Cuts to Oregon innovation budget may stymie sustainability plans
BYLINE: Alison Ryan
Cuts to a funding package proposed by the Oregon Innovation Council could squash a planned research center for clean energy, green building and green development, but proponents are confident that money will come - even if it's not from the state.
Plans for a Bio-Economy and Sustainable Technologies, or BEST, Center come on the heels of the sustainability-infused Oregon Business Plan, which pointed to Oregon's green reputation as a route to economic growth.
"Historically (the state's green reputation) has been sometimes seen as a criticism of the business climate here," said Wally Van Valkenburg, a member of the state Economic and Community Development Commission and an ex-officio member of the Oregon Innovation Council. "I think we're actually in the process of turning that around to make it a competitive advantage for Oregon. "
But money from the state that BEST developers are counting on may not come.
The Oregon Innovation Council, the state's advisory board on innovation and competitiveness issues, developed a $38 million Innovation Plan that aimed to pump the state's economy by putting public investment into initiatives supported by Oregon industries. The governor's recommended budget, released in December, contained the full $38 million. But the budget proposed by Ways and Means co-chairmen Sen. Kurt Schrader and Rep. Mary Nolan offers $19 million.
Among initiatives funded in the council's plan were three "signature" research centers: the already up-and-running Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies, or ONAMI, which was budgeted $10 million; a $7 million infectious disease drug development research center; and the BEST Center, which would get $3 million.
The centers, said Sen. Ryan Deckert (D-Beaverton), are part of the continued diversification of Oregon's economy.
"This really is the next step of, where are the new industries," he said. "And nanotechnology and sustainability are where the opportunities are. "
Reworking the innovation plan, Van Valkenburg said, would mean taking the initiatives back to the council for a look at what can and can't be funded. Across-the-board cuts, he said, won't work for funding packages that were already as trim as possible.
"I don't think any of them would work by just cutting them in half. ... The initiatives would no longer make sense," he said.
Focus on biofuels, bio-products
The BEST Center would focus on research and development of products with the potential to pump up Oregon's competitiveness in the sustainable arena. Focus for BEST's first two years is slated to be on biofuels and bio-products. Partners on the center include Oregon State University, Portland State University, the University of Oregon, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Oregon Institute of Technology.
"The idea would be that we would take the best of the academic minds and couple them with the experts in the local community who are working on these principles real time," said David Ervin, Portland State University's academic sustainability program coordinator and director of its Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices.
The Innovation Council, Van Valkenburg said, is still optimistic that funding will be closer to $38 million than to $19 million. And although the Innovation Plan may not get full funding, Deckert said, he thinks $9 million or $10 million will be aimed at the research centers.
"And then we'll leverage big time, private and federal," he said. "Which we need to, because $9 million is not enough. "
BEST's university backers say that, even if the state doesn't fund the center, work will continue. The State Board of Higher Education approved $270,000 for BEST start-up expenses, said Jennifer Allen, associate director of PSU's sustainability center, with more funding through the state higher education system anticipated. Full state funding, she said, would be "catalytic funding" that can help get additional funding from federal or private sources, but the center won't disappear without it.
"Something's going to happen," she said, "regardless of what happens with the budget. But my feeling is more would happen sooner if we were funded. "
Proposals to Meyer Memorial Trust and the Oregon Community Foundation for funding totaling $500,000 are in the works. Establishing a BEST Center could also prime Oregon to compete for $250 million in U.S. Department of Energy funds earmarked to create two national bio-energy research centers. The $3 million the Innovation Plan would give to the BEST Center, Ervin said, is a modest amount - but one that could be used for leverage in getting other funding.
"It's not a lot of money to start," Ervin said. "But it's an important signal and important beginning. "