PDC focuses staff and resources on the following target clusters:
Cluster Development
As the city’s economic development agency, the Portland Development Commission supports the business community and encourages job creation by focusingon key industry clusters of pivotal importance to the city’s current and future economy.
Targeted clusters
An industry cluster is a group of geographically concentrated, inter-related firms. Companies that locate in a cluster benefit from a skilled labor force, increased innovation, coordinated advocacy efforts, high-quality supply chains, and knowledge spillover. . Clusters interact in ways that establish competitive advantages through the creation and incorporation of new knowledge into products and the processes that produce them. PDC understands the importance of building strong clusters, and that’s why we support initiatives that strengthen cooperation and competitive advantages for Portland Companies.
The clusters PDC targets are part of the traded sector, meaning that they sell to markets outside the region, bringing new money into the community.
By focusing on clusters, instead of individual businesses, PDC can:
- Deploy limited resources in a strategic and catalytic fashion.
- Develop a deep understanding of factors influencing competitiveness.
- Interact with groups of firms rather than isolated transactions.
- Facilitate industry-led innovation and interventions.
- Send a clear signal to regional and state partners to align resources.
Objectives for Organizing Portland Clusters
- Convene critical players in cluster eco-system.
- Develop detailed market analyses for each cluster defining actual market opportunities.
- Develop and implement industry-driven action plans
- Create self-sustaining momentum within clusters
Why these clusters?
PDC focuses resources on these clusters because:
- They are traded sector, meaning they sell goods outside the region, bringing new money into Portland.
- There is a concentration of talent or firms
- This industry is high growth
- Firms that locate in Portland have a competitive advantage over firms in other cities.
- These clusters pay high wages
PDC focuses staff and resources
on the following target clusters:
A Five Year Strategy for Economic Growth & Job Creation
In July 2009, Portland City Council approved the city’s Economic Development Strategy, a five-year plan to guide Portland’s economic growth and direct the investment necessary to complete the transformation of Portland’s economy. The city seeks to build the most sustainable economy in the U.S. and, in the process, create 10,000 new jobs. PDC’s cluster work supports the Economic Development Strategy’s first goal of maximizing competitiveness.
Athletic & Outdoor
Companies that design, manufacture, and/or market sporting, athletic apparel, lifestyle and camping, hiking, bicycling, and outdoor gear.
Clean Tech
PDC’s efforts in Clean Tech can be broken into five distinct categories:
- Electric Vehicles: companies that design or develop electric vehicles, energy storage technology, and vehicle charging infrastructure;
- Energy Efficiency: companies that design or develop technologies to enhance the efficiency of energy generation and distribution and end-user energy consumption, as well as companies that provide services in connection with diagnosing implementing potential energy savings;
- Green Development: companies that design or develop high performing buildings, products, and materials for use in high performing buildings, infrastructure, and systems;
- Solar Manufacturing: companies that manufacture and assemble solar energy products or that are part of the supply chain for manufacturing solar energy products;
- Wind Energy: companies that identify, develop, and exploit wind energy resources, or that manufacture components for initial turbine construction and ongoing turbine maintenance.
Advanced Manufacturing
This cluster includes companies that produce or shape metal into parts or machinery; companies that manufacture equipment for transportation purposes; companies that manufacture computer, electronic and semiconductor components.
Software
This cluster includes companies that design, develop, market, and support systems and application software used in personal computers, servers, embedded systems, and mobile devices.
Research & Commercialization
Portland's vision is to be a leader in research and innovation—through superior research and development, education and entrepreneurship—to enhance economic prosperity. The Portland Development Commission, as the City's lead economic development agency, is focused on developing the physical infrastructure to support research and development, attracting innovative firms and entrepreneurs to the region, and capitalizing new ventures.
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Portland Development Commission | 222 NW Fifth Ave | Portland, OR 97209-3859
Phone: 503-823-3200 | Fax: 503-823-3368
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