CMU South Asia

Carnegie Mellon University is branching out, to India. Given the difficulties in front of Indians who desire an American education, setting up shop in India makes a great deal of sense. However, Indian bureaucracy can deter the development of India-based programs. That seems to be changing, opening up new markets to universities in the United States:

For its part, Carnegie Mellon offers its degree in partnership with a small private institution here, the Shri Shiv Shankar Nadar College of Engineering. Most of the course work is done at relatively inexpensive rates here in India, followed by six months in Pittsburgh, at the end of which students graduate with a Carnegie Mellon degree.

The arrangement circumvents most of the usual Indian government restrictions. The curriculum is devised in partnership with Carnegie Mellon, and students are chosen jointly by faculty from both schools.

There are no affirmative action requirements for student admissions, as there are in accredited colleges. Fees are not regulated by the state. It is expensive by Indian standards, though nearly all of the students are subsidized by scholarships financed by Shiv Nadar, the college’s founder and chief executive of HCL Technologies, one of India’s leading technology companies.

The applicants on the recent evening in Chennai were eager to please the gatekeepers from Pittsburgh. They addressed them politely with a series of “yes, sirs.” Asked what they could contribute to Carnegie Mellon, some of them became flummoxed. One young man said he wanted to develop software designed for the “global citizen,” by which he meant a way to transfer money across continents using a mobile phone.

Mr. Muddana, who had a bachelor’s degree in information technology and had spent the past eight months as a software developer for an Indian firm, said he saw the program as a cost-effective ticket to an American degree and a chance to work for a few years in the United States.

This is a great deal for CMU and Indian citizens, but what's the upside for Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh enterprise could piggyback on CMU's relationship, thereby gaining a toehold in an important emerging market. Pittsburgh must learn how to exploit the transient presence of talent. Trying to keep Indian talent in Pittsburgh is impractical.

Medical Diaspora

Diaspora networks represent new market opportunities. Medical services developed in Pittsburgh can do much more than serve people living in the United States:

Cashing in on the dearth of affordable medical expertise in foreign countries, and with an eye on the sizeable Indian diaspora, a US-based medical firm is all set to set up its base in Gujarat to promote offshore healthcare services. Om Healthcare Providers Network Private Limited, which will launch its operations from Vadodara and Ahmedabad, unveiled its plans in Vadodara on Saturday. The idea is to have a network of Indian doctors and hospitals, whose services will be promoted primarily in the US, UK and East Africa, the areas from where presently the bulk of NRIs and foreign patients arrive for healthcare facilities.

With the basic premise of hard-selling Indian medical expertise, Dr Jignesh Patel, who is an alumni of Baroda Medical College (BMC) based in Pittsburgh, US, and works in the realm of critical care and neonatology, joined hands with Ketul Parikh, who is also based in the US and has a background in offshore IT and BPO industries. The ambitious target is to create a nationwide network of 10,000 members, comprising health care service providers, doctors, hospitals, medical tourism vendors, and also providers of Indian treatments like ayurveda, and yoga.

Pittsburgh's aging population and negative growth bode ill for local businesses hoping to service the region. Pittsburgh innovation must go global, on the heels of the Burgh Diaspora.

H-1B Pittsburgh Retort

The Economist offers a response to those who would refuse to let more of the world's talent into the United States:

America's legal immigration system is falling apart at just the time when talented foreigners have more choice than ever. Many other countries—including Australia, Canada, Britain, Germany and even France—are bending over backwards to attract talented people. European companies can easily draw on the skills of an entire continent, thanks to the free movement of labour there. At the same time the Indian and Chinese economies are booming. Indian companies such as Infosys and Wipro have California-style campuses, state-of-the-art equipment and generous pay packets (which, incidentally, allow employees to afford a house full of servants). American multinationals such as Microsoft are establishing research and development facilities across the developing world. Indians and Chinese were once willing to put up with any humiliation for a chance of a career in the United States. Now they have more and more choices back home.

The United States has attracted a large share of global talent despite favoring family re-unification over economic immigration. That worm is turning as higher education in other countries improves and innovation disperses. Concerning Pittsburgh, the pool of skilled and creative foreign nationals is shrinking, outlining a landscape of opportunity. Pittsburgh could thrive where this country is dropping the ball.

Embracing connectivity and globalization will give the region a leg up on the competition.

Scholarship Pittsburgh

One idea about how Pittsburgh could foster a relationship with its Diaspora is through higher education. Once again, India shows the way:

The main objective of the scholarship programme is to make available India's highly developed higher education system to children of the Indian diaspora (PIOs, people of Indian origin, and NRIs, non-resident Indians) living in different countries.

Perhaps such a scholarship already exists, but that would mean local universities have done a lousy job of marketing the opportunity. I suspect that there is already a substantial population of returnees among the Pittsburgh student population, but a public overture to the Diaspora would be welcome nonetheless.

Distance-Trust Pioneers

Crops of new college students are making friend before they go to school. An article in the New York Times describes how high school seniors are using Facebook, an online social networking site, to cultivate relationships of trust before they go away to school next fall:

Facebook was originally available only to college students, and expanded to include high school students in September 2005. As soon as the first college acceptances began rolling in that fall, the first future college class groups appeared on Facebook.

Early decision candidates usually create the groups, and others join later as they are accepted. Despite the variety of colleges, the conversational subjects are universal. Typical early postings are laced with excitement about college acceptances “I got in!” and “I’m so excited.” Eventually, practical matters dominate — what dormitories to live in, and finding roommates. Discussions about favorite bands and sports teams also proliferate.

Large universities inspire more groups. Cornell, for instance, has 10 groups for the Class of 2011, including ones for the Hotel School, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Cornell 2011 Athletes. There are also “Cornell 2011 Anti-Freshman 15,” a reference to the common freshman weight gain (“I’m just scared that all my clothes will be too small and completely useless by Christmas”) and the group for those who missed on early decision (“What are you doing to get in?”).

Mostly though, the talk is about personal, if virtual, connection. Ashley Hollier, a senior at St. Thomas More High School in Lafayette, La., will attend Tulane University in the fall. She and five other students who met through a Tulane 2011 group arranged to visit New Orleans at the same time. After taking a tour together, they went out to dinner.

“It was six people who had never met each other — two from Massachusetts, two from Louisiana and two New York kids,” Miss Hollier said. “Sitting at the table we felt like old friends.”

She knows a freshman at Tulane, who told her it was good she had made online connections ahead of time.

“When she first got there,” Miss Hollier said, “she didn’t have to worry, ‘Who am I going to sit with at lunch?’ because she already had familiar faces from Facebook.”

When I went to university, one common way of networking at orientation was finding other students from your state or region. The Facebook culture may encourage more geographic mixing, all the while socializing young adults to distance-trust relationships that will serve them well after they graduate.

