Innovation Nation

Former professor at Carnegie Mellon University and a founder of Tartan Laboratories, William Wulf is preaching about improving the innovation ecology of the United States:

But learning and investment are not enough, Dr. Wulf says. An innovation economy depends on intellectual property law, tax codes, patent procedures, export controls, immigration regulations and factors making up what he calls “the ecology of innovation.” Unfortunately, he argues, in the United States too many of these components are unworkable, irrelevant, inadequate, outdated or “fundamentally broken.”

Instead of an "ecology of innovation," I would term it a "political geography of innovation." Dr. Wulf is railing against a political geography meant for a bygone era and economy. In many ways, he's describing Pittsburgh. I'm sure his experience at CMU, a la Richard Florida, did much to inform his policy critique.

Pittsburgh's political geography served the industrial economy well. What is needed is some political innovation, a new landscape to serve the knowledge economy. If you're wondering if such a model exists, try exploring the concept of transnationalism.

Connectivity Toronto

Chris Briem's recent suggestion that Pittsburgh look northward to Ontario and Toronto took a hit when US Airways announced that they will soon end service to Toronto. In swoops Porter Airlines, according to Pop City:

Porter Airlines takes a stylish approach to the business, offering attentive service and creative fare structures that allow customers to change itineraries without penalty up to an hour before flight time. Leather seats, free in-flight wine, drinks, and snacks, complimentary shuttle service to the downtown, and a beautiful, state-of-the-art waiting lounge in Toronto with Wi-Fi and business work stations are among the perks. While Porter is targeting the business crowd, its flights into City Centre Airport are a short and lovely ferry ride to downtown Toronto, attractive to visitors as well, [Brad Cicero, company spokesperson] adds.

The data I've seen indicate that Toronto is an under appreciated opportunity for Pittsburgh. US Airways no longer flying there supports that understanding. While I'm still bullish on orienting toward Washington, DC, looking northward to Cleveland, Buffalo and Toronto has enormous potential. That way, Pittsburgh will continue to haunt Richard Florida wherever he goes.

Laboratory Pittsburgh

The Post-Gazette features a story today on local innovation GTECH Strategies. GTECH is a good example of how Pittsburgh can get a return on its investment in geographically mobile intellectual capital:

GTECH -- Growth Through Energy and Community Health -- is a pilot-stage Carnegie Mellon University spin-off conceived by three recent graduates of the H. John Heinz School of Public Policy. The principals -- Andrew Butcher, Matthew Ciccone and Chris Koch -- are joined by principal and consultant Nathaniel Doyno, head of Steel City Biofuels, which brokers deals between makers and users of biofuels.

While the start-up is a great byproduct of CMU's program, at some point the venture might be better served in another region. However, the value proposition is decidedly local. GTECH is eyeing the region's brownfield sites as a source of biofuels.

CMU and Pitt would do well to solve regional problems, putting the intellectual capital cycling through to good use. Make Pittsburgh the opportunity landscape that the students explore. At the very least, encourage students to search their surroundings for inspiration.

Nursing Diaspora

Score one for Flat World. The Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery (GANM) Electronic Community of Practice (CoP) recently landed more funding for program growth:

"This fund is critically important to ensuring the GANM's forward momentum in using information and communication technologies to 'reach and teach' geographically dispersed nurses and midwives," [GANM CoP director Patricia Abbott] said. "Many of the world's most pressing health issues are occurring in places where access to best practices and knowledge resources are very low. Our online community has proven to be an effective tool in removing the constraints of geography."

When I write about tasking the Burgh Diaspora, I am imagining a community of practice like GANM's. A network of expatriates could connect Pittsburgh to "best practices and knowledge resources" for any regional task at hand. Missing some crucial piece for a local initiative or venture? Plug into Network Pittsburgh.

Actively Exporting Local Talent

In many parts of South Florida, you will feel as if you have left the United States. Miami's orientation towards Central and South America along with the Caribbean is not news. What is surprising is the regional effort to export talent overseas:

The presence of expatriates in Miami-Dade County is well documented and visible. Foreign consulates arrive at cultural functions in chauffeured Lincolns and wealthy foreigners who head the Latin America divisions of multinational corporations are seen hitting South Beach hot spots in Bentleys and Benzes. But, the other side of the coin - local executives who travel overseas to help companies launch initiatives, open new offices and start new projects - is far less visible.

