University Partnership Ignites Region

Seven years ago, Taylor adds, “while talking with foundations and other regional leaders, Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and CMU President Jared Cohon realized that there was a lot of opportunity for cooperation between their two institutions, that they were more complimentary than competitive. Further, they reasoned, if Pittsburgh was going to compete with other major centers, especially in life sciences, if would be better if the universities cooperated. Rather than fighting for a bigger slice of a fixed pie, they could help build a bigger pie. The result was that their cooperation has been the single biggest opportunity to help the region grow.”

The first fruits, the Digital Greenhouse in 1999, morphed into the Technology Collaborative. “The Digital Greenhouse was a leap of faith,” offers Don Smith, an early leader in the effort.  It meant risk, it meant money, it meant, he adds, “a much more active engagement than merely hiring faculty. It meant two men actively involved in economic development, maximizing the impact, on this region. It’s rare in the university world.” Next was the Life Sciences Greenhouse in 2002 which married CMU's IT-computer science-engineering strengths with Pitt's medical excellence and biomedical engineering, Nordenberg and Cohon co-chairing.

Efforts grew until last year the two universities created a joint economic development arm – Pittsburgh’s University Partnership, Donald F. Smith, Jr., Ph.D., Director. "To the best of our knowledge,” Nordenberg said at the time, “this is a unique arrangement in higher education, to have one individual leading the economic development initiatives of two major research universities."

"By working together,” Cohon added, “we ensure that the future is invented right here in Western Pennsylvania. Committed to leveraging our complementary strengths, we are already seeing positive results, including the development of one of the nation’s most prestigious IT addresses, at the Collaborative Innovation Center, home to Apple, Google, Intel, and a Microsoft-sponsored robotics laboratory."

“The fact that global leaders are choosing our region to help them generate their next generation of products is a very important signal,” Smith says. “It tells the world this is a good place to do technology business, that Pittsburgh has the raw material to create tomorrow’s products. They could locate anywhere in the world,” Smith adds. “But they came here.”

Holding court in Oakland, in a small Henry Street building, gentle, personable Don Smith seems hardly the driven, Type A-type the numbers would suggest. Since the turn of the century, the Partnership ranks sixth in the nation for university researchers, has produced 225 start-ups, and raised $1.2 billion in capital projects -- in Oakland alone. Overall, Pittsburgh’s 7,000-odd technology companies employ more than 200,000 people, generating more than $10 billion in payroll – with a sizeable percentage having university origins. “In 2006-07 alone,” Smith says, “there’s $1 billion is sponsored research. That means we’re importing new money and new jobs.

“Since 2004,” he adds, “successful university-originated spin-off companies went from two-to-four a year to 12-to-20 a year. That’s a remarkable gain. For regional long-term success, this start-up rate is critical. We have to continue if we want to have a dynamic technology-based economy.

“There is more pressure for the universities to have an impact on driving the economy,” Smith says. “In Pittsburgh, the traditional pillars of the economy have been eroded or knocked down. As such, people are looking to the universities not just for education, but also for the emergence of the new economy. To their credit, the universities stepped forward, recognizing that if we’re going to try to attract the world’s best faculty, and the world’s best students, we all have to live here. We are part of Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh is part of us. We need a successful region – and co-partners – to be great research universities.

“There’s a lot going on on both campuses,” Smith adds. “We’ve worked very hard to try to attract and retain graduates. While we can’t compel them to stay, we can make it attractive. To do that we’ve mobilized tremendous resources -- attracted and retained businesses, enhanced the university infrastructure. Everyone talks about creating win-win partnerships. We’ve done that because we can help both sides understand what the other side wants and values. It’s a translation function: if you don’t understand what a win means to the other side, it’s hard to get to the deal. That’s the coordination support that my office can do, to be supportive of what others – professors, inventors, line development officers – are doing.”

For his part, Smith’s self-described “macro-level” role is three-fold: “First, I serve as a doorman for the university to companies, investors, and economic development people in the region,” he says. “I help people find the right door. Second, I actively seek collaborative opportunities that leverage the strengths of both universities. Third, I work to see how to create an environment inside and outside that will allow these people to be more successful, to find linkages they can use in their daily activities.”

“Don Smith,” comments Andrew Hannah, President/CEO, Harmarville-based Plextronics, which markets line of revolutionary organic lighting that can be printed on virtually any surface, “is one of my Pittsburgh heroes. He is completely focused on the growth of the Pittsburgh technology sector. He understands that we need to develop an entrepreneurial culture -- and is committed to making that happen. Our success over the next ten years will partially be the result of the work he’s doing to get these technologies and companies off the ground.”

“The future looks very bright,” Cellumen’s Lance Taylor adds. “When you look at the growth and number of companies over the last five years, projections are that they will continue. Right now, the slope is very strong.”

 “Is the sky the limit?” Smith is asked.

 “Ultimately,” he smiles, “it is.”

 Award-winning writer Abby Mendelson is the author of numerous books, including The Pittsburgh Steelers Official History and Pittsburgh: A Place in Time. Ghost Dancer, a collection of short stories, is available at amazon and bn.com.