The City of Bend has named the area between OSU-Cascades Graduate and Research Center and the main OSU-Cascades campus the “Innovation District.” That area happens to include the 1001 Tech Center, all the companies and organizations inside including BendTECH, StartupBend, FiveTalent, Kollective, Seven Peaks Ventures, Pneuma33 and many more.

Preston Callicott, Five Talent’s CEO told KTVZ that the moniker helps highlight existing companies and entrepreneurial efforts, as well as attract new ones.

“We’re already innovative,” Callicott said. “This is not something we’re bringing in as a concept. We’re proving that we’ve been innovative since the pioneer days.”

The spirit behind the district is to give people the opportunity to experiment and try new things, whether you’re starting a business or working in government

“Try something,” Callicott said. “Don’t be afraid to try something because the populace is going to get mad at you. We have to start giving them some space to experiment on their way to finding successful solutions for us.”

Kelly Kearsley

Kelly Kearsley

Kelly Kearsley, the co-founder of StartupBend.com, is passionate about startups, entrepreneurship and Bend. In addition to writing this blog, she creates content and manages content projects for global financial companies, tech firms and startups. She began her career as a newspaper journalist and later worked as a freelance writer. Her work has appeared in WSJ.com, Money Magazine, CNNMoney, MSNBC and Runner's World. See her work at kellykearsley.contently.com or kellykearsley.com.

You can reach Kelly by email at [email protected].
Kelly Kearsley

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