Encouraging local talent to expatriate isn't quite "brain drain." The region is loaning its human capital in order to help local firms exploit new market opportunities. Given the multi-national (transnational) demography, South Florida is stocked with executives equal to the task.

The passive export of talent from Pittsburgh is decades old. The inadequate policy response was and is to trap the human capital in the area. Local universities are producing highly desirable workers and Pittsburgh-based enterprise gets first crack at them. There isn't enough demand or opportunity to employ most of the graduates in the region. Businesses headquartered in Pittsburgh would have a competitive advantage for attracting homegrown expertise. Said enterprise could then actively export this talent where there is a great demand for their services.

I would further suggest that local venture capital could follow this talent wherever it needs to go to find the best entrepreneurial opportunity.

Toronto, Florida and Geographic Mobility of Talent

Remaining thematically in Ontario and Canada... The Creativity Exchange is championing the efforts in Canada to deal with "transformational globalization." The story behind this story is more than a passing interest in Canadian strategies to take advantage of global opportunities. Reportedly, Richard Florida is heading to the University of Toronto to help propel that region to the highest tier in the world city hierarchy:

The guru of urban economic development, best known for his argument that post-industrial cities should focus on cultivating a "creative class" of writers, painters, musicians, software developers, engineers and doctors, is moving up to Canada.

"That's the plan," said Amanda Styron, Prof. Florida's spokeswoman at the Creative Class Group, a Washington-based think tank he founded for innovative business practices in business, government and communities.

I find Dr. Florida's migration instructive. The University of Toronto's gain is George Mason University's loss, but that's the gamble you take chasing after highly mobile talent. If the grass looks greener, there is little in the way of barring you from exploring an exciting new career environment.

I gather that Toronto is more spikier than Washington, DC. How can Pittsburgh or Savannah, GA possibly compete? Fact is, Dr. Florida can tackle projects at the U of T that few other R1 institutions could support. Furthermore, Toronto is a great city in terms of quality of life and cosmopolitan disposition. Score another one for the Spiky World.

Pittsburgh, Ontario Update

Hamilton's Pittsburgh Steelers will represent Canada in New Orleans for the flag football world championship. In an apt defensive battle, the Steelers edged the Edmonton Hurricanes 7-6.

Brain Gain and Marketing Denver

And you thought Pittsburgh had problems... Enter Denver and its blighted national image:

When Denver civic and business leaders try to attract highly skilled, well-educated people to work here, they still sometimes encounter negative stereotypes.

"Everything from 'It snows all the time' to 'Do they have flush toilets?"' said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.

I'm going on a decade of living in the Front Range of Colorado and Mr. Clark is not spewing hyperbole. The climate and culture here are often misunderstood. The natives may lynch me for writing this, but the Denver winter is one of the easiest to weather in the United States. I've been on a Boulder rooftop beer garden in January enjoying seventy-degree temperatures in shorts and a t-shirt.

This story is rich with irony, including the model for the Denver booster program: Brain drain victim Louisville, KY. Think carefully about the lesson. Louisville suffers from an out-migration of talent. One solution employed is attracting domestic migrants from other locations, giving them a taste of the quality of life beyond the typical university experience. The aim is not to keep local human capital from leaving. The goal is to establish the region as an upper echelon destination like "New York, Boston, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco."

Pittsburgh, Ontario

Since Chris Briem thinks Pittsburgh could pay more attention to Ontario, I'll do my part pointing out that Hamilton's very own Pittsburgh Steelers advanced to the NFL/CFL Canadian Flag Football Championship held in Winnipeg. The winner of that tournament then travels to New Orleans for the World Championship. I'll see if I can find out the results of the Canadian Championship tomorrow.