Mayor of the Squirrel Hill Diaspora

Finishing up my visit with Alan Paul's Expat Life, I picked up the following post from Paul in the Wall Street Journal forums:

Paul: My old friend Icky (half the people I grew up with had nicknames like that) wrote me an interesting response to my column. Hi call him the mayor of the Squirrel Hill (our Pittsburgh neighborhood) exile community. He keeps a huge array of people in touch. I email with guys I went to high school or summer camp with that I haven't seen in 20-25 years.

Icky: I think it's interesting to think about how technology makes our experience in the ex-Pittsburgh diaspora much different than our grandparents' experiences of leaving the old country - and never seeing or hearing from their old friends again - or visiting, etc.

My grandmother's memories of her friends as a 14 yr old in Russia were frozen in time.

That high school buddies keep in touch isn't remarkable. The self-identification as the "exile community" or the "ex-Pittsburgh diaspora" is novel and is a product of the advances in communication technology. I also notices that the scale of identity is shrinking. Diasporas of ethnicity and nationality are giving way to cities of origin and even neighborhoods such as Squirrel Hill.

Third Generation Pittsburgh

The original Burgh Diaspora is captured in a three-part documentary about Murray Ave (Part I, Parts II and III). I found this gem at Alan Paul's expatriate blog. Paul writes for the Wall Street Journal about his life in China. The film touches on many diaspora points, namely the changing face of Parochial Pittsburgh. As one Pittsburgh Jew points out, the third generation of any ethnic group tends to move in a different direction when it comes to occupation. In a sense, the Jewish soul of Murray Ave left Pittsburgh with the third generation.

Paul's blog demonstrates the romantic attachment to Pittsburgh that expatriates harbor. In some sense, Parochial Pittsburgh lives on in the minds of its Diaspora. Even in Beijing, Paul can find a bit of Pittsburgh:

Slingbox allows you to watch a distant TV on your computer. I first learned about it from several readers when I wrote about the difficulties in watching Pittsburgh Steelers games here. My friend and fellow Steelers lunatic, Eric Rosenblum, signed up last fall and watching games at his house has whet my appetite.

Paul's point is that technology allows an expatriate to tune out his current place of residence, immersing himself in the trappings of home. He finds this opportunity dangerously seductive and something he must guard against in order to make his China experience richer.

H-1B Pittsburgh

The Wall Street Journal recently explored the issue of expanding the H-1B visa program at the behest of hi-tech companies such as Microsoft. Why would anyone be against attracting talent from other countries? The argument is that the immigrants will not stay, but instead take their intellectual capital back home:

As Business Week pointed out in an article last month, the employers using the overwhelming number of H-1Bs are offshore outsourcing firms. These firms' whole reason for being is to ship work overseas, not to use the H-1B program as a bridge to immigration. They shuttle foreign workers into the U.S. to get trained so that they can then take that work back home.

We've come a long from worrying about brain drain from developing countries. This alarm indicates, to me at least, that intellectual capital is beginning to seek frontier market opportunities. International brain circulation is a very real phenomenon, but that's no reason to discourage mobility.

Network Youngstown

Alvin Toffler recently spoke in Youngtown, leaving behind a few recommendations (as summarized by I WILL SHOUT YOUNGSTOWN) that might interest Pittsburgh:

1 - Create a regional DARPA-like organization linking the innovative capacity throughout Northeastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania...

8 - Appoint a diplomatic core from Youngstown, with bases in Washington, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland to engage others, promote business and collect information.

I selected the two that suggest possible network linkages with Pittsburgh. I'm still not convinced that an expansive contiguous regional initiative is a good idea (and if it is even possible), but I do appreciate the attempt to enhance connectivity.

Long-Distance Pittsburgh

Richard Florida was kind enough to take notice of my thoughts on his "The Mobile" and "The Stuck" concept. One great benefit of the blogosphere is the new links you can make when you put your ideas out there. The lead comment on Florida's post referenced another blog where the life of the Platinum Gypsy is a topic of discussion:

The trend [of long-distance relationships] starts before college, when young people are tied to technology, communicating with people all over the world, and making friends with people they’ve never met in person.

Then college comes, and the experience includes much more travel than it used to. Junior year abroad used to be the time to travel. Now there’s also a summer internship for most students, and many students travel to another state every summer for a coveted internship of one sort or another. Among college students 78% say they have been in a long-distance relationship.

After that, traveling for a job seems normal. Thirty years ago, people would generally look for a job out of college in a city they wanted to build a life in. Today, the first job is just a first step.

And millenniels are experimenters. They see their twenties as a time to try out a bunch of different jobs, and they also see it as a time to try out a bunch of different cities. It used to be that you could tell where someone was living by the area code on their phone. Now that area code on their cell phone only tells you where they started.

When I talk about nomads, I'm referencing the above migration trend. 20-somethings are forever on the move. The time to capture them is when they are looking to settle and start a family. However, they are also being socialized to a life on-the-move. They possess the skills to maintain a long-distance relationship, the kind that could evolve into Network Pittsburgh.

Penguin Diaspora

Mike Madison outlines the opportunities for tapping into Penguins Nation:

If the arena is an economic development resource, then the team should expand its marketing (and its local fans should coordinate themselves accordingly): We need a Penguins Nation, of a size and scale and intensity that tracks (even if it can't quite approach) Steelers Nation. If you build it, they will waddle, and so on. Dear Mario: Publicly embrace hockey-starved fans in Cleveland, Baltimore, Harrisburg, Erie, and Morgantown and encourage them to catch a game in Pittsburgh. Organize hockey charters for Canadian and European fans. Build business-and-hockey relationships with professional and amateur clubs around the world. Work with the VisitPittsburgh team. (Of course, the Penguins themselves don't need to monopolize this market. Calling all entrepreneurs!) The Penguins may be the best flightless ambassadors in the history of Pittsburgh -- and marketing outreach may be the best way for the taxpaying public to see back-end value from their share of the arena deal.

Hockey doesn't enjoy as large a following as football does, but the Pens are a source of pride even for non-fans. On the whole, the Burgh Diaspora wanted to see the franchise stay in Pittsburgh. Then again, they don't have to foot the bill for the new arena.

Pittsburgh's Platinum Gypsies

I need to touch on a host of tidbits today, so I'll keep the posts brief and to the point...

