PDC hones its cleantech focus

The Portland Development Commission holds its Clean Tech Symposium Friday afternoon at SolarWorld, where the agency will roll out its plan to focus its attention within the industry and set economic development priorities for the coming year.

The agency is focusing on three core clusters within the cleantech industry, said Colin Sears, manager of the cleantech cluster for PDC.

"It's a lot of validation of where our strengths are and who's growing," he said.

The three core clusters are:

• Clean energy, with a focus on wind- and solar-powered generation.

• Green development, which includes both green building technologies and energy-efficiency retrofits.

• Electric vehicles and the associated sectors, which includes energy storage.

Sears said the goals, which have been hammered out by the PDC and its economic development partners, include:

• For clean energy, retaining the region's big players, such as SolarWorld and Vestas, and continuing to grow and support the cluster. There is also a focus on supply-chain development, partnering with the Northwest Connectory, a project of the Oregon Business Development Department. There will also be an effort around brand promotion.

• For green development, the PDC will continue to promote the building of the Oregon Sustainability Center, work with the Portland Sustainability Institute on the development of eco-districts, and develop a green building innovation showcase similar to one that's been built in England.

• For the electric vehicles, PDC will focus on increasing the size of the cluster, working with the newly formed Drive Oregon organization, and work to attract more research and development-focused businesses such as Swiss battery technology company ReVolt Technology LLC, which this year set up its North American headquarters in Portland.

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