Network Economy

I've suggested networking the Burgh Diaspora for purposes of economic development and increasing Pittsburgh-related entrepreneurial activity. There are a number of impediments to distance collaboration, but an audit of talent and assets among Pittsburgh expatriates is much less daunting. Consider I.B.M. and its initiative to organize global expertise to solve complex problems anywhere in the world:

The idea is to build networks for producing and delivering technology services much like the global manufacturing networks that have evolved over the last couple of decades. Look inside a computer or automobile and the parts come from all over the world. High-end technology services projects increasingly will follow that formula, combining skills from across the globe and delivered on-site or remotely over the Internet.

Talent converges at the site requiring service, a reverse outsourcing migration. Instead of sending the job to Bangalore, labor is flown to where it is needed. The connection between place of residence and where you work is further dislocated. Of course, some tasks can be done remotely and only require labor to telecommute.

The resulting economic geography is a landscape that Pittsburgh is uniquely positioned to leverage. The cost of living in the region is low, but the quality of life is high. There is an ample local supply of expertise in conjuncture with a large number of expatriates acting as a reservoir of talent that could be flown to Pittsburgh (or other places) for certain projects. I.B.M.'s business model would be ideal for the region.

Bank of Burgh Diaspora

Watch out PNC Bank, peer-to-peer lending is a booming business. Virtual marketplaces are springing up every day, challenging the dominance of established enterprises and venerable institutions. At the forefront of the financial side of the amateur revolution are online communities of trust:

For those who'd rather not borrow from friends, families, or strangers, there's Lending Club, a Sunnyvale, Calif., firm, launched in May in cooperation with the popular social networking site Facebook. Lending Club, which says it has already issued over $100,000 in loans, leverages Facebook's affinity groups. These groups, formed by millions of Facebook users, are built around shared interests -- attending the same college, for instance, or working at the same corporation.

Lending Club borrowers are put through a credit check. But they're also ranked according to their membership in Facebook groups. Lenders who belong to a Facebook group get a listing of creditworthy borrowers who belong to the same group.

John Donovan, Lending Club's chief operating officer, said group loyalty will ensure that borrowers repay the money. Besides, he said, lenders will feel more comfortable investing money with fellow Facebook group members. "It just goes back to the way it was a thousand years ago, when you lived in a certain village," said Donovan. "You know from experience whether you can trust a person in that village or not."

Having trouble finding capital for a new small business? You could approach other members of the Burgh Diaspora who have the means to help you make your dream come true. Like venture capital, trust paves the way for transaction.

Financial institutions have endeavored to develop metrics that allow them to measure risk without the benefit of local knowledge. As microlending has demonstrated, all the number crunching pales in comparison to a neighborhood network. Thus the 20-minute rule for Silicon Valley venture capital. In the faceless environment of the internet, heritage and shared experience can overcome the problems of distance.

Cinthia Ritchie Diaspora

I'm not feeling all that serious today, a rare break in the mood for this blog. The internet is full of personal diasporas. What if I contacted all the "Jim Russells" or "James Russells" I could turn up in a Google search? Cinthia Ritchie has an answer for me:

I never particularly liked my name until last week, when I Googled myself and found other Cinthia Ritchies -- Cynthias and Cindys -- across the country. Each time I discovered another one, I felt an instant connection, the way I used to feel in elementary school when I noticed a girl with the same lunchbox and knew we would be best of friends.

When I called and e-mailed a few of them, they were equally excited.

"Another Cynthia Ritchie," they said, followed by "How many of us are there?"

I'm sure such vanity searches are common. But I appreciate that Cinthia took the next step, establishing a new community. The same process is at work for bloggers. Many of us are seeking others who share an issue, idea, or world view.

Diaspora literally means scattered. While I champion Scattered Pittsburgh, I have a passion for all dispersed communities, including the Cinthia Ritchie Network. Trust cultivated over space, beyond the practical possibilities of face-to-face relationships, is the exception. Distance is its own Tower of Babel.

Generation Y Pittsburgh

The ever-growing talent crunch is causing different enterprises to canvass American tech schools in search of people to hire. The targets are the Millennials, the generation born from 1982 to 2002. However, those born after 1990, the last year of the Baby Boomer echo, belong to a shrinking cohort and a much tighter supply of talented labor. The list of target schools is small and the interest in mobile foreign labor grows yearly:

To fill math-intensive jobs, banks are bringing in more non-U.S. employees—people like [Qiushuang Zhang (Before earning her master’s degree in computer science at Georgia Institute of Technology in May, Zhang had two job offers from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., two from Microsoft Corp. and one from Google Inc.)] who came to the United States to study. They typically started out in countries such as China or India, which have been more focused on math and science education. One dividend is the knowledge of cultures where firms such as Goldman aim to expand.

