[Editor’s note: The following is a guest post from Duane Benson of Screaming Circuits.]
Oregon has a long history with electronics hardware design, going back to the early days of Tektronix and Intel. Those two technology pioneers begat hardware startup companies like Radisys, InFocus, Planar, and a host of others. But over the last two decades, the local tech startup scene has been much more about the Internet and software than it has been about chips and solder.
That’s changing rapidly. Fueled by incubators, crowdfunding, open source hardware and innovations in flexible low volume electronics manufacturing, hardware has returned to the Oregon startup scene.
NEDME, the Northwest Electronics Design and Manufacturing Expo, features the theme of getting your product to market. NEDME came out of the Tektronix legacy and is, for 2018, refocusing on the new generation of hardware startups.
The expo… has grown into the largest event of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Originally called OctoberBest, it was a small collection of industry people enjoying food and good company at the Washington County Fairgrounds. Today, NEDME is held at the Tektronix Campus in Beaverton and features nearly 75 exhibitors from Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, and draws several hundred attendees each year.
True to its original values, this Northwest event continues to bring together members of the local high-tech industry in a unique way, all the while supporting a good cause—all proceeds from the show benefit the Oregon Food Bank.
With exhibitors, technical sessions, and two keynote addresses, this year’s NEDME has a wealth of information to help you navigate the increasingly complex world of hardware development.
NEDME features exciting tech innovators, such as the Portland State Aerospace Society, showing off their open source rocket platform and cube-sats. Rick Turoczy, Founder and editor at Silicon Florist, co-founder and general manager at PIE, will kick off the expo with the AM Keynote covering his PIE Cookbook: An Open Source Guide for Startup Accelerators. Duane Benson, of manufacturing innovator Screaming Circuits, will prognosticate on the next 10 years in manufacturing for the afternoon Keynote.
NEDME 2018 takes place October 3rd, 2018. It will be held on the Tektronix campus in Beaverton. There’s a menu of options for each attendee. Keynotes are free. Admission to the show floor is $5 or a can of food. Tech sessions are priced at $15 each.
For more information or to register, visit NEDME 2018.
