Oregon has a long history with electronics hardware design, going back to the early days of Tektronix and Intel. Those two technology pioneers begat hardware startup companies like Radisys, In Focus, Planar, and a host of others. But over the last two decades, Oregon’s tech startup scene has been much more about the Internet and software than it has been about chips and solder. That’s changing rapidly. Fueled by incubators, crowdfunding, open source hardware, and innovations in flexible low volume electronics manufacturing, hardware has returned to the Oregon startup scene.

NEDME, the Northwest Electronics Design and Manufacturing Expo, is prepping for its 18th year with the theme of getting your product to market. NEDME came out of the Tektronix legacy and is, for 2018, refocusing on the new generation of hardware startups. With 74 exhibitors, 15 technical sessions, and two keynote addresses, this year’s NEDME, October 3rd in Beaverton, has a wealth of information to help you navigate the increasingly complex world of hardware development.

NEDME features exciting tech innovators, such as the Portland State Aerospace Society, showing off their open source rocket platform and cubeSats. Rick Turoczy, Founder and editor at Silicon Florist, co-founder and general manager of the Portland Incubator Experiment, will kick off the expo with the morning keynote covering his PIE Cookbook: An Open Source Guide for Startup Accelerators. Duane Benson, of manufacturing innovator at Screaming Circuits, will prognosticate on the next 10 years in manufacturing for the afternoon keynote.