Korn/Ferry International wants to help The Mobile of Australia, referred to as "Platinum Gypsies" in the article:

With growing economic liberalisation, removal of cross-border restrictions, more affordable international transport and advanced communications technologies, the world’s workforce is becoming increasingly dynamic and mobile, with “free agents” taking advantage of the borderless nature of the workplace to design global careers. Coined “platinum gypsies” by Clotaire Rapaille, cultural anthropologist and author of The Culture Code, a breed of professionals is emerging creating a new paradigm for career development and advancement. These individuals, armed with their platinum credit cards, move from one continent or country to the next, developing themselves personally and professionally along the way while eventually losing any allegiance to one particular “home” or location. Similarly, they do not rely on any one organisation to provide them new career challenges or opportunities.

Australia is framed as a landscape of opportunity for the Platinum Gypsies, who could return home with valuable experience and skills that may not find full expression in the talent-saturated markets abroad. Of course, I think Pittsburgh (and other demographic losers) could benefit in a similar fashion.

Mobility Paradox

A recent Richard Florida blog post piqued my interest. Florida describes a demographic dichotomy: The Mobile and The Stuck. The gist is that class mobility and geographic mobility are positively correlated. I've characterized this phenomenon as the "move to improve" or the "mobility imperative." Staying put can doom you to a life of poverty:

Many more people - if things continue as they are - will have to join the ranks of the mobile if they want to prosper or even survive.

As far as I can tell, Florida's solution is an attempt to stem the tide of brain drain. Give talent a reason to stay. Better yet, transform your region into a magnet of creativity. I suggest helping The Stuck become The Mobile. I also recommend serving Mobile interests, instead of catering to The Stuck.

Thus, I have a paradox: If a region encourages mobility, how might it benefit from its investment? What I observe is that places such as "Detroit, Buffalo, or Pittsburgh" suffer from poor demographic churn. Relative to other regions, few people are actually leaving. The deep attachment to place discourages out-migration. The resulting landscape is increasingly parochial, building a barrier to in-migration.

When this happens, the best thing you could do for your citizens is to encourage them to move to improve. Concurrently, the region in question should foster links for these nomads back to home. I figure that these Parochial Argonauts retain an abnormal connection to the place where they grew up.

The city left behind should provide a wealth of frontier opportunities, as well as an excellent reputation for helping people join the ranks of The Mobile. Wherever the jobs are, a Pittsburgher is there willing to lend a hand. That's already the case for many Rust Belt cities. The patterns of out-migration demonstrate this. I can't think of a better way to break into a Cool City and enjoy success.

PUMP Up Pittsburgh

The Brain Drain lament won't die. The problem isn't keeping talent in Pittsburgh, but attracting it from someplace else. Pittsburgh compares well with other regions concerning available college graduates. Local companies have recognized this asset and fill openings with people with degrees from local colleges and universities. The region's shortcoming, notes demographer Chris Briem, is landing skilled professionals from elsewhere around the country:

Lots of local college graduates means that local companies find plenty of job-seeking graduates to fill their recruiting needs and they like that. Its means lower cost for them, both in search and relocation costs, and likely gets you workers who are less likely to move away over the long run. Lots of local employers have gotten out of the habit, not that they were ever in that habit, of recruiting for workers nationally the way their competitiors in lots of other regions need to. What that means however is that we don't attract as many people moving into the region as would be typical elsewhere.

If anything, Pittsburgh is well set up to move skilled workers around the country. A recent musing from AntiRust describes the established pathways for excess labor capacity to follow:

I ended up in Baltimore. Because my older sister lived there. Know why? Because an even older sister had gotten a job there. That's right. A job. With Westinghouse. She was an electrical engineer. I don't remember comfort or any of that being part of her consideration. It was the late 80s. That's where there was a job. So she took it. Period. And my other sister followed a few years later. As did I.

There's the Catch-22: Pittsburgh can't attract the Creative Class until they capture the Creative Class' older sister. That starts with local companies hiring outsiders, which for cost reasons and the presence of abundant skilled labor, they are unlikely to do.

I'd love to move to Pittsburgh. But I'm at a distinct disadvantage when competing against locals for a job opportunity. If there was a brain drain problem, I could easily find employment and relocate.

What does marketing Pittsburgh have to do with it?

More Tales from the Burgh Diaspora

I missed this story about a member of the Burgh Diaspora in the Post-Gazette, earlier this month. Judy Glies lives in New Jersey, but remains closely connected to her hometown:

"Like many, I left Pittsburgh in the mid-70s to find work," she wrote, "but I have kept close ties with Pittsburgh and can hardly wait to be where there is great music, many artists, great people, great sports, wonderful museums and that gem, Heinz Hall."

Close ties with Pittsburgh? This education professor, who's taught at New Jersey City University for 16 years, returns to the 'Burgh almost monthly to visit family and longtime friends. When I answered her letter, she told me she'd be here this past weekend for a Super Bowl party.

Glies' story is one of return and is certainly worth celebrating. She's well educated and worldly, bringing back to Pittsburgh valuable characteristics she wouldn't have if she hadn't left. The region is much richer given her physical presence, but Pittsburgh shouldn't wait until its diaspora is ready to retire in order to tap their talent.

Creation Network Pittsburgh

Like most regions, Pittsburgh would like to attract and retain more talent. John Hagel blogs about Indian IT companies engaging in the same practice. Hagel contends that this industry is missing out on a great opportunity:

Rather than continuing to focus on attracting and retaining talent within their own companies, these firms could create enormous value by developing the management techniques required to mobilize and leverage specialized talent wherever it resides. This would require building scalable talent networks encompassing a broad range of smaller, more specialized companies.

The Indian IT services companies have been very effective in building relationships with technology product companies on a global scale. But when it comes to expanding their own IT services, they immediately focus inward. If they don’t have the capability already in place, they may go out and acquire a smaller, more specialized company, but their instinct is to bring the capability in house.

As an alternative, these companies could take their emerging skills in partnering with technology product companies and apply them to building talent networks to mobilize and leverage large numbers of more specialized service providers. The real power would be to master the techniques required to accelerate the development of talent across such a distributed network of partners, thus creating stronger incentives for partners to join the network. Focusing on this challenge would create an opportunity to innovate in “Learning 2.0” capabilities, moving from traditional training programs to more distributed learning platforms and ecologies.

Hagel's advice applies equally well to Pittsburgh. The competition for talent is fierce and Pittsburgh is struggling to foster in-migration relative to other regions. Few cities have the diaspora population that Pittsburgh enjoys and the connection with the homeland is special (e.g. Steelers Nation) when considering other places in the United States.

I recommend cultivating "Learning 2.0 capabilities" among the Burgh Diaspora, developing the kind of talent network that Hagel imagines for the Indian IT industry.

