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Seattle Tour* |
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Portland Tour |
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*Seattle cluster tours are available only to those traveling through Seattle on their way to the conference in Portland. Seattle tours are available on Monday only, after which attendees will continue to Portland.
- ALL Seattle Cluster tours will meet at the Rainier Tower, located in downtown Seattle, at 8:00 am, October 8. Each registrant is responsible for getting themselves to this meeting location. The address is: 1301 5th Ave, 3rd floor, Seattle, WA 98101 (just diagonal from Rock Bottom Brewery).
- If you have not yet made your Seattle hotel reservation, you many want to consider staying in downtown. TCI has made no arrangement with any specific hotel. Here is a link to search for a hotel. Note: you need to select "downtown" in the drop down menu for Seattle. www.seattlesupersaver.com/SCVBBooking/index.asp
- FREE bus transportation will be available from Seattle to Portland immediately following the Cluster tours on October 8. You will need to bring your luggage with you to the Rainier Tower, October 8, and it will be stored in a secured location and loaded onto the buses for you. You will be arriving in Portland on the evening of October 8 and the drop off location will be the TCI conference hotel (Portland Hilton & Executive Tower). The trip should be about 3 hours but that will depend on traffic. You will need to make hotel reservations in Portland starting the evening of October 8.
- There will be NO transportation provided back to Seattle at the conclusion of the TCI conference, so you will need to find your own transportation back to Seattle if you are departing from that airport.
All Portland tours begin at the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower. All tours, except Microbrews and Green Building, include lunch. |
Monday, October 8, All-Day Tours |
Life Sciences, Seattle, WA
Aerospace, Seattle, WA
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Tuesday, October 9 |
Bi-State Wine, Portland, OR 8:30 AM; All Day
Sports Apparel, Portland, OR 8 AM-Noon
Heavy Metal, Portland, OR 8 AM-Noon
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Monday, October 8 |
Tuesday, October 9 |
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Life Sciences
All Day—Seattle, WA |
| The Seattle region is a world leader in the life sciences and global health communities, with organizations such as the Gates Foundation, Amgen and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center funding or performing research into all areas of health improvement and disease eradication. Additionally the University of Washington Medical Center is among the elite medical centers in the United States, and serves as the medical school for the states of Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming as well as the hub for our life sciences clusters. The Life Sciences tour will focus on the groundbreaking research being performed in our region, and initiatives to improve competitiveness. |
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Aerospace
All Day—Seattle, WA |
As home to Boeing's commercial airplane division, the Seattle area is the world's leading region in the aerospace industry. Seattle is the site for final assembly on the 747, 767, 777 airplanes, as well as world's best selling aircraft, the 737. Coming soon will be the 787 Dreamliner, a revolutionary super-efficient airplane being built with new technologies developed by Boeing and its international technology development team. Participants in the Aerospace cluster tour will see first-hand the final assembly of Boeing's wide-body jets, and will engage with aerospace industry leaders in a discussion on how we are working to build on the successes of our legendary aerospace industry.
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From Farm to Fork: Agriculture and Food Processing Clusters
All Day—Portland, OR |
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| This day-long cluster tour will feature both Oregon's agriculture and food processing clusters in context. Hosted jointly the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Northwest Food Processors Association, participants will visit a farm producer, a food processor and a retailer to follow a crop from the field to the store shelf. There also will be a tour of Oregon's Food Innovation Center, a unique partnership between the Oregon Department of Agriculture and Oregon State University. We will discuss Oregon's land use policies, regulatory environment and innovative technical support all of which boost these important clusters in Oregon. |
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Small Tech:
Nanotech Cluster Tour
All Day—Portland, OR |
| Oregon has a long established high-tech sector dating to the 1940's with forest radio communications, military shipbuilding and precision forest products manufacturing. This expertise evolved to today's "Silicon Forest:" home of the world's most advanced "small tech" industrial research and development sites. This full-day cluster tour offers a closer look at one of the nation's deepest talent pools and collaborative communities. Participants will visit large multinationals, innovative start-ups and the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), the nexus of fundamental research, the latest industrial manufacturing technology and innovation-based economic development. |
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Oregon's Heritage:
Forestry Cluster Tour
All Day—Portland, OR |
| This very full day will take attendees to some of the most beautiful forests that Oregon has to offer. The tour will start at our World Forestry Center for an orientation and introduction to the history and issues facing the forestry cluster. Participants will visit some family-owned forest land, have time for lunch and conversation at the gorgeous Tillamook Forest Visitor Center, and tour both a managed forest and a lumber mill. There will be plenty of time for discussion about workforce issues, technology innovations that are advancing the industry and product de-commodification, as participants take in the incredible scenery. |
