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Innovate|Collaborate|Oregon—Providing opportunities for Oregon university bioscience research and businesses
By Linda Barney, Barney and Associates

Innovate|Collaborate|Oregon (ICOregon) is a collaboration of the four major Oregon research universities— Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), Oregon State University (OSU), Portland State University (PSU), and the University of Oregon (UO). It provides a way for Oregon universities to publicize their research capabilities and potential for turning research ideas into start-up business ventures. ICOregon was the brainchild of Kristen Rencher, director of technology development at the OHSU Office of Technology Transfer and Business Development, who also manages the inventions that come out of the Knight Cancer Institute at OHSU.

Rencher states, “While attending a conference, I realized we needed a single brand that could publicize the technology transfer and bioscience potential of our major research universities in Oregon. I hatched the idea where the four major universities would join together to create a united front for Oregon higher education on technology transfer, innovations, and things coming out of Oregon. We could use Innovate|Collaborate|Oregon as our brand when we go to conferences or other events. It is a way for us to pool our resources and money to let the world know that Oregon universities are a great place to do research, form inventions, collaborate to turn ideas into business opportunities, and reach the private sector to create products and services which benefit the public."

"While attending a conference, I realized we needed a single brand that could publicize the technology transfer and bioscience potential of our major research universities in Oregon."

ICOregon uses a three-pronged approach to publicize research being done by the universities: the ICOregon website, an annual conference, and university collaboration.

Website makes promising discoveries accessible to businesses

The ICOregon website provides information on ICOregon goals and research being done by the four universities. The site is designed to make it easy to find information on university research.

Businesses and those interested in working with the universities can use the Available Technologies portal to quickly locate promising discoveries and collaboration opportunities at Oregon’s universities. Bioscience research at universities is listed in categories such as agriculture, devices, Nanoscience, and microtechnologies. Visitors click on a category and a list displays relevant research including detailed information about the research and the names of inventors or researchers at the university.

The Tech Transfer section of the website contains links to technology transfer contacts at each university so it is easy to locate who to talk to about potential technology transfer opportunities.

Oregon Innovation Showcase highlights Oregon bioscience

ICOregon hosts the Oregon Innovation Showcase conference, which highlights a specific aspect of bioscience research, development, and business opportunities each year. Hosted by Innovate|Collaborate|Oregon and the Oregon Bioscience Association, the November 2010 Innovation Showcase: The Design and Development of Medical Devices will feature presentations from Oregon’s four premier research universities and local medical device companies for an afternoon of science, business, and networking. The event brings together community members from both academic and industry settings, providing a forum to raise awareness about the state of the medical device sector in Oregon. Other features include a networking reception and poster session. Last year’s event—called Business and the Brain and focused on neuroscience in Oregon—was attended by over 150 guests, including business and science leaders, political figures, and investment community members.

Encouraging university research and industry collaboration

ICOregon was created as a university collaboration resource and a single place to locate information about bioscience research in Oregon. “We encourage researchers at universities, scientists, businesses and investors to use the ICOregon website to locate information about research done at Oregon universities,” states Rencher. “Feel free to use the site to contact researchers or technology transfer staff at universities to discuss how to turn research into a viable technology that is licensable or can be used to create start-up businesses.”


Linda Barney is the founder and owner of Barney and Associates, a technical / marketing writing, training and web design firm in Beaverton, Oregon that provides writing and web content for the high tech, government, biotechnology, medical, sustainability and scientific communities. Linda writes articles for clients as well as the Software Association of Oregon, the Oregon Bioscience Association, the Clean Technology Alliance, and the Supercomputing Conference. Contact Linda at linda@barneyassoc.com.


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