Disconnectivity Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh's Future discusses the region's entrepreneurial culture in terms of the Council on Competitiveness' three categories of success: Creating Angel Networks, Leveraging Knowledge Assets, and Catalyzing Connectivity. Harold Miller contends that Pittsburgh does well in two-out-of-three, lacking the necessary connectivity, which the Council defines as:

The combustion behind innovation often emerges from chance encounters, face-to-face communications, and close interactions among people, ideas and resources. To facilitate these connections, successful regions create bridges that bring together entrepreneurs, academics, labor leaders, company officials and public sector leaders. Some, such as the example below, have launched boundarybreaking initiatives that fuel entrepreneurship at the grass roots.

As Miller notes, LancasterProspers is identified as an exemplar of a connectivity initiative. The stated goal is to network intra-regional assets of talent, experience, and innovation. The idea is that all the components for entrepreneurial success exist within the region, the main barrier being a fragmented community.

Miller buys into the positive-sum (zero-sum?) game between regions concerning promoting entrepreneurship:

The Council on Competitiveness report is intended as a call to action for keeping the United States competitive with other countries in supporting entrepreneurship. But it can also be a call to action to the Pittsburgh Region to be more competitive with other regions in the U.S. in supporting entrepreneurship.

What if a region's assets are less than that of other regions? Richard Florida recently posted his support for regional approaches to maximizing existing creative capacity. But he offers a caveat that Miller, the Council, and LancasterProspers all miss, connectivity with the creative capitals currently attracting the lion's share of national (and global) talent. On that count, Pittsburgh is failing miserably.

Latino Pittsburgh

The Latino population in Pittsburgh is growing. The Post-Gazette reports that there are considerable class tensions. My time spent researching immigrant communities in Miami, Florida informs skepticism about lumping people from different countries into one ethnic group. That local immigrant politics divide along lines of class is hardly shocking:

Cultural organizations such as the Latin American Cultural Union and the Pittsburgh Venezuelan Association typically don't include working-class Latinos, said Leonardo Baloa, who helped form the Pittsburgh Venezuelan Association in 2003.

"These associations are formed out of a desire to be with people with similar cultural standards or morals, who laugh and speak and dance like you," he said. "But they are made up mostly of professionals. It is rare to see members who are struggling."

I'm aware that the kind of connectivity I espouse would enfranchise the relatively wealthy members of the Latin American Cultural Union and the Pittsburgh Venezuelan Association. In this sense, the rich get richer. What about the underclass of documented and undocumented workers?

Unskilled labor is less likely to relocate and more likely to put down roots, whereas professional Latinos comprise the more itinerant class. If they feel marginalized in the Pittsburgh community, they have the resources to move to another place more tolerant. Unskilled and low-wage labor will establish a more lasting presence in the Pittsburgh region and set up the migration-chain.

Importing Silicon Valley

Europe is busy trying to catch up with the United States by encouraging more entrepreneurial activity. France is no exception, though the environment there is less than ideal for start-ups. French nationals who have gained the requisite experience abroad are making a go of it in their homeland:

Jacques Souquet had gone through several start-ups in Seattle, but he still was not entirely prepared for beginning a high-tech company in his native France...

Mr. Souquet’s experience illustrates how far the Continent has to go if it hopes to match the United States. He was able to lure eight of his 27 employees back from the United States. And after two years, he is preparing to offer his product in 2008, a device that measures the elasticity of living tissue, to assist doctors in diagnosing and treating cancer.

Still, Aix is not Seattle. French attitudes are a bit rigid, compared with the American approach of if-at-first-you-don’t-succeed. And French law, which mandates a 35-hour week, still crimps entrepreneurial flair.

Once again, the story is about the return of a prodigal son or daughter. Mr. Souquet brings with him ample start-up experience and a network of talent that remains in the United States (he opened an office in Seattle). In order to succeed in France, he eschews geographies much more conducive to entrepreneurial enterprise. In this case, relationships and connectivity trump an advantageous environment.

U-Turn Pittsburgh

That Frost Belt retirees are migrating to the Sun Belt should surprise no one. However, the return of the elderly to their hometown for the last months or years of life is making news:

"People relocate in their 60s when they're in good health and often move to active adult communities," said Sandy Markwood, chief executive officer of the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging. "When they face either a dramatic illness or the death of a spouse, all of a sudden these active adult communities are away from the support system they have and they're not as attractive as they once were."

Peter Morrison and Chris Briem have already noticed this emerging trend in Pittsburgh. They conclude that the region should expect a greater demand for health care services along with a stronger political voice for voters over the age of 60.

What the study suggest to me is that retirees retain a strong support network in Pittsburgh, even after leaving the region for better golfing weather. Talent and experience are leaving, but the lines of communication are still open. Baby boomers remain connected to their hometown wherever they may go.

Little Buffalo, Charlotte, NC

Pittsburghers aren't the only ones relocating en masse to Charlotte, NC. Buffalo is invading Mecklenburg County, and they are bringing their cuisine with them:

U.S. Census Bureau data show New York is the No. 1 source of newcomers to the nine-county Charlotte region from outside the Carolinas. An estimated 13,000 people move here from the Empire State annually.

As a result, neighborhoods around Charlotte are filling with people who prefer beef on weck (roast beef on a special salty roll) and white-hots (spicy white hot dogs) to barbecue and pimento cheese.

Upstate New York-oriented restaurants such as Tavern on the Tracks in South End and Township Grille in Matthews are thriving. And the area will be the first place outside Buffalo for expansion of the Anchor Bar, pioneer of the famed Buffalo wings (slated to open near Concord Mills mall and in uptown Charlotte later this year).

Rich Rust Belt traditions live on in the booming South, though I'm curious to see if any local variations develop into a Great Lakes Creole. Meanwhile, these Northern transplants are desperate to connect with others from the same hometown. Thanks to virtual social networking, new arrivals can quickly discover familiar comforts in a strange environment.

Third Place Pittsburgh

Richard Florida makes a cameo appearance in a BusinessWeek article. The West Michigan Strategic Alliance is trying to attract mobile intellectual capital. Florida makes a strong case that there are fewer talent magnets in the world where the Creative Class will settle. I'm unclear how Western Michigan can buck geographic destiny, but the region is taking a cue from Florida concerning the transformation of the workplace:

Local leaders say they'll need to make some changes to ensure Western Michigan is telecommuter-friendly. In late 2005, they came up with the idea to create business community centers that are inviting to people who may need to work outside their homes anywhere from a few hours to a few days per week. These work centers, still in the conceptual phase, are company-neutral locations where a mobile worker can, say, have a serious business meeting away from home and the office.

Such locales are known in industry parlance as "third places" and they can include coffee shops and bookstores—but they also range to the more professional community centers that Western Michigan envisions. "You've got to invent a different place for people to work—the coffee shop gets really old after a while," says Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class.

