Oregon State University – Cascades has launched the Energy Innovation Center to accelerate research and development in energy technologies in Central Oregon and beyond.
The center will focus in areas such as energy storage, carbon capture and abatement, and power generation and controls. It is also designed to help advance the work of entrepreneurs and companies focused on energy solutions.
Campus leaders see the center as demonstrating the caliber of university-industry partnerships possible at the campus’s future innovation district. The center is anticipated to move to the Innovation District at OSU-Cascades as the district develops.
Led by Zachary Taie, executive director, and Chris Hagen, co-director, the Energy Innovation Center leverages the growing expertise in energy research underway at the OSU campus in Bend, as well as the energy sector assets in Bend and beyond.
“Central Oregon and the Pacific northwest are evolving as an epicenter for businesses and entrepreneurs focused on finding solutions to energy challenges facing our country and world,” said Taie. “The Energy Innovation Center at OSU-Cascades, in partnership with OSU, will support these companies and entrepreneurs, helping them more quickly transform ideas into viable commercial solutions.”
Facilities and equipment in the Energy Innovation Center’s 11,000 square-foot space will include a light industrial laboratory, access to 800 amps of 208 three-phase power, as well as tall ceilings and roll-up garage doors that can accommodate forklift access. The space also includes meeting, conferencing and project space, and a kitchen for researchers and tenants.
The center will provide tenants access to resources within OSU, including the Advantage team which supports intellectual property licensing, entrepreneurial training through the Advantage Accelerator, and additional manufacturing instrumentation through the Advanced Technologies and Manufacturing Institute.
Taie earned a bachelor’s degree in energy systems engineering from OSU-Cascades, and both his master’s degree and doctorate in mechanical engineering from OSU where he was awarded a fellowship from the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Taie also worked in the Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office where he led a $35 million portfolio of projects. He returned to Bend in 2023 to join RedoxBlox, a startup focused on thermochemical energy storage technology, before joining the Energy Innovation Center at OSU-Cascades.
Hagen is a professor of energy systems engineering and an expert in energy conversion and storage related issues such as thermal energy storage and next generation fuels which may present greenhouse gas reduction opportunities. As founder and director of the Energy Systems Lab at OSU-Cascades, Hagen led work that resulted in the spinoff of Onboard Dynamics, located in Bend.
The Energy Innovation Center is located in District 2 in Northwest Crossing on Potts Court, about one mile from the OSU-Cascades campus.
Campus leaders are currently securing a master developer for the first eight-acre phase of the future 24-acre innovation district. The first buildings are anticipated to be open in 2028.
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