Rural Innovation Hub
Wy’East is working to bring a Rural Innovation Hub to the Wasco County region. The Rural Innovation Hub will serve as a resilience hub for the geographically isolated rural communities of the region. Wasco County and the Columbia River Gorge experience frequent natural disasters such as wildfires and ice storms that devastate the area. This hub will ensure our community’s emergency needs are met during these circumstances. When not facing emergencies, this site will function as an innovation hub and learning center— showcasing the latest innovative cleantech technologies and practices on-farm while preparing the next generation for the workforce of tomorrow.
The Rural Innovation Hub project is currently unfunded, but it is a project that Wy’East and our partners are passionately pursuing on behalf of our local communities, producers, and entrepreneurs.
Building Community Resiliency
The Rural Innovation Hub will serve as a safe and connected space for community members and first responders during emergency situations. The hub will provide backup power and water, communications, and energy storage with the capability to function as an independent microgrid as needed during emergencies.
Fostering Rural Innovation
New technology can often come with apprehension or fears, showcasing innovative practices in a place-based manner is key to alleviating this concern. The Rural Innovation Hub will allow for on-site demonstrations of cutting edge energy systems (green hydrogen production, battery integrated EV charging, agrivoltaics, and others), while also showcasing water saving irrigation improvements and remote sensing technologies that allow producers to maximize crop yields and fine-tune their water use. The initial electric equipment testing for the E-Farms program (before equipment is sent to producers to use) is all done on site in Dufur, Oregon. Showcasing this technology for the public, funders, and our local community is an important way Wy’East can help to bridge the ‘Urban-Rural Divide’ and allow a glimpse into the use cases for emerging electric equipment such as some of the United States first electric tractors.
Growing Local Economies
Keeping dollars local and building on the existing ‘High Tech Economy’ of the Columbia River Gorge is a central part of the Rural Innovation Hub. Developing emerging cleantech career fields through collaboration with the surrounding community colleges, high schools and entrepreneurs of the region is a top priority of the Rural Innovation Hub. As the cleantech field expands so do the opportunities for jobs, and the co-location of Agri-tech businesses in the Wasco County region through an innovation hub can propel our region’s economy to new levels.