Not only can a region market itself as more telecommuter-friendly, it can also position itself as much more freelancer-friendly. I recently noticed that Pittsburgh is home to guru.com, "the world's largest online marketplace for freelance talent." Workspace for the mobile class is a great idea. Catering to freelancers is even a better one.

Might the airport be a good place to offer third places for Pittsburgh? Not if the region fails to connect its flagship universities with the rest of the world.

Case Study Pittsburgh

I WILL SHOUT YOUNGSTOWN digs up more shrinkage talk. The Shrinking Cities Group at Cal-Berkeley is finishing up an international symposium on this global urban phenomenon. Along with Youngstown and San Jose, scholar Karina Pallagst offers up Pittsburgh as an example of how American cities are dealing with shrinkage:

Urban shrinkage is a factor that widely addresses the scale of regions and requires policy-makers to redefine traditional paths of regional governance. It can be observed that especially in the US, planning practice is to a large extent concentrated on either managing urban growth or tackling redevelopment in a fragmented – not a regional – way. The search of the notions of progressive regionalism should deal with the problematic of shrinking cities. This could offer a window of opportunity to discuss a shift in paradigm from growth-centered planning to more sustainable regional development patterns and thus be of value for a stimulation respectively redefinition of regional governance in the US and in further countries.

You can find more on Pallagst's work here and here. Pittsburgh's strategy to deal with shrinkage is characterized as a "revitalization of the city center." But the efforts are failing and Pallagst wonders if Pittsburgh will now engage in a regional approach. Meanwhile, Youngstown is embracing its declining population and attempting to scale-up efforts to the regional level.

A post over at Null Space does indicate regionalism afoot in Pittsburgh. However, I'm skeptical that an attempt to cultivate a regional identity will work. I think the city should focus its efforts on its connections to places outside of the region.

Cohort Pittsburgh

An article in the Post-Gazette describes another opportunity for the Burgh Diaspora. Pittsburgh struggles to attract minority professionals despite what appears to be an attractive environment for career advancement:

"You don't have to go to cities with a large African-American population for opportunity," said Mr. Cooper, a Philadelphia native who came here in 1977 to teach at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Law. "Pittsburgh will give you opportunities and you'll rise faster here because you're not in stiff competition with kids from Harvard and Columbia who go to Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Chicago; New York; and the other prime cities most African-Americans go to."

Without a migration-chain, Pittsburgh will have to fight against the flow of people. Furthermore, as Richard Florida would point out, talent attracts talent. The opportunity to rub elbows with Harvard and Columbia graduates can be a boon to a professional's career. I'm skeptical that Pittsburgh can effectively compete for young minority talent.

I think Pittsburgh would fare better marketing itself to people a bit further on in their careers who have established networks in the alpha cities. A promising African-American lawyer can get her feet wet in New York, thereby learning to appreciate the positives Pittsburgh has to offer. Colleagues who are Pittsburgh expatriates can make the pitch, building the necessary migration-chain.

Innovation Networks

The story of immigrant entrepreneurs in the United States continues to be one of great success. But cities tend to overlook such economic assets, doing little to attract and cultivate the small businesses of foreign nationals. Meanwhile, international migrants are starving for the knowledge and experience that can help their enterprises grow:

At a time when cities woo biotechnology firms and sports arenas to jump-start local economies, the economic potential of immigrant entrepreneurs has remained largely under the radar, says the Center for an Urban Future. Though there are no precise figures to measure their economic contributions, the report said, these businesses create jobs in good times and bad. They offset the cyclical slumps of more high-profile sectors like finance in New York or energy in Houston. And they have created ethnic markets that draw shoppers into the city, balancing the loss of retail trade to the suburbs.

The report credits the Bloomberg administration for small-business initiatives that have helped some firms, but calls on public, private and nonprofit agencies to do more to connect immigrant entrepreneurs to the expertise available.

The market for many immigrant businesses is dispersing to the suburbs thanks to strong secondary migration. Furthermore, the costs of staying in the gateway city are increasingly prohibitive. But these entrepreneurs do not have access to the networks of start-up expertise that helps to upscale operations and mitigate crushing overhead.

The irony is that the close proximity to the necessary knowledge isn't enabling immigrant entrepreneurs. If you don't run in the right circles, your address in a "Cool City" won't help you. The Center for an Urban Future calls on brokers of all kinds to bring these new ideas to market. I can already see the immense economic opportunity brewing in the "boomtown" secondary cities as immigrant networks continue to diffuse.

Parochial Pittsburgh

The urban experiment also-known-as-Youngstown continues to serve as a Rust Belt vanguard. Youngstown State University's Hunter Morrison describes the elusive brass ring for Northeast Ohio: Cultivating a regional identity. If I understand Dr. Morrison correctly, he advocates a voice for Greater Cleveland's satellite communities in future attempts to market the region. Missing from past campaigns is a greater appreciation of the parochial pride of places such as Youngstown.

What I am hearing is a battle over defining Northeast Ohio. Morrison suggests mapping Cleveland's connectivity to its urban hinterlands, framing the fierce individuality as an asset worth leveraging. If Northeast Ohio is anything, it is a network of distinct cities that have significant relationships with each other.

I think there is more to what Morrison says than Cleveland taking the time to massage the egos of its second tier cities. However, I'm not sure his observations might lead to a more coherent Northeast Ohio region. I would like to see the connectivity profile of each place in the area. At the very least, I suspect that Youngstown's diaspora network is different from that of Cleveland or Akron for the very same reason that the parochial outlook prevails.

Global Trade Pittsburgh

An article in the Post-Gazette makes the case for Pennsylvania small businesses breaking into foreign markets. The reason more people do not do so is a fear of the unknown and a lack of experience:

Another reason companies are reluctant to begin exporting is that they lack support and guidance, said Brent Rondon, manager of the Global Business Program at Duquesne University's Small Business Development Center. In March, his office will help lead a state trade mission to two Mexican states, Aguascalientes and Jalisco.

Trade missions can catalyze the long distance relationship, but the region could explore other networks of trust. Alan Paul, who writes about the life of an expatriate for the Wall Street Journal, is located in Beijing, China. Just so happens that Paul is connected to the Steelers Nation in Beijing. Here is a direct line from Pittsburgh to the Chinese markets.

Pittsburgh ambassadors live all over the world, connected to foreign networks of commerce and innovation. I'm certain that one Steelers fan would help another, likely pro bono. And you can't beat the established trust that already exists.

Network New Zealand

Not to be outdone by the Aussies, a group of Kiwis launched Kea in 2001:

Kea's mission is to connect New Zealand with its large global talent community, and contribute to the growth, development, and future prosperity of New Zealand by facilitating the sharing of knowledge, contacts and opportunities around the world.

