Contact: Shawn Uhlman, PDC, 503-823-7994
April 24, 2012
The Portland Development Commission, on behalf of the Northwest Collaboratory for Sustainable Manufacturing, has issued a Request for Innovation Proposals (RFIP) which could connect local manufacturers with university research and development assistance for clean technology products and services.
Successful respondents to the RFIP will receive technical and business assistance from select Collaboratory universities, rather than direct funding. Proposals are due by noon on May 30, 2012. PDC and the Collaboratory will hold pre-proposal meetings on May 1 and May 18 to provide information about the RFIP. Each meeting will be from 7:30-9:00 a.m. at the Portland State University Engineering Building (EB 102), 1930 SW 4th Avenue. Attendance is free, but registration is encouraged at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SCWPG9X.
Funding for the successful proposals will come in part from the federal Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge Grant (JIAC) that was awarded in October 2011 to the Portland Regional Clean Tech Advance Initiative. A key purpose of the JIAC grant, which will be administered by PDC, is to assist local manufacturing companies with research and development related to the introduction of clean technology-based products into the marketplace and/or the implementation of sustainable and green manufacturing processes. Grant funds will be matched by significant in-kind support from university members of the Collaboratory, raising the value of resources for this effort to more than $700,000.
Executive Director Patrick Quinton said, “Increasing R&D opportunities for our local manufacturers is a significant priority for PDC. We hope to see proposals that will help drive the integration of two important regional clusters – clean technology and manufacturing; and improve the region’s position in the growing global clean technology marketplace.”
The Collaboratory is a partnership between the Manufacturing 21 Coalition, an industry group, and research universities including Washington State University Vancouver, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Oregon’s Lundquist College of Business, and Portland State University.
For more information, example projects and answers to common questions, visit Portland4biz.com/Collaboratory. Technical questions about specific research available should be directed to nwcollaboratory@cecs.pdx.edu.
