High Tech Treasures
of the Willamette Valley
by Jerry W. Saveriano
This is the longer, more personal and controversial version of an article I recently published in my new home town paper the "Corvallis Gazette-Times" on October 13, 1997.
It discusses the growth of technology in Oregon, particularly in the beautiful Wllamette Valley. There is here the usual tug-of-war between the growth/ no-growth factions. This essay is unabashedily pro technology and pro managed growth - there are many here who do not agree with my assesment and optomisim.
High Tech Treasures of the Willamette Valley
A High Tech Eden?
Eden. That’s what many of the pioneers to Oregon Country were seeking when they made the perilous trek across the unruly, dangerous West in the 1800’s. They were the explorers, adventurers and finally the settlers who were fulfilling America’s "Manifest Destiny." And while the Willamette Valley may not be Eden, to many who live here it is "damn near" a garden of paradise.
Is it possible to maintain the garden while managing the serpent of continued growth? Can we balance the bucolic bounty of this fertile valley while at the same time taming the two edged sword of technological development?
Would we be better off leaving buried the high tech treasures of the Willamette Valley? Or is it too late? Is the genie already out of the bottle? These and other dilemmas are the subjects of this article.
Me personally - I love technology. I grew up with it in my grandfather’s silk mill in Paterson, NJ, after WWII, climbing around the Jacquard looms which made a horrendous clackedy-clack racket as they turned silk into money. In the 60’s I was an aviation electronics technician in the Navy, as well as a CNC machine tool operator and mechanic.
After college I traveled around the world as a consultant and lecturer in the field of robotics and intelligent machine systems. I enjoy surrounding myself with audio/video and computer gear as much as I enjoy the view and the cool fresh air that blows high upon Mary’s Peak.
During the 70’s I worked in the Silicon Valley and saw second generation high tech companies like Apple, Amdahl and Seagate grow from the seeds of first generation companies like HP, Xerox PARC and IBM fertilized by Stanford, Berkeley and other Bay Area schools.
In the 80’s & 90’s I worked in the San Diego Area with companies like Sony, Qualcomm, and Remec. During this period many West Coast high tech companies transitioned from defense to commercial products. Growth, transition and constant change are as natural to high tech as rain is to the Pacific Northwest. I learned a lot about the relationship between technology and regional growth during my twenty five years in California.
I moved my family here a year and a half ago after visiting the Willamette Valley for business as a consultant for over five years. What I see here is the potential for sustained, controlled growth in high tech industries which can provide good jobs and a solid tax base for future prosperity for the area.
Now, before you tar and feather me and run me out of town on a rail for trying to turn the beautiful Willamette Valley into the unaffordable and virtually unlivable Silicon Valley, hear me out.
The trouble with the Bay Area is it’s choking on its own unrestrained success. Perhaps it is possible to learn from those mistakes and develop Linn and Benton Counties into a high tech Eden or at least something that is damn near.
Growth will certainly occur in any case. What I am suggesting is that by proper planning and cooperation the area can attract and grow the kinds of companies which make good corporate citizens and responsible members of the community. These companies are environmentally clean and provide good jobs to help keep those who grow-up and are educated here in the area they love.
This Fertile Valley
Through hard work, smart planning and good fortune, the Willamette Valley is blessed with the basic fundamentals of what’s needed to build a high tech Mecca. Geographically Linn and Benton Counties are well placed between the northern hub of Seattle (the center of the software world thanks to Gates & Company) and the "Silicon Forest" being developed in the Portland area.
Both cities are growing gangbusters and are probably now becoming unmanageable. To the south we have Eugene (The Silly Party) which is developing somewhat in a herky-jerky fashion due to the political and cultural wrestling between people and factions who just can’t get along. Perhaps they can call themselves the "Silicon Concert," or "Tie-Dyed Valley."
The Pacific Northwest also has a tradition of high tech companies such as Boeing, Tektronix and Hewlett Packard that have helped to support and spin-off smaller local high tech companies. Plus, we now have Intel, Hyundai, Nike and others.
We should also remember that there is a strong base in the metals processing industries with Teledyne Wah Chang and Ormet thanks to the Bureau of Mines, as well as agriculture, food processing and forestry industries which diversify our industry base and provide non-high tech jobs.
The Willamette Valley also has some good schools: OSU, U of O and LBCC which can provide scientific and technological research, engineering and technical graduates and a healthy supply of part-time and intern workers. We also have many people with the "Pioneer Spirit" who make good entrepreneurial stock as well as a well educated, hard-working citizenry to help build the companies.
These natural, seemingly organic resources which grow almost without effort (like blackberries) are in fact the stuff dreams are made of. Each year the Bay Area is visited by government, business and education leaders from around the world who want to learn the secrets to creating such a wealth and job producing engine.