The first Kea Group was started in Silicon Valley, understandable given the organization's bent towards innovation and collaboration. Kea has a more homeland-centric approach to connecting global Kiwis than the alumni network of Australia's Advance. The brain drain issue is mission critical for New Zealand, a country with the greatest percentage of its highly skilled workforce living abroad (among OECD).

Kea hopes to leverage this migration phenomenon to its advantage. New Zealand is desperate for talent, thus the orientation of the network towards the homeland. Like Globalscot, Kea aims to cultivate more entrepreneurial activity in New Zealand.

Network Australia

I've unearthed domestic diaspora network projects in North Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. I hope to catalogue all such efforts in the United States, but most of the pioneers address flows of international migration. Australia is no exception, with the organization Advance connecting global talent:

Advance is a community of Australian professionals overseas headquartered in New York City, with established chapters in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC and London with several others in formation around the globe. Advance recognises the importance of maintaining connection with the one million Australians in our diaspora making their mark in boardrooms, science laboratories, arts institutions, classrooms and communities worldwide.

Advance is working hard to encourage brain circulation, but they soft sell the return with an understanding that many expatriates prefer to remain abroad. In that case, the primary focus is on enhancing connections with Australia. Advance recognizes that the diaspora has value regardless of its location.

I think Advance offers the best model of diaspora networking I've encountered. I could see something similar working well for Pittsburgh.

Network North Dakota

I was researching a follow up post on Globalscot and I found a few other diaspora network initiatives. The North Dakota Ambassador Program aims to attract businesses and jobs to North Dakota through its natives who have relocated to urban areas considered strategically linked to the global economy:

North Dakota Business Events have been held in five metro areas so far including Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver, the Silicon Valley and Portland, OR. If you become an ambassador and live in one of our target cities, you will be invited. You will hear good news from North Dakota at a dinner or reception attended by fellow North Dakota-connected people and business executives.

Recent success stories range from a San Francisco-based expatriate building an arts center in his hometown to entrepreneurs returning to the state. The network also helps natives land jobs in places beyond North Dakota. The organization sees a benefit in helping North Dakotans wherever they may live.

International Migration Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh has expended resources to stem the tide of out-migration, but the region has failed to do enough to attract outsiders. As an article in today's Post-Gazette points out, Pittsburgh is in dire need of more international migrants:

The region currently is home to about 62,000 foreign-born residents, the fewest of any major metro area, and local business leaders say they need a lot more.

"A steady influx of working-age immigrants in their 20s and 30s would gradually enlarge the region's working-age population," a crucial factor in wooing more companies and offsetting a potential crisis as baby boomers begin retiring and the region's population continues to stagnate, said Peter A. Morrison, a demographer with think tank Rand Corp.

While Pittsburgh does have the organizations and infrastructure to help new arrivals thrive in the area, there seems to be a lack of institutional push to get immigrants here in the first place. The Jewish Family and Children's Service is attempting to fill this void, seeking out immigrant populations in "gateway" cities.

Pittsburgh could become a secondary migration destination, like Reading, PA is for Dominicans from the gateway city of New York. But the region needs to pave the way for this relocation of people. I think the Burgh Diaspora could be of some assistance. Pittsburgh expatriates living in gateway cities and possessing contacts with various immigrant communities are well positioned to sell the upside of living in their hometown.

Collaboration Pittsburgh

Idea groups are popping up online. You can Make Your Mark in the United Kingdom. Or, you could tap the hivemind at Look Into My Ideas. Companies are outsourcing innovation to a virtual maketplace of ideas, finding talent wherever it may be:

Indeed, if you're a retired, unemployed or aspiring scientist, a new world of opportunity awaits you. Some 100,000 scientists from 175 countries have already registered with InnoCentive, a visionary matchmaking system links experts to unsolved R&D problems, allowing these companies to tap the talents of a global, scientific community without having to employ everybody full-time. Launched as an e-business venture by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lily in 2001, the company now provides on-demand solutions to innovation-hungry titans such as Boeing, Dow, DuPont, and Novartis.

For smart companies, the old notion that you have to motivate, develop, and retain all of your best people internally is becoming null. Of course, you'll still need great internal talent. But increasingly, you should assume that many of the best people reside outside your corporate walls. With an eBay for innovation, however, a massive reservoir of talent would be a few clicks away.

Just because talent lives in Northern California doesn't mean that Pittsburgh can't benefit from that asset of intellectual capital. While that talent may demand proximity to other talent (the Creative Class thesis), those minds can be put to work anywhere around the world. As the online communities of ideas continue to develop, eventually there will be diminishing returns for proximity.

We should steer our systems of education towards better online collaboration. I know from experience that an online community member learns quickly what she needs to know to thrive in the environment, while identifying expertise that can help her solve a problem. Not only does the virtual idea marketplace do a more efficient job of matching issues with experts, it produces more innovators.

Rust Belt Frontier

From the mouths of bloggers to the pages of the Tribune-Review, more people are paying attention to the "vacuum" that is Youngstown. Trib reporter Justin Vellucci wonders if Allegheny County can go down the same path of smart decline. Vellucci is skeptical:

Local officials applauded Youngstown, Ohio's efforts to eliminate blight and tackle quality-of-life issues -- acknowledging parallels with Pittsburgh's Redd Up campaign -- but were hesitant to back a strategy that manages shrinkage over bolstering growth.

The pro-growth development model isn't why Pittsburgh can't emulate Youngstown. What Vellucci is running into is the kind of political resistance that doesn't appear to exist in Youngstown. Pittsburgh is not an ideal location for urban innovation.

Parts of Allegheny County resemble the Youngstown landscape, but the overall situation was never as dire. As a result, the Pittsburgh political machine remains largely intact. There isn't enough desperation to embrace a radical approach to urban development such as smart decline.

The New Face of the Burgh Diaspora

He's not from Pittsburgh, an excellent example of a young and energetic talent that the region should continue to attract. Gerry Dulac of the Post-Gazette writes about the man who now leads the Steeler Nation:

In the end, after 16 days of searching for Cowher's replacement, it was really all about Tomlin walking into a room and the Steelers feeling his presence. And it happened on Jan. 10, the first time the Steelers brought him to town for an interview.

"He's an impressive young guy," Art Rooney II said, nearly two hours after he presented Tomlin as his team's coach. "You get in a room and spend two or three hours with Mike, you come away feeling like this is a special person.

"The main thing you think about is when this guy is standing up in front of your team, is he going to get his message across. That more than any one thing is what convinced us this was the guy."

Art II could have stayed in-house, and in-Pittsburgh, with now ex-offensive line coach Russ Grimm. Instead, the ownership heads boldly into the future with a public face on the organization who could be a symbol for New Pittsburgh.

