation.


 Our Partners