‘‘We know that we are hot property,’’ says Rishi Dhingra, a master’s degree candidate in quantitative and computational finance at Georgia Tech.

Banks are adding engineering schools to the roster of business campuses where they recruit. During the past two years, Citigroup Inc. has started visiting Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh; Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.; and Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

‘‘We tell them, ‘You could be the person to create software that’s used on a trading floor tomorrow,’ ’’ says Caitlin McLaughlin, Citigroup’s global head of graduate recruitment. At a tech company, she says, developing a new product can take months or years.

Of concern to Pittsburgh, more and more companies from around the world will come to CMU to pilfer the best and brightest, particularly those with intimate knowledge of emerging markets. The pressure to leave Pittsburgh will only increase. Any attempt to resist the inevitable out-migration will fail and is a waste of regional resources.

The good news is that CMU is producing some of the world's most desirable talent. Pittsburgh will continue to be a great place to get an education. Thanks to the University of Pittsburgh and CMU, to name the big two, the region has a prominent place on the global stage. The next step is to align the policy accordingly. I'm still waiting to see an indication that at least a few local kingmakers understand the current migration trend and how to leverage it to Pittsburgh's advantage.

Diaspora Blues

A Pittsburgh expatriate residing in Florida misses home:

I’m sitting here in Naples listening to WDVE — a radio station from Pittsburgh where I’m from — and it hit me: What a difference in broadcasting!

I think this is one of the reasons we all long to move back to where we’re from and why a lot of us don’t feel the “hometown” feeling here.

I mean the lack of a connection with the places where we grew up, where families get together once a week and towns where there’s plenty to do, from arts festivals to regattas, museum openings and Major League Baseball — not to mention Steelers game tailgating!

The point of Barb Bekich's letter to the Naples Daily News is that the local flavor of Naples is lacking, at least on the radio. I can see the Florida natives rolling their eyes. They are tired of Pittsburghers telling them about what is lacking and how the Burgh Diaspora misses its city.

I know that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette panders to its displaced readership, but what about streaming radio such as WDVE? I listen to WYEP quite often via the internet. I wonder about such things thanks to Ms. Bekich's comment concerning the hometown feel of WDVE. Maybe that's part of the Burgh mystique, but it also does a great job of scratching the itch of all the Pittsburghers who left town.

Perhaps if there was a large and strong Naples Diaspora, the radio stations there in Florida would provide more local flavor.

The Pittsburgh I Desire

Lest anyone misunderstand my previous post as a plan to drain Pittsburgh of all its talent, I continue to promote local success stories and highlight the creative energy feeding the vitality of the city. Something to Be Desired (STBD) understands the value of local connections and global support:

Expatriate Pittsburghers Seek Us Out.

Actually, they don't know they're seeking us specifically. But Pittsburgh is the kind of town that its expatriates eventually realize they're proud to be from -- the history, the tradition, the Steelers -- and they start looking for news and reminders of their hometown online.

Then they find us.

Second only to the "cool in Pittsburgh" comment above is the amount of feedback we get from people who thank us for giving them a visual reminder of the city they (sometimes only now) realize they love and miss. If shots of Primanti Brothers, Mount Washington and legions of pigeons help soothe the homesick heart of a Texas or Washington transplant, so much the better.

One can be a Burgh booster while servicing the needs of expatriates. As a shared cultural artifact (like the Pittsburgh Steelers), STBD's "webcom" helps to keep the Diaspora connected to the region. STBD also appeals to the right audience, other creative types and innovators who could be part of an impressive network that promotes economic development in Pittsburgh. Along the way, non-Pittsburghers may find out just how cool the Burgh really is.

