Oregon BEST FEST '09 was a tremendous success! This unique and unprecedented opportunity enabled Oregon's university researchers — who are working at the cutting edge of green building and renewable energy innovation — to connect in-person with Oregon companies and entrepreneurs looking to transform research into commercializable products and services.

The result?

Sparks of collaboration crackled as attendees made connections and exchanged information, including how university lab facilities can be a resource for local industry. Speakers from federal agencies touted the recent influx of major stimulus dollars aimed at green building and renewable energy research and urged Oregon faculty to submit proposals. Faculty and student researchers presented their work, and university technology transfer offices unveiled how they are collaborating across campuses and across Oregon to help businesses quickly locate research that's ready for commercialization.

"I enjoyed BEST FEST because of the breadth of issues covered, ranging from new technologies, to funding opportunities, to speciific projects and their implementation," said Cristina Negoita, a professor of mathematics at the Oregon Institute of Technology. "I was particularlly impressed with the long term visions put forward by the funding agencies about the acute need to support student education in the realm of sustainable technologies."

Brian Coia, president of Bend, Oregon-based bioLime, added, "It's a great thing to have academia and industry come together under one roof, and to see the innovative research underway at Oregon's universities. I connected with exciting contacts, met new people, and intend to utilize the Oregon BEST resesarch labs at both OSU and PSU as bioLime develops our new breathable wall system. This was a great effort on behalf of Oregon BEST."

The seeds of collaboration and commercialization planted during this event will one day yield fruit in the form of economic impact for Oregon as industry and academia team up to power the state's green economy. The day wrapped up with the opening of Oregon BEST's new shared-user signature research facility at Portland State University: the Green Building Research Laboratory.

Speaker presentations are listed below, along with our generous sponsors: 

Lawrence Bank, National Science Foundation PDF of Presentation

Drury Crawley, Building Technologies Program, DOE PDF of Presentation
Mark Stanley, NIST Technology Innovation Program PDF of Presentation

Fred Kamke, Professor & JELD-WEN Chair of Wood Based Composites Science, OSU PDF of Presentation

Christine Theodoropoulos, Professor & Dept. Head, Dept. of Architecture, UO PDF of Presentation

G.Z. Brown, Professor of Architecture, Director of the Energy Studies in Buildings Lab, UO PDF of Presentation
Jason Ideker, Professor of Civil Engineering, Oregon BEST Green Building Materials Lab, OSU PDF of Presentation
David Sailor, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Oregon BEST Green Building Research Lab, PSU PDF of Presentation

J. David Cohen, Professor of Physics, UO PDF of Presentation

Michael Penner, Associate Professor, Dept. of Food Science & Technology, OSU PDF of Presentation

Alexandre Yokochi, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, OSU PDF of Presentation

Chih-hung Chang, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Oregon Process Innovation Center for Solar Cell Manufacturing, OSU PDF of Presentation
Mark Lonergan, Professor of Chemistry, Oregon Support Network for Research & Innovation in Solar Energy, UO PDF of Presentation

Michael Baechler (PNNL) PDF of Presentation
Rob Bennett (P+OSI) PDF of Presentation
Bob Simonton (OUS) PDF of Presentation
Tom Puttman (David Evans Enterprises) No PPT Presentation Presented
Chuck Williams (UO Technology Transfer) PDF of Presentation

INNOVATION Co-Partners:

COLLABORATION Partners:

RESEARCH Partners:

GREEN Partners: