Kick off summer with an evening of connection, innovation and inspiration at June’s Central Oregon PubTalk. Join entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders, students, and community members from across the region for engaging conversations and new opportunities to grow your network within Central Oregon’s thriving innovation ecosystem.
This month, EDCO is partnering with InventOR to celebrate the program’s 10th Annual Finals with a special alumni panel hosted at OSU-Cascades. Hear firsthand from past InventOR winners and innovators as they share their entrepreneurial journeys, lessons learned and the impact InventOR has had on Oregon’s startup community. Whether you’re building a business, supporting innovation or simply curious about what’s next, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss!
Keynote: InventOR Alumni Panel
Skyler Pearson | NexGarden
2017 InventOR Winner
Skyler presented their vertical farming solution at the inaugural InventOR program representing Portland State. After placing first, Skyler and business partner Hugh Neri continued working on their startup, and NexGarden microgreens can be found at several Market of Choice locations in Portland!
Dagan Kay | Produce Mate
2018 InventOR Winner
Dagan developed Produce Mate – a silicone mat that passively preserves food – during the 2nd annual InventOR competition, and was an inaugural member of The Cube. After a successful Kickstarter, Dagan moved on from Produce Mate and continues to fight food waste as a business development representative for Leanpath in San Francisco.
Ashlei Morgan | The Reclaimers
2019 InventOR Winner
Ashlei won InventOR with a prototype that converted waste plastic back into a crude oil that could be used to make recycled plastics. Upon graduation, the project remained at OIT, and Ashlei landed her first engineering job thanks in part to the experience gained during InventOR. She is now a Project Engineer at Precision Measurements and Instruments Corporation.
Blake Turner | Turner Automotive
2019 InventOR Second Place
Blake took home second place with his Hydrogen Engine Conversion Kit, which converts any gas-powered car to run on hydrogen. While continuing this project, Blake started his career in entrepreneurship education as a student worker at the PSU Center for Entrepreneurship, and now helps run the program that gave him this opportunity.
Mark Morrison | Cold Connect
2025 InventOR Visionary Award Winner
Mark won the Visionary award with Cold Cap, a device that converts a vacuum-insulated flask into a tracked, actively-cooled vaccine storage canister, preventing vaccines from being wasted due to cooling disruptions. Mark has continued presenting at multiple conferences after InventOR and is actively raising funds to turn his idea into a startup.
Program Agenda*:
4:30pm Networking
5:30pm Programming
Keynote:
InventOR Alumni Panel facilitated by Juan Barraza
Student Pitch:
Brook Hamilton | Founder Fire Sense
Central Oregon PubTalk
Thursday, June 25
OSU-Cascades Edward J. Ray Hall
4:30pm Networking
5:30pm Program
