Breakout Groups: Themes & Issues
Southern Willamette Valley/Eugene Regional Meeting

Group #1 (Jason)

People

• More funding for education
• Keeping folks in Oregon (brain drain); business helping workers stay in Oregon
• Stable education funding
• Higher education – top tier

Place

• Maintain current focus on quality place
• Increase public infrastructure investments
• Bridging the urban/rural divide
• Revising/refining state land use policy
• Balancing place with business development
• Education
• Affordable housing

Productivity

• Targeted tax programs to incentivize industry investment
• Incentivising green industry investments
• Transportation infrastructure improvements
• Worker training/development
• Continuity in policy making, collaboration in policy making
• Comprehensive tax reform
• Air transportation options

Pioneering Innovation

• Access to capital
• Better marketing strategies
• Focusing on tech transfer; tie tenure to commercial development
• Support professional services infrastructure; spin-off development
• State/university/community/private industry collaboration

Group #2

People

• Training; industry specific; connection to business education (interns)
• Engineering (community colleges are good for mid-level)
• Basic Skills: read, write, math (K-12, spelling)
• Losing graduates
• Disinvestments in education; higher education especially
• Diversity is a problem

Place

• High speed internet (off I-5)
• Agreement on city size (urban growth boundary)
• More competition on quality of life
• Move toward consensus on economy and environment
• Social compact on uses of resources
• Region-wide transportation
• Air and rail access
• ESA in urban areas/rural
• Zoning to support clusters

Productivity

• Transportation infrastructure
• Simplify permitting, building, esp. local: less combative; more incentives, less “enforcement”; more flexibility
• Harmonize: federal, state, local; local requirements
• Tax incentives
• More welcoming, open
• Develop Agriculture ‡ value added; co-ops
• Investment to raise productivity
• Recruit develop clusters

Pioneering Innovation

• Revamp enterprise zones
• Expand venture capital access
• Evaluate, improve R&D pipeline (all the way to products); systemic
• Entrepreneurial thinking in schools, culture; creative, leadership
• Brand Oregon/sustainability
• Make more knowledge workers
• Make more use of natural resource base
• Arts

Group #3

People

• Retaining talent
• Entrepreneurial training
• Oregon does have centers of tech excellence (private and academic)
• Recruit targeted clusters to jumpstart the process
• Improve public perception of Oregonians
• More support of education continuity
• Stabilize K-12 funding system
• Low on PhDs is a problem
• Leadership problem (dysfunctional) – need more leadership
• More ability to anticipate change

Place

• Can’t leverage our great environment that would attract more $ and business
• Bad out of state P.R. and marketing that keep people away
• Land use laws increase uncertainty of developing business
• Need more collaboration in the area of forest resources
• Provincialism
• Lost of good stuff – take more advantage of this

Productivity

• Strategic Alignment
• Too much regulation (biotech ‡ state tech transfer review, 75,000 review)
• Need business ombudsman
• Need to educate public officials about the importance of business
• Lack business incentives – need more
• Polarization is a way of life in Oregon

Pioneering Innovation

• Passenger air links are key
• Access to capital
• OCKED is all over this
• Need to provide more support, entrepreneurs
• Expand R&D statewide

Group #4

People

• Advancing the national recognition; lacking for tech/engineering schools in Oregon
• Loss of higher wage jobs to other states limits revenue
• State funding formula placed K-12 at “lowest common” level
• Lack of state education funding to reward better educational results
• Workforce capacity in region is very strong: 50 applications for one job
• Region/state economy is built on large number of self-employed
• Need for investment in work skills of many transitional workers
• Losing “best and brightest” to other states/communities
• 50% of University of Oregon graduates stay in Oregon
• More integration between education communities and business community
• Provide personalized/flexible education model to encourage individual students

Place

• Region “place advantage” can’t overcome attraction of higher wages and higher education options in other areas
• Rising housing costs in metro areas cause residence in outlying/rural areas with increase commute costs
• Land use policies are recently becoming limiting factors for continued economic growth and diversity
• Community and individual land ready for development
• Not the easiest environment to develop land resources to individual, community, residential needs
• Limits to infrastructure investments in rural community creates disadvantages against metro areas
• Recreational amenities can face conflicts between neighbors
• Lack/loss of strategic/vision alignment within communities of region

Productivity

• Using national assets to strong economy
• Continuity of policies is need to sustain “good” investments
• Improve capacities/modes of transportation
• Need greater flexibility in business uses within specific zones in community

Pioneering Innovation

• Tap into University research capacities to build/sustain economy
• Build signature research center that includes business opportunities
• Increase “start-ups” business from University of Oregon into tech park
• Necessary capital resources to fuel/sustain Oregon emerging traded sector
• Identify and focus on “emerging” technologies to capture economic opportunities for Oregon

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