"Weird and crunchy" Portland, it turns out, is also the home of Silicon Forest, a robust cluster of computer and electronics firms. The Forest was initially planted in 1946 when four returning war veterans started Tektronix to invent and manufacture oscilloscopes. Tektronix grew to be one of the top manufacturers of test and measurement instruments and, over time, spun off dozens of start-up companies. In 1976, the semiconductor maker Intel started up in Silicon Valley. Portland was conveniently close to Silicon Valley, with a lower cost of living and inexpensive raw materials for manufacturing (like water and electricity). Soon thereafter, Intel moved a cadre of engineers to Portland, and a Portland-based team developed the company's signature Pentium chip. Portland's computer and electronics manufacturing cluster now employs 33,200 people, and it is the region's top international export industry, accounting for 57 percent of the its total exports and 63 percent of export growth between 2003 and 2010.

'Not Just Us Selling Each Other Microbrews'

In his 2010 State of the Union, President Obama issued a challenge to the country: "We need to export more of our goods. Because the more products we make and sell to other countries, the more jobs we support right here in America."

The Portland leadership community rose to the challenge. The metropolis had been hit hard by the Great Recession, shedding 80,000 jobs and seeing unemployment rise to over 11 percent. Led by Portland's then Mayor Sam Adams and the Portland Development Commission, a team of business and civic leaders sorted out how to double the region's exports. They dug deep into the data, deconstructing their economy. From this intense assessment emerged the Greater Portland Export Plan, which outlined several strategies to leverage the region's dual strengths: its leading global position in computers and electronic products manufacturing and its global edge in sustainability. In order to build on the region's strengths in sustainability, the plan has launched a major marketing campaign called "We Build Green Cities" to promote the region's clean tech companies and products as solutions for global clean economy challenges.

The future of the metropolis is "not just us selling each other microbrews," Tom Hughes, President of Metro Council, said. "What you really need is a culture where manufacturers or entrepreneurs begin to include foreign markets as part of their business strategy." Portland companies have primarily looked east to Asia for their markets. But there is also enormous potential and need in our hemisphere. After a trip to Brazil, Mayor Sam Adams established a formal relationship with Sustainable Hub, a São Paulo-based clean tech consulting firm, to help Portland firms crack the Brazilian market and vice versa.