Mike Tomlin, by almost all accounts, is a rising star in the NFL. He may take a few seasons, but he will transform the team into something that Cowher wouldn't recognize. As Robert Rubin said on Charlie Rose late Monday night, we should make change our friend. Pittsburgh would be wise to follow Art II's lead.

Boomerang Boon

Statistics Canada just published a study on the benefits of the country's brain circulation. Men who left the country, later to return, earned more than men who didn't join the internationally mobile. An article making the rounds today in the Canadian press quotes the report's explanation for the competitive advantage:

While out of the country, individuals might gain superior training and other kinds of work experience, develop new contacts, and enhance their productivity in other ways precisely because they are away. When they come back to Canada, if the conditions are suitable (i.e. the human capital and other advantages gained abroad are valued here), greater productivity should lead to higher earnings.

Like Canada, Pittsburgh isn't the entire world. You either import outsiders who have the necessary experience and contacts, or you hope your intellectual capital comes home at some later date. I'm still skeptical that Pittsburgh expatriates will move back in significant numbers, but that shouldn't prevent the region from tapping the homegrown talent.

Domestic Diasporas

Denver is booming, no thanks to tolerance:

Complaining about Californians is an old tradition in the Rockies; but it is reaching a new intensity. Five million people who were born in California now live outside the state. They are America's second-biggest domestic diaspora, after New Yorkers, and the most noticeable. California is by far the most populous state in the West—and still growing rapidly. It has become a demographic machine, drawing in foreigners while disgorging its own population across the deserts and mountains. In the process, it transforms those areas.

The migration of Californians is remaking Interior Mountain West and The Economist article notes a couple of new characteristics of the latest wave of "Californication":

1. The new arrivals are much more liberal, and tolerant, than established residents (previous waves were largely Orange County conservatives).
2. Hispanics make up a substantial number the "equity refugees" (putting an end to the trend of white flight).

Given the DECADES of exodus, where are all the stories about brain drain? Foreigners more than make up for out-migration, fighting against the tide of ballooning real estate prices. What we are witnessing is a major secondary migration, staffing Colorado's tech boom. But tolerance did not pull them here. Cheap real estate, a pleasant climate, great outdoor opportunities, and less traffic did.

Innovation Nomads

The British think tank Demos is sounding the alarm about missing an opportunity to engage the Indian Diaspora:

Indian innovation is being driven by a new class of innovation nomads working between the US and India. Tight links between India and the US – particularly Silicon valley – are not matched in Britain which fails to make enough of its Indian diaspora.

I notice the growing importance of the co-location of innovation, in this case between India and the United States. Indian innovation nomads are an archetype of the emerging mobile class, driving the migration flows of ideas. Despite the significant presence of the Indian Diaspora in its own country, Britain is failing to tap into this network.

What Britain lacks is a region on par with Silicon Valley. I'd recommend networking British innovation nomads, who are part of the mobile class vanguard. Similarly, Pittsburgh has failed to leverage the presence of the Indian Diaspora at CMU. The folly is trying to reproduce Silicon Valley instead of taking stock of the region's intellectual capital, wherever it may be.

Debating Pittsburgh

The "leader" for the piece on the Jewish Diaspora (see previous post) in the latest issue of The Economist offers another sounding board for the role that Pittsburgh's expatriates might play in revitalizing the region:

Helping Israel should no longer mean defending it uncritically. Israel is strong enough to cope with harsh words from its friends. So diaspora institutions should, for example, feel free to criticise Israeli politicians who preach racism and intolerance, such as a recently appointed cabinet minister, Avigdor Lieberman. They should encourage lively debate about Israeli policies. Perhaps more will then add their voices to those of the millions of Israelis who believe in leaving the occupied territories so that Palestinians can have a state of their own, allowing an Israel at peace to return to its original vocation of providing a safe and democratic haven for the world's Jews.

I'd like to see a debate about Pittsburgh's future that includes the Burgh Diaspora, breaking what I see as a political stalemate in need of a fresh perspective. Pittsburgh Today and Null Space's Chris Briem publish a wealth of data on the web. There are a number of pundits blogging about economic development for the Pittsburgh Region. Overall, there is sufficient expertise online to generate effective policy prescriptions.

What's missing is a forum where all these elements come together in the form of civil discourse, hashing out a vision of progress for the entire area.

Exile Pittsburgh

Do you dream of returning to Pittsburgh? A growing number of the Burgh Diaspora never left, meaning that they weren't born there in the first place. The generations beyond the first wave of emigrants have a unique sense of homeland that doesn't require relocation. This very sentiment is growing among the Jewish Diaspora:

In fact, a Jewish cultural revival is going on not just in Russia and Germany, but all across Europe. Tony Lerman of the Jewish Policy Research Institute in London cites steep rises in the numbers of Jewish museums, Jewish day schools and academic Jewish studies courses; more people are studying Yiddish, a dying language not long ago; Jewish film, music and cultural festivals are flourishing everywhere, even in Poland, a cradle of anti-Semitism.

Partly this reflects a fad for exotica among non-Jews. Still, it suggests that many Jews are reacting to anti-Semitism and fears of assimilation not by moving to Israel, but by rediscovering what it means to be Jewish outside it. Mr Shneer and Ms Aviv make the intriguing prophecy that in ten years, American Jewish foundations “will spend as much money sending young Jews to Vilnius to study Yiddish or Prague to study Jewish art or architecture as they do sending young Jews to Israel.”

The old-style attachment to Israel, treating it as a potential future home, a shield against assimilation, and an ongoing emergency needing support, is a mistake, Mr Lerman argues. “The way to continue it is with common concerns about education, civil society, human rights and values.” Even the Jewish Agency, a bastion of traditional Zionism, is changing tack. Makom, one of its partner agencies, now sends envoys to American Jews with a new brief: to get young Jews interested in Israel not by “hugging” it but by “wrestling” with it and its contradictions.

Accepting this challenge may be Israel's best chance to stay relevant to non-Israeli Jews. Israelis may still speak of the gola; but the Jews who fled to the Hellenistic world after the destruction of Jerusalem's Second Temple in 70 AD deliberately adopted the Greek word diaspora, “dispersal”, because it was more neutral. “Diasporism”—the idea that Jews are better off outside the Holy Land—is a tradition that began with the prophet Jeremiah and still exists among a few ultra-Orthodox Jews. But increasingly, today's young Jews see the future not as a choice between Zion and exile, but as a fruitful fusion of both.

I doubt Pittsburgh has a rich enough cultural tradition to survive many generations in exile, which indicates that the clock is ticking on enfranchising and networking the Burgh Diaspora. Furthermore, the parochial charm is busy dying off, which signals a reinvention of Yinzerville. In the meantime, perhaps Pittsburghers are better off outside of Pittsburgh.

