Public-private partnership aims to boost tech economy

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A public-private partnership has been formed to accelerate Pittsburgh’s growing tech economy, with Oakland serving as the hub.

InnovatePGH will support efforts by the Pittsburgh Council for Higher Education to launch Talent Alliance, a workforce development pipeline to serve the city’s growing tech economy while leveraging the assets of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University to recruit and retain tech businesses.

In addition to Pitt and CMU, InnovatePGH is partnering with a coalition of civic leaders representing Allegheny County, the city of Pittsburgh, UPMC, Allegheny Conference on Community Development, and regional philanthropies.

Sean Luther, 35, has been named executive director. Previously, he managed the launch of Envision Downtown and served in senior management roles at Green Building Alliance.

Pitt chancellor Patrick Gallagher said the new venture would turn “ideas into innovation.”

“InnovatePGH is a platform for propelling the city forward in powerful ways,” Mr. Gallagher said in a prepared statement. “This new command center will enable us to move swiftly and strategically to turn ideas into innovations, and it will fuel a tech revolution that the University of Pittsburgh is honored to help lead.”

InnovatePGH grew from a 2017 Brookings Institution study,