PDC looking for manufacturers for cleantech

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The Portland Development Commission wants to hear from manufacturing companies interested in breaking into cleantech.

The Portland Development Commission is putting out the call for manufacturers interested in working with Oregon universities to expand into the cleantech sector.

Working with the Northwest Collaboratory for Sustainable Manufacturing, the PDC is putting out a call for proposals from companies that would share a $700,000 pot of money, paired with research and development expertise from Oregon universities.

"It's centered on working with firms that want to enter or expand or enter cleantech manufacturing," said Jared Wiener, senior project manager with the PDC.

Wiener said he expects five companies will be a part of the initial program, which is funded in part by the $1 million Jobs and Innovation Grant that was awarded to several agencies in October as part of the Portland Regional Clean Tech Advance Initiative.

Manufacturers chosen to participate in the program will work one or more universities to develop a product or service that would fall under the cleantech sector, including green building and renewable energy.

The PDC is also heading up a Buyer-Supplier Forum this Friday at the Future Energy Conference that is designed to uncover opportunities for becoming part of the cleantech supply chain. That program, which will profile clean energy sectors and their supply chain needs, is also being partially funded by the innovation grant.

For more information about the request for proposal process and the assistance program, visit the collaboratoy's website. Two informational meetings about the program are scheduled in May before proposals are due May 30.

The collaboratory is a partnership between Manufacturing 21 Coalition, Washington State University Vancouver, Oregon Institute of Technology, University of Oregon's Lundquist College of Business and Portland State University's Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science.