Regional Collaboration Beyond the Press Release: The TechBelt Model

Download a PDF of this Article: Regional Collaboration Beyond the Press Release – The TechBelt Model

Collaboration is a contact sport. “Regional collaboration” has long been a somewhat idyllic phrase within technology-based economic development circles. Beyond the websites and trade show booths, its rare to find “collaboration” expressed in an every day operating plan. Geography, municipal boundaries, political districts and competing organizations provide real challenges for regional initiatives to find and sustain common ground.

With the announcement of the Federal Regional Innovation Cluster (RICs) initiative in March of 2010, those barriers are becoming more transparent. That initiative defined RICs as “geographically-bounded and active networks of similar, synergistic or complementary organizations which leverage their region’s unique competitive strengths to create jobs and broader prosperity.”

Since its launch, the RIC initiative has established several programs such as the Jobs and Innovation Accelerator, the Energy Regional Innovation Cluster and the I6 Green Challenge, all of which leverage technical resources and financial incentives to help formalize networks and link key assets in tangible and responsive ways.

A Regional Model

Few RICs bring together a more diverse, historic and resource-rich collaborative as we find in the TechBelt. The TechBelt Initiative began in 2008 as a regional conversation about how to reinvigorate the Cleveland-to-Pittsburgh corridor and surrounding region. “Our region was a crossroads, as our communities and workforce worked to adjust from an industrial manufacturing economy to a more dynamic “innovation economy” that demands ingenuity and creativity to stay competitive in the global market,” notes Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-17).

“If we want to play on the national and international stage, we need to leverage the world class resources in Northeast Ohio, Southwestern Pennsylvania and the West Virginia panhandle so that we develop, commercialize and bring new products in advanced energy, the biosciences, information technology and other high-tech fields to the market,” Ryan added.

Since its inception, TechBelt has been forging new industry and university partnerships, responding to competitive grant opportunities and connecting cross-state resources to attract new investment. Most recently, TechBelt partners NorTech, Innovation Works and the Pittsburgh Central Keystone Innovation Zone were among teams awarded a Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge grants totaling just under $4 million.

“Often found in clusters like TechBelt are new institutions to connect assets within clusters, regional partnerships to bring new products and services to market, and incentives that are increasingly important to support collaboration and foster innovation,” said Rich Bendis, President and CEO of Innovation America.

“It is these components of the innovative region or cluster that really make a difference for potential business opportunities. Today, there are vibrant cluster organizations (what I often call innovation intermediaries) that are working to spark entrepreneurship to fuel regional connectivity, encourage risk-taking on technologies that can take startups to maturity, and lead to job and economic growth for that region,” Bendis added.

TechBelt Lessons Learned

While every region is unique, the process of collaborating and motivations for doing so are applicable to many locations. “Collaboration between public and private sector partners is a key ingredient to building successful regional innovation clusters,” said Rebecca Bagley, TechBelt Executive Committee Member and President and CEO of NorTech in Northeast Ohio. “The TechBelt provides a platform for collaboration to identify and facilitate technology-based partnerships that leverage the region’s unique strengths and assets,” Bagley added.

Beyond serving as a communication platform, TechBelt and regional efforts generally are a more accurate reflection of the way modern economies work. “The power of our collaboration is two-fold,” said Dewitt Peart, TechBelt Executive Committee Co-Chair and Vice President for Economic Development at the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance. “Collaborations are needed because they serve both the supply chain and workforce. Both of these elements do not operate on geographic or municipal boundaries. They are transportable through mega regions.”

Focus is also a key for the TechBelt. “As a region we have been able to clearly outline Energy and Life Sciences and the assets associated with those especially the research institutions have gained traction around them,” added Peart.

That focus can help position regions and their key stakeholders to better understand their assets and mobilize as opportunities present. “NorTech views the TechBelt as an opportunity to form industry collaborations for Northeast Ohio’s advanced energy and flexible electronics clusters. For example, last year, collaboration within the TechBelt Initiative reached a high point when Northeast Ohio and Southwest Pennsylvania submitted a $130 million proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy for its Energy Regional Innovation Cluster program. While the Tech Belt proposal did not emerge as the winning applicant, the process served as a platform for the future opportunities and collaboration within the advanced energy industry,” explained Bagley.

One TechBelt lesson learned that should guide federal policy is that regional partnerships are not geographically restrictive and funding opportunities should not be either. The Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Grants and Department of Energy Cleantech Business Plan Competition both defined a divided US map that split the TechBelt region in two and three parts respectively. These programs unnecessarily limited the ability of the TechBelt region to compete for these investment opportunities. This is something that needs to change if the federal government wants to truly support regional collaboration.

The Future is Bright

Going forward, TechBelt will continue to envision this cross-state mega-region as one without borders, where institutions like Case Western and Carnegie Mellon think first about how to work together before going it alone. “We have worked to eliminate the invisible border of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border,” said Eric Planey, Co-Chair of the TechBelt Executive Committee and President of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber.

“That border stopped conversations historically on concepts like the sharing of institutional resources. That has changed now. Universities within one state in the TechBelt will lend their expertise to an initiative in another state. That is significant.”

Recently three universities did just that. Youngstown State University and the University of Akron both have existing Tier II University Transportation Centers but the U.S. Department of Transportation is re-bidding those contracts. The Ohio schools realized that they could be more competitive for these research dollars by partnering with the University of Pittsburgh for the National University Transportation Center. We don’t know the outcome of this joint submission, the Transportation Infrastructure Renewal Research Center (TIRRC), but we expect the seeds of collaboration to generate opportunities for the region.

The TechBelt stakeholders continue to meet at least on a monthly basis, sharing information, building stronger research and industry partnerships and working to attract new high value investment to the region. For more information on the TechBelt and its partners, visit www.techbelt.org.