Research and Innovation Critical for Pittsburgh Region Post-election

Recent infusions of federal funding like the CHIPS and Science Act(opens in new window) and the Inflation Reduction Act dramatically impacted advanced industries in the United States. Investments in industries like biotechnology, semiconductors and artificial intelligence can benefit communities by creating jobs and improving quality of life on the national, state and local levels. But according to the Brookings Institution, the nation’s advanced industries are falling behind(opens in new window). 

Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and the Brookings Institution hosted an event on CMU’s campus to explore how regional and local economic development opportunities and public policy affect the potential for innovation in the context of the 2024 election. Leaders from both universities and Brookings joined industry executives, community partners and regional experts to discuss this at Issues at stake in the 2024 election: Revitalizing American industry(opens in new window) on April 24. 

At the event, CMU President Farnam Jahanian said 2024 is a distinctly consequential moment in time. 

“We are experiencing an unprecedented pace and scale of technological advances, a widening talent and economic opportunity gap; and growing global competition,” Jahanian said. “Today major leaps toward data-enabled, technology-driven research are impacting a wide range of industries and markets, from health care, to manufacturing, to transportation to space exploration, and even the very essence of scientific discovery itself.” 

The event was part of Election ’24: Issues at Stake(opens in new window), a series from Brookings that brings focus to policy issues faced by voters and policymakers ahead of the 2024 election.

“The vast majority of Americans want more policy over politics,” said Cecilia Elena Rouse, president of Brookings. “Today we will focus on one of those substantive issues, revitalizing American industry. Pittsburgh is the perfect place to do this — it has been the model of revitalization over many decades.” 

In addition to remarks by Jahanian and Rouse, the event included opening remarks by Joan Gabel, chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh, and event framing remarks by Alan Berube from Brookings. Panel discussions on bolstering advanced manufacturing in Southwestern Pennsylvania, translating Pittsburgh’s life-science research strength into commercial prospects, and leveraging a federal place-based challenge grant to broaden the impact of robotics and autonomy followed. 

In a panel discussion, Secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Rick Siger — who previously served as chief of staff and senior adviser to CMU President Jahanian — emphasized the importance of universities, businesses and foundations to have a shared vision for their region. 

“What we want to do, at the state level, is try to be a really good partner to you,” Siger said. “We want to create tools, we want to create a really aggressive, hyper-competitive framework that you can operate in to recruit and retain companies, to drive your innovation economy, and to create the sort of enabling environment to make this a great community.”

CMU plays a key role in leveraging state and federal place-based economic policies. The university is part of all five of the projects(opens in new window) in Southwestern Pennsylvania’s winning Build Back Better Regional Challenge award, a $62.7 million grant(opens in new window) over four years launching 14,000 workers, supporting 750 small and medium-sized businesses to upgrade their existing technology, and generating an estimated $550 million in gross domestic product. Pittsburgh is also one of the Biden Administration’s Workforce Hubs(opens in new window), receiving funding and assistance for local workforce training at CMU’s advanced manufacturing facility, Mill 19(opens in new window). 

Jahanian emphasized the need for public policy to make the recent technology boom beneficial for everyone. 

“Absent intentional interventions, our nation runs the risk of inadvertently disenfranchising entire segments of our population, both in rural as well as urban communities, from fully participating in our emerging innovation economy,” he said.