Not only do I think that Pittsburgh doesn't do enough to celebrate its successful alumni who have left the region, many seem to overlook all the wonderful things going on in their own backyard. There are too many cynics and too many people overly sensitive to anything negative uttered about their hometown. The icon of this unhealthy anxiety is Border Guard Bob. Pittsburgh should be confident enough to help people relocate to wherever they might find the most success. In doing so, Pittsburgh will become an important destination for those who harbor great career ambitions and are looking for a place that will provide some advantage.

City Revitalization Evangelist?

I've been following with some interest former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy's visit to Des Moines, Iowa to help promote a proposed sales tax increase there. I haven't heard much good about Murphy's tenure as mayor, but I don't know enough to comment one way or the other. Regardless, the citizens of Des Moines are skeptical of using the world "success" and "Pittsburgh" in the same sentence. Murphy champions the initiative, blaming the State of Pennsylvania for Pittsburgh's infamous problems:

But a sales tax increase and expanded recreational trails system did little to prevent Pittsburgh’s slide to the brink of bankruptcy, which caused hundreds of employees to be laid off while Murphy was at the helm.

The city’s downtown did not flourish as promised after the sales tax went into effect, said Bill Urbanic, budget director for the Pittsburgh City Council. He said Murphy’s strategy caused “a fiasco with our downtown retail section” and gave tax money to for retail projects that later closed.

Murphy, who now advocates for “smart growth” for the Urban Land Institute, said Pittsburgh’s money problems, which included the city’s need to ask the state for a $40 million line of credit to pay its bills, had nothing to do with the sales tax and were instead a result of the state’s tax system.

Whether or not Murphy is more Pittsburgh savior than villain, I question the wisdom of using him to sway the voters and politicians in Des Moines. But I also wonder if what needs fixing in Pittsburgh has been and still is beyond the reach of public policy. There's a lot of finger pointing going on and not enough immigrants to blame for regional shortcomings.

If Murphy was the villain, how did he land so softly at the Urban Land Institute and then get called to Des Moines? How is Murphy an expert in Smart Growth initiatives? Is Pittsburgh a model to be emulated or avoided? My intuition tells me that things aren't as bad in Pittsburgh as some would have you believe.

Caught Between Two Places

I'm a bit paranoid that I've already linked to this article, but a brief blog search didn't yield anything and I doubt anyone will notice if I am repeating myself. The storyteller is a member of the Burgh Diaspora in Houston and captures the ambivalence that many expatriates feel about leaving Pittsburgh:

Pittsburgh has it good. It's got a small-town feel combined with the best parts of city life: old man pubs alongside trendy bars, neighborhood grocery stores beside organic shops, and gossipy old women shoulder-to-shoulder with homeless people. Best of all, the rivers haven't even caught fire in at least 30 years! The one thing Pittsburgh lacks, though, is a sustainable economy, and like all my childhood friends who didn't want to work in the fast-food industry, I had to move out. Sure, Houston's my adopted city, but I still get pangs of homesickness anytime the black-and-gold Steelers come on TV.

Pittsburgh has similar mixed emotions about its Diaspora, taking pride in the power of Steelers Nation while quietly disparaging those who left when the chips were down. I'm certain that there are a large number of ex-Pittsburghers who wish they could lift up the city and relocate it to a region with more economic vitality (and perhaps a better climate). But I also know many who still love Pittsburgh, but would never return.

No matter what the sentiment, the Diaspora desires a relationship with Pittsburgh. I'm not sure how Pittsburgh views this homesickness, save the interest I've often heard that I might help bring people back (or keep them from leaving in the first place). I've endeavored to be clear that I want to facilitate greater mobility. I've positioned myself at the disposal of the Burgh Diaspora. What I hope to do is give those people with a Pittsburgh affiliation the best of two worlds, aiding Pittsburgh's cause in the process.

Argonauts of Globalization

Via the blog at Foreign Policy, I learned about a migration of workers from India to Poland:

As of now, there are only around 3,000 Indians employed across various sectors in Poland but this number is expected to get significant boost once the [memorandum of understanding] is signed. The Polish minister has taken the initiative to promote recruitment of Indian workers in her country.

Stating that her country is facing an acute labour shortage, [Poland's Minister for Labour and Social Policy Anna Kalata] said, "We have noticed severe discrepancies in our labour market. Around 800,000 Polish workers have left to work in other countries in the EU (European Union)."

