GIS Planning

Oregon’s economic development web system is only American finalist for international technology award. OregonProspector.com, an online searchable database of industrial land, is up for the “Stockholm Challenge” award.

This week the jury of the Stockholm Challenge Award selected the 2008 finalists for outstanding Information Communications Technology projects. OregonProspector, a project of the Oregon Economic Development Association (OEDA) in partnership with the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department, is the only finalist from the U.S. in the “economic development” category.

OregonProspector is an economic development Web site that helps businesses find the optimal geographic location to start, expand or relocate their business in Oregon.  The system was first launched in 2003, by then-OEDA president Tim McCabe.  McCabe is currently the senior policy advisor to Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski. “This has been an invaluable tool for companies around the world to get the information they need on doing business in Oregon,” said Governor Kulongoski.  “I’ve very proud of what Tim and his team have accomplished, and happy to see Oregon once again being internationally recognized for its innovative strategies.”

OregonProspector will compete with 33 other finalists for the Stockholm Challenge Trophy, a coveted award in the information technology industry.  The awards celebrations will take place in the evening on May 22, in Stockholm, Sweden, in the same venue as the Nobel Prize banquet. The winning project will be announced and presented with the Challenge Trophy. The Stockholm Challenge is owned by the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and is a biannual event.

"We're delighted with the nomination, and even more enhancements are in the works to showcase Oregon's shovel-ready industrial sites," McCabe said. "Companies ready to expand or move here work fast, and we want to exploit the power of the Web to show them industrial sites in our portfolio."

OEDA has been refining the Web site, and will be redesigning the interface and look of the pages in the next month. The redesign will make the navigation even more intuitive and align the look of the site to Oregon’s business development marketing site, Oregon4biz.com. Recently added features include the ability for OEDA members to quickly generate complete proposals for site selectors with all the industrial site and community information they look for in the site decision process.

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