Biotech Companies in Oregon: Why Are We Here?
By Linda Barney, Barney and Associates

The morning panel discussion covered why several key companies chose to come or stay in Oregon and what they have learned about doing business in Oregon. They also discussed what can be done by public and private stakeholders in the bioscience community to improve the climate and attract more multinational companies, while keeping our startups.

Moderator Tom Hughes of Tonkon Torp and former mayor of Hillsboro, began by describing the process the City of Hillsboro took in attracting and keeping current businesses. Hughes described Hillsboro as the center of three growing clusters: semiconductors, solar energy and bioscience. In the past few years, Hillsboro has attracted major companies including SolarWorld and Genentech to locate in the Portland area.

Hughes states, “Our area has a number of desirable features including a highly educated and trained technology workforce in the semiconductor field with companies like Intel located in the city. Interested companies often want 20–100 acre sites, the infrastructure must be in place, and they want building to be approved in a short time. Government must provide a streamlined approval process, be able to handle hazmat materials, or answer questions about specific company needs. In the case of Genentech, they needed additional training for their workforce and we worked with Portland Community College to develop the Bioscience Technology Program to help meet this need.”

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Why we stay in Oregon

A number of companies were founded in Oregon and were then purchased by firms outside the state. This section describes why the companies have stayed and even expanded in Oregon.

Micro Systems Engineering, Inc.

Micro Systems Engineering, Inc. (MSEI) was formed in 1978 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Biotronik GmbH. Today, MSEI is a microelectronics supplier and research and development center of Biotronik. Juergen Lindner, general manager and COO of Micro Systems Engineering, describes the company as one of the fastest growing companies in our field. Linder stated, “Our site is still the main site for major platform development (R&D) and we also manufacture here. In the past 10 years, we tripled output in Oregon. We were here because one of our original founders is from Oregon, but we must be competitive globally and our employees are the key reason we remain here.”

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Tyco Electronics

Tyco Electronics acquired the Oregon firm Precision Interconnect that focuses on medical and test equipment. The Tyco site is located in Wilsonville and has a workforce of 500 people. Matt Smits, director of business stated, “We can maintain our position in Oregon because of the skill sets of the electronics engineering workforce talent here. There have been spin-outs from Tyco into new competitive companies. Workforce training program are a key factor and will benefit everyone in Oregon.”

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Welch Allyn

Peter Murray, VP of operations for Welch Allyn stated, “We were founded in Oregon as the former company named Protocol Systems, and the products and culture were a good fit for Welch Allyn. We continue to stay in Oregon because of the quality of the workforce where there are many talented people and because it is easy to work with state government. We want to work through the OBA to develop best practices for the industry.”

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Why we moved to Oregon: Genentech

Genentech purchased its Oregon property in 2006, and expanded to build a new West Coast warehouse and distribution center at the Hillsboro site, which was operational in July 2008. A manufacturing facility will be licensed and operational in 2011.

Steve Hansen, regional manager for state government affairs at Genentech stated, “I would like to thank former mayor Tom Hughes: he knows what it takes to make permitting efficient and work with state and local government. John Tortoricci, OBA president, has helped OBA mature and become more effective by creating a voice in Salem and developing clearly articulated goals for what can make the biotechnology industry bigger in the state.”

Hansen described some of the factors that helped Genentech select the state. “Oregon used a single sales factor tax basis which doesn’t penalize a company for building and creating jobs in the state. Oregon has state and local officials that know how to work together. Oregon was also the right culture fit for Genentech. Workers here are a big competitive advantage—Oregonians are hard workers, they are smart, and willing to get the job done. Our founders worked out the idea for Genentech over a beer. We founded a site in Oregon where workers can wear jeans and where workers are not afraid to challenge imbedded ideas. Our Oregon site is a critical facility that will be an important site for years. We will continue to work to make sure that other biotechnology companies  grow and prosper in the state.”

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What happens next and what needs to change?

The panel discussed some barriers to growth and what they think should be done to grow the Oregon biotechnology industry. Gordon Brown, a consultant who was director of operations at Life Technologies (Invitrogen) and a number of other companies stated, “The keynote speech hit the nail on the head about the cluster effect. Our university systems must change the way we do business to accelerate growth. We must have fast licensing and foster growth in university systems. There are differences in how biotechnology companies develop – they do not necessarily start with 14 lawyers in a room but can be conceptualized over a beer.”

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Juergen Linder of Micro Systems Engineering stated, “Utah is a state similar to Oregon with one large metro area and in the same time zone. Utah has 70% of Oregon’s workforce but its employment in biotech companies is 2.5 times that of Oregon. Perhaps the reason is the USTAR program which fosters collaboration between university and companies that were developed from university research. Oregon needs to develop or expand on such a program.” Steve Hansen from Genentech indicates that programs are needed to train the middle workers on specific skills required by industry.

Oregon programs to aid in innovation and collaboration

Oregon has a number of programs to aid in innovation and collaboration. The Oregon Translational Research and Drug Development Institute (OTRADI) is a signature research center dedicated to providing a unique and previously missing link between Oregon university researchers and biotech or pharmaceutical companies to fuel drug discovery and commercialization in Oregon. Hughes suggested that funding for and working with ONAMI , Oregon Built Environment & Sustainable Technologies Center (Oregon BEST) and collaborations between industry and universities should also continue even in this time of budget shortfall.

Panel members believe that Oregon has much potential and that the biotechnology sector often undersells its capabilities in the state. They indicate that the OBA is working to give small companies exposure and that collaboration and advertising in the industry should be expanded to showcase what the Oregon biotechnology sector can do.


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 the Software Association of Oregon, the Oregon Bioscience Association, the Clean Technology Alliance, and the Supercomputing Conference. Contact Linda at linda@barneyassoc.com.