The Beaverton City Council voted in January 2004 to create a Business Incubator focused on the software sector. This was an outgrowth of the City's Economic Development Strategic Plan, approved in the summer of 2000, which called for the City to investigate the use of a business incubator to create high quality jobs in Beaverton.
The Open Technology Business Center (OTBC) is located in the Cornell Oaks Corporate Center near the Intersection of Cornell Road and Highway 26 (Sunset Highway). The 15,000 square foot facility houses Innovators-in-Residence (space for open source research and projects) and Ventures-in-Residence (offices for business start-ups).
Open Technology is a term used to describe the computing and business strategy of sharing core technology. Open Technology allows developers to focus on the parts of their solution that add the greatest value and enables customers to pay for real value while sharing certain core technologies. An example of the business opportunity presented by Open Technology is the market for servers, desktops, and packaged software running on Linux. According to IT industry reports, the sector's market could reach $36 billion by 2008.
The OTBC has attracted start ups from as far away as Japan and France. While current Ventures-in-Residence offer a wide range of products and business models, they all benefit from and contribute to the area's rapidly expanding Open Technology community.
OTBC Partners and Affiliations
Open Technology Leaders in Oregon
OTBC continues to evolve and grow. Prospective Ventures-in-Residence, Innovators-in-Residence, corporate sponsors, partners, and others are showing tremendous interest in being part of the program and seeing it succeed. As the region expands its role as the leader of Open Technology, the OTBC could become a focal point for helping the City of Beaverton add new jobs, home-grown businesses, and residents.