To partially borrow AnnaLee Saxenian's term, Indians are the Argonauts of Globalization. I reference "globalization" instead of the "knowledge economy" because labor from India has long done much more than ply the trades of the information and knowledge age:

Indian construction workers have a history of proven flexibility, with thousands heading to the Middle East in the late 1970s and 1980s to service a construction boom. But demand for them has slackened since countries there started giving preference to workers from within the region, such as Yemen.

In the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, 31-year-old master mason Mekulal Kachwaha, whose family have worked in construction for at least three generations, welcomed the news of the new opportunity. Although he had never heard of Poland, he would gladly go to work there. He would be the first member of his family to achieve the Indian worker's dream: a job abroad.

"Only one worker in our village has so far made it abroad - to Saudi Arabia," Mr. Kachwaha said. "He's doing very well, and comes back regularly to see his family."

India may be the world champion of labor mobility (in every sense of the term). As the Polish Diaspora helps to build Western Europe, Indian workers are making sure that Poland's economy continues to grow at a face pace. Migration is the lifeblood of globalization. Move or perish.

Shrinking Cities Network

How do former industrial cities successfully transition to the knowledge economy? As a geographer would tell you, what works in one place doesn't necessarily travel all that well:

[Max] Grinnell, a 31-year-old Madison native who is getting his Ph.D. in geography, spent four months at the University of Sheffield in England in 2004 as part of a [Worldwide Universities Network] program to do research on regional development issues in Great Britain. He continues to have contact with professors and students at Sheffield.

“I was looking at the roles of the University of Sheffield and other institutions and policy groups involved in the transformation of regional economies. I was looking at the region saying ‘What can be done?’ It's like restructuring in the States, how to make Pittsburgh into a Silicon Valley,” Grinnell said.

“You take older industrial regions and say what is next besides having people on welfare? How do we use existing institutions and look at new partnerships?”

He found that not every region can become a high-tech information center, and that too few people in the Sheffield area had the higher education needed for such a transformation.

“Ideas about using higher education institutions to transform a region are disseminated at international conferences and urban development forums, but that ignores local knowledge and practices,” Grinnell said. “You can't do boilerplate plans that work thousands of miles away.”

I'm more interested in common attributes of shrinking cities and figuring out to what extent Pittsburgh could learn from other cities that share a similar industrial past. I don't think you can turn Pittsburgh into Silicon Valley because there isn't the rural blank slate in any city. Developing Pittsburgh is particularly difficult in that regard. I'm curious to know if Mr. Grinnell has encountered a case of an old industrial city transforming into something like a Silicon Valley.

Regardless, Mr. Grinnell's research (along with that of the University of Sheffield and Worldwide Universities Network) should prove useful to the shrinking cities club. I would like to find out if other cities have diaspora populations like Pittsburgh does. My hypothesis is that there is no better city diaspora to network than the one associated with Pittsburgh and that the Burgh Diaspora project would not fare as well in another location.

Leadership Burgh

Mike Madison succinctly covers how Carl Kurlander's article in yesterday's Post-Gazette resonates with the Manifesto for a New Pittsburgh. I would add only one observation about what I think is Mr. Kurlander's call for leadership:

As [Lions Gate producer John Dellaverson] went to numerous meetings and saw and heard about the many resources in this region -- the universities, WQED, the Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Civic Light Opera, etc. -- he repeated what other expatriates who visited have said: There is great potential here -- but someone has got to sew all this up. Someone has to get everything to work together to transform these nonprofit resources into a lucrative business.

The emphasis is Mr. Kurlander's and conveys, at least to me, a void in Pittsburgh's economic development landscape. The necessary vision is there, but who will marshal all these forces and regional assets towards that end?

Dan Rooney could be the Pied Piper if you think that Steelers Nation is the way to build New Pittsburgh. Perhaps Mr. Kurlander is trying to step into this role, but I see him as a leader of the arts and entertainment community. He's part of the puzzle, but we need someone who can "sew" up all the initiatives across the entire economy. Then again, Mr. Kurlander's efforts might make the perfect pilot project to get things going.