Oregon Innovation Council fights for funding

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The Oregon Wave Energy Trust is among the organizations funded through the Oregon Innovation Council.

Lawmakers and business leaders concede they likely won’t land the full $19 million they’d sought for the Oregon Innovation Council program.

However, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has pledged to keep close tabs on the Joint Ways and Means subcommittee that’s crafting the program’s final proposal.

Oregon Inc. funds many of the state’s signature research programs, including the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute — known as ONAMI — and the Oregon Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Center.

The session could mark the second consecutive time Oregon Inc.’s funding has been slashed. Lawmakers allotted the fund $16 million in state funding in the 2009-11 biennium, about 25 percent less than requested. The group received $28 million in the 2007-09 biennium.

“We’ve scaled back our expectations on the total package, but it’s definitely going to remain on the list” of funded programs, Kitzhaber said. “No one’s hostile toward it, but we’re slowly finding out how big of a budget gap $3.5 billion is.”

Lawmakers must trim $3.5 million from the state budget before July 1.

Kitzhaber wouldn’t speculate as to how much the program will receive by session’s end but believes lawmakers, even with a split House that’s frequently at loggerheads over funding measures, will allot Oregon Inc. enough money to remain viable.

David Chen, the council’s chairman and CEO of Portland-based Equilibrium Capital LLC, said the state’s political climate will hamper Oregon Inc.’s budget.

“We’re all subject to a rough budget year, so, even though the program has produced results, there aren’t any guarantees,” Chen said. “Realistically, we’ll get appropriated, but the issue is, for how much.”

It’s not clear how lawmakers on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Transportation and Economic Development, which would move the measure to the full Senate and House floors, would allot Oregon Inc.’s funds.

Kitzhaber and Oregon Inc. had originally sought:

• $5.5 million for the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute.
• $3.5 million for the Oregon Translational & Drug Discovery Institute, which works with researchers and biotech companies in oncology and neuroscience, among other specialties.
• $500,000 for the Northwest Food Processing Innovation Productivity Center.
• $4.5 million for the Oregon Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Center.
• $2.5 million for the Oregon Wave Energy Trust.
• $2.5 million for Drive Oregon, which is developing electric vehicle-related technologies.

In three years, Oregon Inc. has nabbed $197.5 million in federal and private grants for the state. Supporters say the group is primed to capture more than $7 for each dollar invested in it to date.

“In a state where we’re balancing critical budget issues, we’re also balancing the need to grow our economic base,” said John Morgan, a Regence BlueCross BlueShield executive vice president and an Oregon Inc. board member. “We’ve proven that we’ve performed a significant fiduciary duty to the state of Oregon in assuring benefits have been derived.”

Rep. Tobias Read, a staunch Oregon Inc. backer, has introduced a measure that would ensure the program receives at least some funds each legislative session.

The measure, House Bill 3507, could help attract world-class research talent because it would help demonstrate Oregon’s commitment to funding innovative programs, said Read, a Beaverton Democrat.

@andygiegerich | agiegerich@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3419