When he was 14 years old, Scott Seelye designed a special BMX racing bike that could sling-shot the chain into gear, helping him win every race. The tricked-out bike, his first invention, eventually disqualified Seelye from racing, but his ingenuity evolved from an after-school hobby to a career in which he designed products for companies making jet fighters, golf clubs and hats made of recycled paper.

Now, Seelye is taking his years of expertise to Central Oregon Community College students in Bend, offering advice and management at the college’s Business Development Center. He is the most recent of five part-time business advisers offering a growing number of Central Oregon entrepreneurs free advice on everything from developing ideas to manufacturing products.

”I’m doing this because I like the excitement of hearing other people’s ideas and helping further them along,” said Seelye, currently taking some early retirement.

COCC’s Business Development Center is not new, but its director, Beth Wickham, said adding experts like Seelye to the program will help it expand and attract more inventors who are ”hiding” in the community.

”I think Bend has always had a lot of innovative people,” Wickham said. ”It’s a very fast-growing area and it’s starting to be seen as a hub for innovation in general.”

Seelye, recently left the industrial design world to work on his own projects and complete a book, which he calls a ”choose your own adventure” instructional piece for readers to ”choose their own process of manufacturing.”

Robert Taylor is Seelye’s first client. During business hours, he is a salesman for Sprint Express in Redmond. After-hours, he is working on inventions that he hopes will lead to a full-time entrepreneur’s career.

”I’ve always been an idea person, but it’s been in the last few years that I realized I really needed to do something for myself to move forward in a new direction,” said Taylor, who is currently working on two projects, which he vaguely describes as gardening hand tools.

”It’s been a lifelong consideration of mine to be an entrepreneur and inventor, but only recently have I moved in that direction.”

Taylor said Seelye is helping him address financing, patenting and production strategies on his projects. But he can’t talk specifics before he receives a patent – another recommendation from Seelye.

”I needed advice to get from point A to point B to point C,” Taylor said. ”(Seelye) gives me guidance to get there.”

Taylor, who has lived in Bend three years, contacted COCC one year ago for advice and management on his design projects. Through the school’s counsel and his time with Seelye, his projects are starting to take shape and he has connected with other area entrepreneurs.

”For a long time, I tried to find ways to get my project done by myself, not knowing how to do it,” he said. ”It’s nice to have someone who knows the process and can help you avoid costly mistakes.”

Central Oregon attracts innovation and invention because of its beauty, advanced telecommunications infrastructure and large talent pool, said Robert Newhart II, chief executive officer of Oregon Innovation Center, a Bend nonprofit innovation think tank.

All these things combine with what Newhart calls the area’s ”can-do attitude” to create a hotbed for creative invention.

”Almost every industry in Bend is progressive – from the breweries to the resorts,” said Newhart, who directed COCC’s Business Development Center from 1988 to 2000. ”There is someone doing something creative in every field, and they all cross-fit, which means the industries work together to foster innovative growth.”

Last year, COCC delivered 1,318 hours of business counseling, Wickham said, and each counselor works four to five hours with a client, one-on-one, to help the client develop business loans, business plans, loan proposals and patents. Students must first take an introductory small-business management class to receive the free counseling, she said.

Taylor said the program has inspired him to give back to the community.

”I see myself doing the same thing as Scott down the road: having sales moving and seeing some measure of success,” he said. ”And it would be nice to then turn around and give back to people the same things he’s given me.”

For more information on Seelye or the Business Development Center, call 541-383-7290 or visit www.cocc.edu.

Anna Sowa can be reached at 541-383-0304 or at asowa@bendbulletin.com.