Taking root in the silicon forest: The role of high-technology firms as surrogate universities in Portland, Oregon

This dissertation examines the evolution of the high technology industry in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region. The research explains how and why the region was able to grow a high technology industry cluster in the absence of a major world-class engineering and computer science research university. The research challenges the conventional assumption that a research university must be in place to create a high technology center. It was hypothesized that high technology firms functioned as surrogate research universities by attracting and developing labor, creating knowledge, and functioning as incubators for startup companies. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that a regional innovation milieu evolved to absorb spillover effects essential to the region's continued development.The research is based on a case study approach. Qualitative analysis of data gathered through interviews with key economic actors was complemented by quantitative analysis of secondary data such as County Business Patterns, patent data, as well as other firm-level information. In addition, a survey was conducted to collect data on new firm creation.The dissertation findings reveal that two high technology firms---namely Tektronix and Intel---functioned as surrogate research universities. They did so in different ways. Tektronix' vertical integration created spillover effects in the areas of labor, knowledge, and entrepreneurship similar to that provided by a traditional research university. By the early 1980s, Tektronix restructured from a Fordist to post-Fordist model and R&D became more integrated with other corporate activities such as manufacturing reducing Tektronix' role in fostering regional growth. In contrast, Intel, the region's largest high technology firm today, operates on the post-Fordist model. Consequently, Intel serves as a labor magnet, but has limited impact on regional knowledge creation and entrepreneurship. The research reveals that through corporate restructuring processes, a regional innovation milieu evolved and that the region's high tech firms depend on it.This dissertation advances regional development theory by concluding that high technology regions can grow without a research university if other agents function as surrogates. Regions like Portland can take different development paths depending on initiating condition. Additionally, the dissertation outlines how corporate restructuring processes facilitate the creation of an innovation milieu.