Disruptive Innovation Burgh

Pittsblog covers an interesting Pop City interview with the Brookings Institutes head urban guru, Mike Katz:

In a 2006 report, The State of Cities, Katz blames rigid zoning and building codes developed ages ago that now inhibit necessary redevelopment in cities, and state and federal subsidies that support expansion of housing and roads at the metropolitan fringe. "The whole country to some extent is paying a price for this not just economically but also environmentally," he says. "We have a long way to go."

Katz is describing the lack of frontier geographies in many American cities, which has pushed development to suburbs and exurbs. Creative urban renewal needs the latitude and space to thrive, something you might find more of in Youngstown than in Pittsburgh.

Perhaps Cool Space Locator can help us figure out where we can build New Pittsburgh.

Bow Down, Steeler Nation

All hail the Cricket Diaspora. Fans of cricket may be a small minority where you live, but the sum of all those small followings in the United States make up a large community of South Asian expatriates who share their fervor online. In sports, members of the diaspora are united and a global identity emerges:

Cricket for South Asians across the world provides a space where all differences are overcome.

The assertion of an Indian or Bangladeshi identity globally, expression of cultural nationalism or feeling of emotional commonality are all rooted in cricket.

Interestingly, a poll conducted by a national daily in India a couple of years ago on the attitudes of the Indian youth found that more than 50% of the respondents, given a chance, would live in some other country. This figure might have been higher for Bangladesh given the continuing political and economic instability in the country.

Yet all of these expatriates would inevitably stay up nights in the US to watch their country play in England and participate in detailed analyses of their team's strengths and weaknesses in countless internet chat rooms.

I understand that the Steeler Nation is a subset of Pittsburgh expatriates, but the team is the centerpiece of the Burgh Diaspora's identity. I've wavered on the importance of a football team to networking the people who might invest in Pittsburgh, but I figure the game of cricket is of great interest to many innovators who were born in India.

I have firsthand experience with academics from Pakistan who are crazy about cricket. Two members of the Pakistani Diaspora helped me to appreciate the game while I was in London during the World Cup. Thanks to them, I know who Wasim Akram is and I enjoyed partying with the New Zealand fans in Cardiff when their team won a World Cup match.

Casualties of Migration

Here is yet another story about small towns fighting decades of outmigration. If they haven't already, communities in the Mon Valley should study these rural initiatives. Continuing a theme explored in this blog, local investment could come from prodigal sons and daughters who have found success in a new location:

State aid for small entrepreneurs also helps. Montana, which has a notably populist governor, has been pushing especially hard. In its last legislative session, the state legislature made even the tiniest of businesses eligible for aid. But Chuck Hassebrook, executive director of the Centre for Rural Affairs in Nebraska, says it is expensive to provide small business development services in rural America, even if there is a good return on investment. Rather appealingly, he proposes that the federal government shave 5% off its enormous farm-subsidy programme—which goes mostly to mega-farms—and give it to small businesses. “You could quadruple what the federal government spends on entrepreneurial rural development,” he says.

Another channel is philanthropy. “Rural communities are not going to be rescued by large corporations setting up large factories,” notes Mr Hassebrook, but they could be helped by people with money (local boys who have made good in Chicago or Omaha, perhaps). In particular, he says, the rich should be encouraged to give not just to churches and libraries, but also to economic development. One remarkable case is Martindale, Texas, another worn-down southern cotton town. In 2004 Carlton Carl, vice-president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, bought most of the central district (he won't say for how much). He is refurbishing the buildings, hoping to attract artists and “a nice restaurant”.

The trick is connecting the right person in the regional diaspora with the right opportunity back home. Economically depressed towns and cities should track down their high school graduates, updating them on the situation. I think now is the time to invest in Pittsburgh.

A successful model Pittsburgh could emulate is that of Globalscot, a Scottish government initiative to build a network that "harnesses the expertise of over 900 senior, influential business leaders who are committed to generating opportunities for Scotland." The network is entirely comprised of Scottish expatriates who are interested in helping Scotland's economic development.

Cupcake Connectivity

With apologies to the Cupcake Class satire over at Pittsblog, there may be something to the confection connection with creativity (I prefer the term "innovation"). In New York City, cosmopolites seek face time with fellow innovators and entrepreneurs at cool coffee shops and upscale breakfast places:

On alternate mornings, Ms. Hurowitz, who lives in the neighborhood with her husband and two children, has breakfast five blocks away at Via Quadronno, another Italian restaurant specializing in thick cappuccinos, flaky croissants and a well-heeled clientele.

“We always joke that Via Quadronno got my husband hired,” Ms. Hurowitz said.

When her husband, who runs a hedge fund, was negotiating for seed money with an investor, they realized both their wives frequented Via Quadronno and knew each other from mornings at the coffee counter. “It was as if it solidified the deal,” Ms. Hurowitz said. “It was like they can trust us. They know where I’m going to be every morning.”

I suspect Richard Florida will seize upon this proof of concept, but I think Ms. Hurowitz describes the key ingredient to the value of proximity to other creative types, trust. In a sea of anonymity, a common patronage may serve as a transaction touchpoint. An appreciation of high-end baked goods may signal a shared outlook, another node of homophily.

Expensive cupcakes may help locate the landscape of New Pittsburgh, where outsiders and unconventional thinkers congregate. Pittsburgh has its share of places that promote business between the established powerbrokers. The Cupcake Class offers a counternarrative to that of the Good Old Boys Network.

Reviving Pittsburgh

Taking advantage of my unintended hiatus, I've decided to refocus the blog. My original goal was to organize the Burgh Diaspora primarily as a resource for Pittsburgh expatriates, while exploring the possibility of enfranchising this demographic as a positive force for change back in the home country. I now understand that Network Pittsburgh needs a cause, inspiring the civic engagement of a "critical mass of like-minded people." In this spirit, I pledge to tag all future posts with the themes I think are crucial to the New Pittsburgh project.

I see 6 themes emerging from my body of work:

• Migration - How I frame Pittsburgh's problems
  
• Labor Mobility - A demographic trend Pittsburgh should leverage to its advantage
  
• Connectivity - The primary metric of success for the Knowledge Economy
  
• Diaspora - The connected mobile class
  
• Innovation - The prize for harnessing restless intellectual capital
  
• Frontier Geographies - The landscape of innovation
  

I'll need to retroactively tag each post, allowing the reader to easily track the thread of each theme. However, I suspect that I am the only one interested in this utility. Organizing my thoughts into concept categories should help me find more like-minded people.

Furthermore, I plan on organizing the listed blog links by theme. I also hope a blog or site ring will develop that is committed to helping to build New Pittsburgh. I will endeavor to collect links to similar projects to that of New Pittsburgh, an idea world of the like-minded.