The Silicon Valley may be something for us to sneer at and hold our nose, for we’ve have become spoiled and comfortable in our abundance. Most of the world and the rest of the US are seeking to develop similar high tech regions. And most are offering big dollar incentives and other inducements to attract and keep the kinds of companies we are now turning our backs on or driving from the area.
I am afraid that we are a bit like the tenderfoot gold miners in the "Treasure of the Sierra Madre", unaware that we are standing on the very wealth most seek. I have lived here long enough to understand that one of the things that makes this area so great is that people came here to settle and build, unlike the 49ers who swarmed into California to "strike it rich" by rapidly exploiting and destroying the land and all who stood in their way.
I maintain that an intelligent, balanced approach can yield sweet nourishing fruit while being in harmony with the long term health of the garden.
To sum up the basic elements for success we have: we are located in the heart of a growing high tech region, with good schools and universities, a well-educated and motivated work force, a high quality attractive quality of life, a number of strong high tech seed companies, and a growing infrastructure of small and medium sized companies which supply the needed support services.
Another positive is that Linn and Benton Counties have active business development partnerships and business enterprise incubator organizations which focus on attracting and fostering new businesses.
The elements which we need to improve are: we have too few venture capital companies, we need a more progressive local government leadership, and we need to create more dynamic research centers in our schools.
The Valley’s Unique Opportunity
In addition to the basic elements we have in abundance, there is a unique mixture of companies, technology and research in the area that has not been fully recognized. Over the last decade there have developed a number of high tech companies which have been spun-off from or related to HP’s Corvallis facility.
Hewlett Packard is the virtual archetype of an entrepreneurial seed company. Its benevolent and nurturing treatment of its engineers and scientists who want to become interpreters or entrepreneurs has helped midwife many a fledgling start-up.
HP is a model of a company that spins off start-ups like a cathode boils off electrons. There have been a number of local factory automation and robotics companies which have their roots at, or work with, HP. Intellidex (now defunct) and the very successful Accu-Fab both developed robotics and machine vision systems.
There is also in Corvallis, Verteq (confirm) which manufactures waferfab automation products and Videx, which makes handheld barcode scanners. There are also several other factory automation companies in the area.
The hidden industry which has quietly developed in the area is field automation technology. Thanks again to the parenting of HP’s calculator division there have been a number of start-ups creating handheld computing and communications software and hardware systems. Companies like: Tripod Data Systems, Corvallis Micro Technologies, Penmetrics, Handheld Computers, Da Vinci Technologies, just to name a few.
Most of these companies develop software and hardware systems which are used in the field to automate data collection and computing activities in applications such as surveying, mapping, EPA studies, forestry, oceanography, agriculture, construction, transportation, disaster analysis and related fields.
The development of powerful, lightweight, rugged computers is creating a new wave of wealth producing products. These new small wonders take the productivity boosting power of computers which have revolutionized office and factory work out to the field.
An entirely new market is forming around applications which can be best described as "Field Technical Computing" (FTC) applications, as opposed to most mobile computers which are used as an extension of office applications.
The FTC market is a relatively virgin market and handheld computers will be linked to other ready to take-off technologies such as: Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Personal Communication Systems (PCS) which provides cellular voice and data communication, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), precision farming and other related technologies.
Microsoft has introduced a new operating system, Windows CE, which it has positioned to become the standard for handheld computers and other consumer electronics devices.
Microsoft has recruited a number of strategic partners who are making handhelds running Windows CE. Compaq, NEC, Hitachi, Casio, Philips, HP and other heavyweights are now shipping this new generation of handheld (palmtop) portable computers. The new paradigm in mobile computing is "immersion": any information, any time, from any place - cheap.
Not only will you always know where you are (GPS) you can see where you are going via digital maps on your handheld and car displays, and you will be able to reach (and be reached by) anyone via email, the Web or voice. You’ll never (have to) be alone again. Remember I said technology is a two edged sword.
This technology promises to create a huge international market. The Willamette Valley is very well positioned to take a leadership role in the research and development of the burgeoning handheld computing industry.
Both OSU and U of O already have research projects in these areas. And, companies like CH2M Hill and agencies such as the EPA, both who have significant strength in the area, utilize these important new technologies. Eugene has two publications "GPS World" and "Geo Info Systems" that address these fields.
There is an ideal mixture of the core fundamental elements of companies and research institutions here that provide the unique opportunity for Linn and Benton Counties, along with others in the region, to recognize the potential of building a "World Class" R&D and business center in the field of handheld computing and FTC application software and systems.
Maybe we could call it "Handheld Valley" which would be better than my teenage daughter’s sarcastic suggestion, "Silicorn Valley."
The End