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Rural Cluster Potpourri
All Day—Portland, OR |
| Economic development practitioners in rural areas understand the difficulties involved in spurring cluster-based economic development, but there are interesting success stories to share in the Columbia River Gorge, east of Portland. Cluster practitioners there have created synergies between what would seem to be unrelated industries: wine, arts, renewable energy and high tech. This day-long tour in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge will examine their efforts to create new opportunities for economic growth in a National Scenic Area. The tour will make stops in both Oregon and Washington and will meet with high-tech business owners who call themselves "lifestyle entrepreneurs" and a diverse and vibrant arts community. It also will include visits to local wineries and renewable energy facilities. |
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Bi-State
Wine Cluster Tour
All Day—Portland, OR |
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As the second largest wine-producing region in the U.S., the Pacific Northwest wine industry has seen dramatic growth and has proven to be one of the bright spots of the agriculture sector. The wines of this region have received accolades from international wine critics, and the cluster has bolstered rural communities with enhanced tourism and economic development opportunities. This full-day tour will take you to the Columbia Gorge American Viticultural Appellation (AVA), a unique area that encompasses the borders of Oregon and Washington along the national scenic area of the Columbia River (made famous by the Lewis and Clark Expedition). Plan to visit wineries, talk with winemakers and meet with local economic development officials about the impact the wine industry has had on the region. |
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Gear Up for the
Sports Apparel Cluster
Morning—Portland, OR |
Outdoor recreation reigns in Oregon: world class running, hiking, climbing, year-round skiing. We're home to international leaders in the footwear, active wear, outdoor gear and cycling industries. The cluster's name-brand companies are here not only because their enthusiastic customers are here, but because the rich talent pool and established networks of designers, distributors and materials suppliers are here. Get a closer look at the "gear world" with this tour of the renowned Nike campus, followed by a panel discussion of the unique challenges of working cooperatively in a cluster founded on a culture of competition. |
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Heavy Metal:
Metals Manufacturing Cluster
and Defense Contractors'
Cluster Tours
Morning—Portland, OR |
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This half-day tour will first take attendees through a metal casting plant that makes parts for industrial gas turbine engines. Discussions will focus on developing a high-performance workforce in a Lean Manufacturing environment. Attendees also will learn about the Manufacturing 21 coalition's initiative for a regional manufacturing innovation center. The group will then tour another metals manufacturer and focus on the defense contractors' cluster that has organized to address issues of government procurement. |
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Walking Tour:
Green Building Cluster
Morning—Portland, OR |
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It's easy to be "green" in Portland! Enjoy the natural spaces and green places of the "most sustainable city" in the US, guided by one of Portland's leading practitioners in the green building/green development cluster. This half-day walking/public transit tour of new and renovated LEED-certified buildings and urban open spaces will showcase some of the finest examples of green development including the historic Armory Building, Portland State University's NW Center for Engineering, Science and Technology, and the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center. Recharge your batteries with lunch (cost not included) in the "quintessentially Portland" Brewery Blocks where the Microbrew cluster tour will begin in the afternoon! |
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Microbrew Clusters
Afternoon—Portland, OR |
What could be better than a walking/public-transit tour of Oregon's famous microbrew cluster? We'll start at the site of Oregon's historic brewery: Henry Weinhard's at the Brewery Blocks. From there we'll visit some of the smallest and largest, oldest and newest microbreweries in the city. Learn how and why an industry that didn't exist 25 years ago now employees more than 4,200 Oregonians in family-wage jobs. The tour will culminate with some adult beverages and discussion about the cluster with producers and suppliers. |
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Distribution & Logistics
Afternoon—Portland, OR |
With four marine terminals and four airports, the Port of Portland is the hub of Oregon's distribution and logistics cluster. The Port also is the largest developer of industrial and business parks in the Portland metropolitan area. Within its 10,000 acres of property holdings, the Port offers businesses close proximity to airports, deep-draft marine terminals, transcontinental rail lines, interstate freeways and a river system that stretches from the Pacific Ocean to inland Idaho. This half-day cluster tour will focus on the Port's marine terminal facilities, a critical international link for local companies like Nike and Columbia Sportswear. It also will show participants why the Port of Portland is a leader among US ports for its environmental policies and practices.
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See what the New York Times says about spending 36 hours in Portland!
April 15, 2007
Clusters featured in the New York Times
February 11, 2007
Why is sustainability one of the themes for this year's
conference?
See what Oregon's largest daily newspaper has to say. |
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