High-Tech Firms, Entrepreneurs Find Success
Published Mar 21, 2008
Oregon Entrepreneurs Network’s Kathryn Shimabukuro
What do shrimp shells have to do with saving lives? A lot more than one might think, thanks to an innovative Portland company, HemCon Medical Technologies Inc.
Founded in 2001 and ranked 42nd on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 list for 2007, HemCon developed a way to process and chemically treat chitosan, a derivative from shrimp shells, into a state-of-the-art bandage that quickly stops bleeding.
“Local product development, corporate management and technical expertise, combined with the region’s talented workforce, were the key reasons to base the company in Portland,” says Staci McAdams, HemCon’s vice president of marketing.
The company also was ranked in 2007 as 16th on Entrepreneur magazine’s Hot 500 list of the fastest-growing U.S. businesses, and 219th on Inc. magazine’s list of the nation’s 500 fastest-growing private companies.
HemCon’s start seven years ago began with funding from the U.S. Army and access to research by company founders Dr. Kenton Gregory and Dr. Bill Wiesmann, and by the Oregon Medical Laser Center and Providence Health System.
With several leading medical universities and institutions such as Oregon Health & Science University and Legacy Health System in the Portland region, medical technology companies here have a deep pool of applicants from which to choose. “The region has a strong education system that provides well-educated, talented employees to design, manufacture and market our products,” McAdams says.
HemCon’s scientists and engineers, whose charge is to create new products, are all locally based.
Employees’ research has translated the early success of HemCon’s technology into new applications that are now being used not only by U.S. military medics in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also by first responders, trauma centers and doctors’ offices around the world.
Encouraging, Rewarding Innovation
HemCon is illustrative of the cutting-edge businesses that thrive in the Portland region. Working to ensure there are more to come is the job of both the Oregon Innovation Council, known as Oregon InC, and the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network.
Established by Gov. Ted Kulongoski and the State Legislature in 2005, Oregon InC is “focused on ways that we as a state can encourage and promote innovation across all industries and all sizes of companies,” says Wally Van Valkenburg, a member of the council and chairman of the Oregon Economic and Community Development Commission, which guides the state’s job-creation policies.
Oregon InC’s Innovation Plan, backed by a $28.2 million state investment, recommends research in nanoscience, pharmaceuticals and sustainability while supporting existing manufacturers, the food-processing industry and fledgling technologies to harness wave energy.
Van Valkenburg says the strategy should give the state “more critical mass” to leverage federal funds. “I feel really positive about how committed we are as a state to moving this forward,” he says.
Making the Right Connections
Also encouraging new enterprises is the Portland-based Oregon Entrepreneurs Network. “Its mission is to support entrepreneurs as they are starting up their companies, offering education opportunities and introducing them to advisers – bankers, attorneys, accountants – as well as to investors who are looking to invest in emerging companies,” says Kathryn Shimabukuro, who was OEN’s chairwoman in 2007.
OEN sponsors more than 100 educational events annually, including its Executive Series designed to help entrepreneurs close the gap between the idea and the business plan. “If you’re starting up a company, it is the best education you can get for less than a thousand bucks. It’s sort of like a mini-M.B.A.,” says Shimabukuro, herself a graduate of the course.
OEN is working to offer its courses statewide via the Internet, she adds.
Robb Jones is already working statewide, having arrived in Portland in 2007 as an account manager for ADC Telecommunications Inc., a global company that offers network necessities such as copper and fiber cabling. Jones describes himself as an “infrastructure specialist,” ensuring that developers and builders buy and properly install what’s needed for today’s high-tech connections.
Considering Oregon’s innovative businesses, Jones is a busy man. “Portland is a hotbed for technology,” he says. “This really seems to be a market that is leading the way, so it’s a great place for a company like ADC.”
Story by Sharon H. Fitzgerald
Photo by Jeff Adkins
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