What is Innovate Oregon + Construct?
Innovate Oregon is a bold and inclusive initiative to ignite and amplify a culture of creative problem solving and empower the next generation of innovators to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our state. Together with our partner, Construct, we are aligning leadership with grassroots efforts in our civic, industry, and talent development communities in powerful new ways. By operating from a new standpoint of collaboration, we can take risks, create, invent, and re-imagine our collective definition of what is possible. We can catalyze community engagement around students and schools, bring in Construct’s professional development programs for educators, and enlist industry mentors to partner with teachers – all to provide a 21st century path of transformation for Oregon’s students.
The best part? It’s not an idea. It’s already happening. Join us!
Reimagining the possible. Creating it now.
Ag-Tech: Continuing Our Legacy
Precision agriculture and viticulture, cross-laminated timber, harvesting the bounty of our seas, including energy… all are at the heart of our Oregon economy. New, 21st century technologies are shaping these sectors as never before, letting us be smarter and faster in order to reduce costs and improve results. Our future natural resource stewards need to be at the forefront of these advances.
Advanced Manufacturing
Our manufacturing sectors employ more people than any others. Rapidly advancing manufacturing technologies, reliant upon precision equipment and robotics, have created a career of “precision maintenance” – mechatronics.. Our Mechatronics will service & maintain the “smartest machines” on the planet. To do so, they’ll need both head & hands – the smarts and skills to keep industry running.
Career & Technical Education
As precision agriculture & advanced manufacturing industries spin-up, all of Oregon & the U.S. suffer from an aging workforce without replacements. Plumbers, electricians, welders, millwrights, auto mechanics – all are in great demand. These jobs & others like them offer great salaries, benefits & careers. It will be decades before the robots fix our plumbing…
Hi-Tech: Software & Hardware
Oregon’s hi-tech sectors employ more people than any others. The hi-tech innovation curve is like no other & in the 21st century, drives every industry and household. Advances like the Internet of Things impact how we grow food, manage our household, park our cars in garages… We don’t have the skilled workforce we need for our local hi-tech companies. Great jobs and benefits wait for that workforce.
Creative
In our innovation economy, the creative sector is a critical component to fuel long-term economic growth – think TED: Technology, Entertainment & Design. We prefer a different TED: Technology, Education & Design. The creative sector brings together designers, coders and makers to continually develop new solutions that drive business opportunities. That’s why bringing techniques like design-thinking and agile process management into the classroom matters.
Food & Beverage-Tech
There’s a reason James Beard set the culinary pace in the U.S. He grew up in Oregon. The state that has defined locavore & farm-to-table, scaled microbreweries & small-batch distilleries to the rest of the world, and produces wines equal to the old world’s best, Oregon has the perfect mix for perfecting the next generations of food & beverage, creating traded-sector companies from which the world will purchase. Blending hi-tech, with Oregon’s foodies, creates food-tech.
Who We Are
Industry Professionals
Local businesses impacting big change.
Offering expertise and mentor-ship to help solve our complex problems.
Students
Challenging young minds to discover tomorrow’s solutions.
Learning to see ourselves as creative innovators, beyond the limits of the classroom.
Educators
Improving the way we teach, communicate, learn.
Providing the tools for students to unlock their potential as creative problem solvers and innovators.
People
We are everyday people… Like you and I.
Supporting our students and community, developing ideas, and enacting change.
Our Stories & Experiences
Breaking Down Walls To Build The Future: The Willamina Public Library
Willamina is at the forefront of change as the town is exploring new ways to implement an innovate initiative into not only their school district but also their community — starting with the library. Sarah Frost is the Willamina Public Library Director, as...
Jami Fluke, Innovation Ambassador
Jami Fluke is still a Pirate at heart. Fluke, who steered the Dayton High School ship since 2011, is switching jobs. In a newly created position with the Construct Foundation/Innovate Oregon, she will be training other educators to think and teach differently in order...
Dive Into Deeper Learning Through Make-A-Thons
A key focus at LaCreole Middle School has been deeper learning, both what it is and what it looks like. We explore deeper learning by finding ways to immerse our entire school community in innovative experiences so that they can engage as a learner again. One of our...
Dallas Makes: Students Connecting With Dallas Retirement Residents Through Technology!
On March 16th, Dallas Makes took place at the Dallas Retirement Village. Student ambassadors from LaCreole Middle School engaged with residents and their families and the community in a morning filled with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math)...
Genius Hour 2.0: Exploring Agile Education
This semester, a Dayton Junior High class called Genius Hour was re-launched. After redesigning its original structure that incorporated insights from the first semester, the class is now exploring agile learning in new ways: by challenging students to...
Lyle Elementary STEM Night: Families Working Together!
Family Fun Night! On January 24th, 2019, over 200 students, families, teachers, and volunteers filled Lyle Elementary School for a fun-filled evening of exploration, innovation, and problem-solving. This was Lyle’s Second Annual Family STEM Night, and to say it was...
Working Together to Create Tomorrow
Who
Educators, students, businesses, civic, and community leaders
What
We are working together to create an inclusive innovation-based economy
Why
We are committed to creating new opportunities for our communities
News & Events
Register for Breakaway – An Introduction to Design Thinking for Teachers
Design Thinking has gained increased traction in the preK-12 education space in recent years. Educators are using the process as a pedagogical framework for real-world, project based learning that supports positive risk-taking, feedback-driven cycles of iteration, and...
Register for School Retool Fall 2019 Cohort (Portland Metro)
The School Retool opportunity is open to public school leaders in Oregon. We are seeking leaders who want to change the status quo of public education, are passionate about access to Deeper Learning for all students, are willing and ready to try out a new, immersive...
Construct & Innovate Oregon Partnership
On June 6, 2019, Construct and Innovate Oregon announced they are joining efforts to support educators in expanding education innovation across Oregon and the region. To help lead the expansion, Construct hired Jami Fluke, most recently principal of Dayton middle and...
Partners
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Local Changes Can Have Global Impacts
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