Portland, Oregon, startup news, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
Given that the Oregon 10 year Innovation Plan is top of my mind, I’ve been poking around to see what other states are doing in support of innovation and entrepreneurship. And this proposed legislation for Missouri was interesting for a number of reasons.
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Oregon now has a strategy for guiding the future of innovation in the state. The nearly 100 page document, created by TEConomy Partners from Ohio based on the insights from a number of interviews from around the state and months of guidance from the Oregon Innovation Council Futures Commission, provides strategic direction on recommended activities that will enable Oregon to foster innovation, entrepreneurship, and investment over the next 10 years.
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After a long search, Oregon Governor Kate Brown has selected Sophorn Cheang to lead the primary economic development agency for the state of Oregon, Business Oregon.
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I’ve been tracking with interest the state of Oregon’s efforts to outline and plan for the next decade of innovation and entrepreneurship for all of its residents. Business Oregon and TEConomy Partners — the Ohio consultancy hired to build out the plan — recently updated the Oregon House Committee on Economic Development on their progress.
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[Editor: The following is a guest post from Kate Kaye, a freelance reporter here in Portland who has been actively researching, monitoring, and reporting on facial recognition technology in Portland.]
Silicon Florist readers know a lot about Portland tech. But did you know early next month Portland City Council could pass the most restrictive ban in the country — potentially the world — on one type of technology?
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Going through one pandemic is more than enough for anyone. Imagine going through two. At the same time. That’s the case with Black-owned businesses and Black community support organizations as they battle both the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing effects of 400+ years of systemic racism. Now, there’s a chance to funnel federal CARES Act dollars into supporting these organizations with The Oregon Cares Fund.
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It seems patently ridiculous that the so called “Land of Opportunity” would need a jumpstart for entrepreneurship. But that’s where we find ourselves. And once you peel back the veneer, there’s little surprise as to why. Rising cost of living, unaffordable healthcare, crushing student loan debt, lack of access to capital, lack of risk tolerance from investors… the list of negatives go on and on.
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If there’s one thing founders and startups know how to handle, it’s a fire drill. Last minute requests. Crazy deadlines. Random hail marys. It’s all in a day’s work. But stepping outside of that work to help out the community? That’s above and beyond. And yet more than 80 folks took the time do that yesterday in response to a call to action from Business for a Better Portland and PIE which was designed to address a severe case of underfunding activities directed at the Oregon startup community.
Fundraising is hard. I think that’s something on which all of us can agree. Constructing grammatically correct sentences even if they seem awkward? No. Oxford commas? Probably not. But agreeing that fundraising is a grind? Yes. Definitely. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a company looking for a loan, a startup chasing venture capital, a VC chasing LPs… even an employee looking to get their budget approved. It’s all difficult.