Corvallis showed off its flagship businesses and high-tech industry Tuesday to a group of business and political leaders touring Oregon.

Dozens of people were in town as part of Oregon Business Magazine's "Business is Good" tour, designed to highlight business and industry in the state.

The three-week tour began in Astoria on Monday and visited Salem earlier in the day on Tuesday. Tour guides are scheduled to lead the group through 17 other communities throughout the state with city tours, roundtable discussions and industry tours in each place.

Mike Blakely, part of the marketing group for Columbia Forest Products, said he was most interested in the examples of efficient and sustainable "lean and green" practices being shown off by Corvallis businesses.

"They're not fads, they're here in practice," Blakely said. "Coming from an old industry, we're looking at some of the latest techniques."

Columbia Forest Products, based in Portland, is North America's largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood and veneer products.

During a tour of ONAMI, the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute, Mayor Charlie Tomlinson made clear what he'd like Blakely and other visitors to come away with.

"What you're seeing here is Oregon building its high-tech infrastructure," Tomlinson said. "It's very important that the state is making these investments and that it's here in Corvallis."

ONAMI is a partnership between university researchers, government agencies and industry to bring cutting-edge technology into the marketplace. Its research and development facility is housed on the Hewlett-Packard campus.

Michael Laport, marketing director for Corvallis-based Peak Internet, said the tour opened his eyes to high-tech businesses he had heard about but had never seen.

"We have a certain amount of pride that all of this is happening in Corvallis," Laport said. "It's also nice to know that we're a research and development-based community rather than just retirement or tourism like a lot of the state."

On Tuesday, the group also looked at Hewlett-Packard and Korvis Automation, took a downtown trolley tour and made a stop at Riverfront Commemorative Park for the city's 150th birthday celebration.

Today, the group will tour Oregon State University's Tsunami Wave Lab and the College of Business' Austin Entrepreneurship Center before moving south to Springfield.

Reporter Matt Neznanski can be reached at 758-9518 or matt.neznanski@lee.net