The communities and universities in the South Willamette Valley, led by Corvallis and Eugene, with seed funding from the State of Oregon, banded together to create a vision and plan for a system that addresses the specific economic development needs of the region. This plan was called the Regional Accelerator & Innovation Network, or RAIN. Oregon Solutions was asked to convene this collaborative process that later helped the project team to identify the following goals:
- RAIN is a genuine collaboration that converges business, community members, government, and higher education to accelerate the formation and growth of technology businesses and regional jobs.
- RAIN promotes strong linkages between Oregon State University and the University of Oregon’s innovation and accelerator programs with overlapping support resources.
- RAIN benefits emerging businesses by bringing the real-world experience of successful entrepreneurs as mentors, by providing energetic student interns and by creating workspace for technology start-ups.
- RAIN helps college students through paid internships in exciting new fields.
- RAIN helps communities by growing companies that can provide jobs and stem the out-migration of talented young people.
For more information regarding the current status of RAIN, please visit: http://oregonrain.org/about/
Results
The Regional Accelerator & Innovation Network (RAIN) is a consortium of government, higher education and the business community created to advance the formation and growth of tech-based startups in the South Willamette Valley. Through its two accelerators, one in Eugene and one in Corvallis, RAIN brings a concerted effort to accelerate the formation, growth and retention of technology businesses and regional jobs by linking the accelerator programs at the University of Oregon and Oregon State University with regional innovation resources.