TechBelt to Use $130K to Support Initiatives
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The TechBelt Initiative will use funds from three grants totaling $130,000 to support its existing operations and expand into new technology-based programs, the organization’s co-chairman said.
The TechBelt Initiative, a network of technology and innovation stakeholders collaborating to accelerate economic growth in a region covering northeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia, was awarded $100,000 from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, $25,000 from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and $5,000 from the Raymond John Wean Foundation.
“In 2013 we plan to use this foundation funding to leverage the momentum being generated by NAMII,” said Eric Planey, vice-president, international business attraction, for the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, and co-chairman of the TechBelt Initiative. “We have identified advanced manufacturing as a sector that will have a lasting, positive economic development impact on the region.”
Some of the funding also will go to cover overhead for Fourth Economy Consulting, Pittsburgh, which TechBelt has on retainer, Planey said. “They are in charge of helping push the agenda forward,” he remarked. Fourth Economy was “instrumental” in putting together the original application for the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Initiative, which is headquartered in downtown Youngstown.
Funds also will go toward initiatives in new industries, said Planey. In particular, those efforts will focus on work TechBelt is doing in the biomedical sector and the small modular nuclear supply chain, new technology that is able to produce nuclear reactors the size of a train boxcar.
Companies including Westinghouse in Cranberry Township, Pa., and Babcock & Wilcox, Barberton, already are doing work in the field, and one of TechBelt’s efforts will be to develop a supply chain based 100% in the TechBelt region, Planey said.
Since its formation in 2008, the TechBelt has built upon its first focus on life sciences to include additional sectors like energy and advanced manufacturing. Its efforts, which have involved forging new industry and university partnerships, have provided a total return on investment of $195 for each $1 spent.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.