We live in a global economy. To compete and succeed in the world market, Oregon must focus on its strengths and cultivate its competitive advantages. The Pacific Northwest is recognized as a leader in fostering creativity—from competitive business practices to quality education and sustainable growth.

 

Oregon’s industries have the unique ability to rapidly turn ideas into products, systems and services that are differentiated, and thus competitive. Oregon businesses will stay competitive by being first to market with new ideas, adding value to their existing products, expanding high-value niche markets, increasing productivity and responsiveness to customers or increasing the knowledge and skills of its workforce to realize and generate further innovation.

 

Innovation isn’t just about research and development. Every worker is a potential source of the innovative ideas in order to develop new products, improve efficiency, and find out new ways of satisfying customers. The best businesses tap the talent and creativity of every worker to look for better ways to do everything, every day. For example, many Oregon firms are using innovative practices to become "high performance work organizations" that better tap worker skills and insights to increase productivity and responsiveness to customers.

In the past two decades, Oregon has moved from an economy chiefly based on forest products and agriculture to a balanced mix of technology-oriented and natural resource industries. Oregon’s economy is now supported by increases in international trade, in-migration, a high quality of life, and business diversification, with a multitude of large and small, traditional and emerging technology firms and traded-sector industries.

 

Innovation is more than just technology. Electronics and biotechnology may capture our imagination and the headlines, but innovation includes all the small and seemingly simple ways we make things better. It also includes figuring out new ways to reach the market and build customer satisfaction and loyalty. Whether it is the style of a new running shoe, the distinctive taste of an Oregon micro-brew or the organic appeal of Oregon country beef, new ideas move our economy forward.

Oregon is a leader in engineered wood products, microtechnologies, semiconductors and display systems, advanced manufacturing, fabrication and infrastructure engineering, sports apparel, neurosciences, specialized food and nursery products, distribution and logistics, tourism and recreational vehicles including RV and fishing boats. To keep that edge, Oregon needs to maintain a solid research infrastructure for new product development, increase its start-up capital to help new discoveries reach the marketplace, and enhance the ability of businesses to quickly access and adopt productivity tools that sustain their competitiveness.

The Governor’s Economic Development Vision to improve Oregon’s economy will be achieved with a four-fold strategy:

 

 

The state must expend and leverage resources to make sure our markets are open and accessible. This includes:

To sustain our economy for the generations to come, Oregon must invest in our intellectual capital. We must use our resources to invest in educating and training our citizens to create a next generation labor force able to compete in the global markets. Having a highly trained workforce with cutting-edge skills is critical to our success. Our investments in education and training must include:

To make Oregon globally competitive we must invest in targeted businesses and technologies that will drive the Innovation Economy. In addition to education and training, we must invest in the innovative ideas created in our universities and industries; we must make strategic investments in building Oregon’s capacity in our universities and by our citizens - and partner with private industry to bring those ideas and products to market. Our investments in innovation must include:

Government needs to balance a myriad of interests in order to govern for the public good. Often, the primary tool for action is through regulation of multiple interests. One way to facilitate Oregon’s economic growth is to seek the right balance between the benefits of regulation and the costs of "unfettered" growth. The State must use its resources to reduce barriers to business and growth when the costs of those barriers exceed the benefits received. We must continue to facilitate a positive business climate by: