 Intra-regional Competition Drives a Business Boom in the U.S. Northeast(cover) New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut Maine New Hampshire and Vermont Request Information 
|
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is becoming an East Coast high-tech haven thanks to the efforts of the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse, Southwestern Pennsylvania's "Start-up Company of the Year." When VerticalNet Inc. CEO John Galli went searching for a new corporate headquarters site, he didn't have to look very far. In fact, he found it in his home state of Pennsylvania, the place he decided he wanted to live and raise his family. The resulting corporate real estate site selection, announced in the third quarter of 2000, marked the largest e-commerce jobs project in Pennsylvania history. The expansion of the VerticalNet headquarters in Montgomery County near Philadelphia will create 1,000 new jobs and represent a total capital investment of some US$15 million. But what makes Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge really happy is what those new jobs represent. At an average starting salary of between $50,000 and $60,000, these high-tech positions are exactly the kind of jobs the state's economic development leaders crave.
No longer tied to the Rust Belt fortunes of the old steel mill and refinery industry, Pennsylvania is using a number of innovative programs to jumpstart the state's fledgling high-tech economy. At the forefront of these initiatives are the Ben Franklin Technology Partners (BFTP), Keystone Opportunity Zones (KOZ) and Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse (PDG). Since the spring of 1999, the KOZ program has created more than 5,000 new jobs throughout the state by granting large tax incentives to economically depressed areas. The BFTP, by investing in targeted high-tech companies, boosted the state economy by $2.9 billion between 1989 and 1996. The PDG, meanwhile, announced a major coup last July when it secured a Sony Electronics Semiconductor Design Center. For its efforts, the PDG recently was named "Start-up Company of the Year" by Junior Achievement of Southwestern Pennsylvania. What do all of these government-backed programs have in common? For one thing, they all represent a major shift in the thinking of Pennsylvania's economic development leaders. According to Donna S. Buchheit, manager of economic development for the Allentown-based PPL Utilities, Pennsylvania is not the same state it was 10 years ago. "We have seen some major changes and trends taking place in the Pennsylvania economy, and one of the more recent ones is that our advanced technology and manufacturing sector is doing very well," she says. "Also, Pennsylvania is no longer work force poor, and we are constantly working to make sure that we are not worker poor." If Pennsylvania needed concrete confirmation that its newfound approach to economic development was working, it found it in the form of VerticalNet and its CEO Galli. After being born and raised in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Galli did what many young high-tech visionaries of his age and culture did -- leave to pursue his dreams on the West Coast. But unlike many of his contemporaries, Galli didn't remain there. He chose to set up shop in Horsham near Philadelphia, and today he runs the Internet's leading network of business-to-business communities of commerce. VerticalNet provides B2B platforms for such clients as Siemens, Air Products and Honeywell. In the past two years, VerticalNet has acquired 20 companies. "This is the defining announcement for Pennsylvania," Gov. Ridge said when he welcomed the expanded VerticalNet headquarters to Montgomery County. "For too long, we sat back and watched as our talented crop of young professionals left our state for the West Coast, seeking the high-tech jobs they could not find here at home. But the tide is turning. The 'brain drain' is turning into the 'brain gain.' And VerticalNet is a great example." When asked why he decided to come home and build his company, Galli said, "Gov. Ridge has created an atmosphere that allows technology companies to do what they do best -- move at Net speed. The result is that people like me -- people who wanted to be in Pennsylvania but couldn't find the right fit professionally -- now are coming back home."
TOP OF PAGE
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
©2001 Conway Data, Inc. All rights reserved. SiteNet data is from many sources and not warranted to be accurate or current.
|