Monday, November 24, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Developing strategies to lure companies related to energy, petrochemical production and additive manufacturing to this region remains a top priority for the TechBelt Initiative, its members say.
Some 30 members of the group – a collaborative effort involving economic development, academic and government representatives from northeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia – participated in a morning-long summit Nov. 21 in the Williamson College of Business Administration at Youngstown State University.
“Everything we do is a collaborative activity,” says Jerry Paytas, TechBelt Initiative project manager and vice president of Fourth Economy Consulting in Pittsburgh. “We’re identifying opportunities the region can work on together and what people are interested in working on together.”
The session consisted of three working groups assigned the task of coming up with ideas and possible projects that can be advanced, Paytas says. The ideas will be forwarded to the group’s executive committee for evaluation.
Dewitt Peart, president of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance who serves as co-chairman of the TechBelt Initiative, says that attracting jobs through the energy industry is a major component of this year’s agenda.
“We’re looking at how the three states can collaborate around the shale and natural gas opportunities – downstream manufacturing,” he says.
Peart adds that any initiative would be geared toward developing a manufacturing and supply chain network rather than direct exploration of natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.
“It’s more about what we’re going to do with liquid natural gas in this mega-region to take advantage of the manufacturing opportunities,” he says. “It’s all the industries supporting petrochemical manufacturing.”
Critical to developing the region’s petrochemical market is the completion of at least three ethane cracker plants: Shell Chemical’s proposed $4 billion plant in Monaca, Odebrecht’s $3.8 billion plant in Wood County, W.Va., and Appalachian Resins’ $1 billion project proposed for Monroe County.
“As these cracker facilities come on line, we want to be positioned so that the region is able to get the downstream opportunities – the chemicals, the plastics and the other manufacturing that will happen here,” Peart says.
Other initiatives that include petitioning for funding for certain projects are also part of the group’s short-term agenda that involves water reuse and possibly the manufacturing sector, Paytas says.
He says the TechBelt Initiative is seeking ways to organize an economic development strategy around additive manufacturing, specifically America Makes – the first advanced manufacturing hub established as part of the Obama administration’s National Network for Manufacturing Innovation.
“We’re looking at how we organize the commercialization side – the incubators, the accelerators – to grow that expertise from an entrepreneurial basis,” he says.
U.S. Rep Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio, told the group that collaborative work among the universities, manufacturers and governments in the region is paying real dividends and the world is starting to take notice.
Ryan says the Tech Belt region is well ahead of the curve compared to other parts of the country, as evidenced by American Makes in downtown Youngstown and other initiatives in development in the tri-state region: “We’ve already been branded as the place to be.”
As a result, the congressman says, economic-development professionals are working together across state lines to promote the entire region as a burgeoning technology and advanced manufacturing hub.
A major component is providing adequate training and education for young people preparing to enter the workforce, Ryan says.
“We’re starting a coding initiative for computer coding jobs,” he reports.
As it stands, three coding jobs are available for each qualified applicant, and these positions pay between $50,000 and $70,000 a year. “We’re going to establish a coding corridor in the Tech Belt where we’re going to go into schools in our cities,” he declares.
The objective is to attract young people into the industry to establish a highly skilled workforce, the congressman notes.
“As we grow the workforce here, and we identify it as place that’s focused on training coders, I think that’s going to be another enhancement to lure companies here,” Ryan says.
Pictured: Some 30 development, academic and government leaders from northeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia participated in the summit Nov. 21 in the Williamson College of Business Administration at Youngstown State University.
Copyright 2014 by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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