Cleveland-to-Pittsburgh Mega-Region Join to Create Tech Belt Initiative

CLEVELAND -- The Tech Belt Initiative is an economic development strategy designed to reinvigorate the Cleveland-to-Pittsburghregion (Cleveland, Youngstown and Pittsburgh) by building on its unique civic, educational, healthcare, and industrial institutions.

The transition to aknowledge-based economy has caused opinion leaders from these metropolitan areas to recognize that the future of these once great manufacturingcommunities are tied together, and that our continued success depends on ourability to collaborate in the creation of new products, technologies, and wealth.

To spearhead this effort, a steering committee, comprised of leadership organizations from Southwest Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio, is working todevelop a strategic vision for this initiative and to build the partnerships necessary to leverage the region's collective resources.

The committee hasidentified the following goals for potential partnership opportunities:

• Encourage the federal government to identify the region as a PremierInnovation Zone and invest in/augment existing state technology-based economic development programs
• Continue support for SBIR/STTR programs
• Reinstate funding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEP)
• Continue the Alternative Energy Tax Credits for wind power, solar energy, and other renewable fuels
• Augment funding for translational research at both the university and commercial levels

A comprehensive list of the Tech Belt Initiative's goals and actions to be pursued can be found in the white paper titled, "The Tech Belt Initiative;Realizing the Full Economic Potential of the Cleveland-Pittsburgh TechnologyCorridor," which can be downloaded at www.techbelt.org.