A nonprofit focused on creating new jobs and scientific research and development organization are working together to bring more manufacturing firms to southwestern Pennsylvania.
The Renewable Manufacturing Gateway provides consulting services to clean-technology companies interested in locating within 100 miles of Pittsburgh. Ieva Abolina, its director of development, says the organization works with many firms that are able to secure grant money to develop prototypes for their ideas, but have trouble coming up with the resources to bring these new products to the marketplace. Partnering with an established company that could lend additional expertise to these entrepreneurs would enhance the nonprofit's ability to serve its clients, she says.
That's why it approached Concurrent Technologies Corp., a Johnstown organization well-known for the research and product development defense projects it conducts for the U.S. government. Under the partnership, new companies can take advantage of the Renewable Manufacturing Gateway's business expertise and help finding financing for their projects, while Concurrent will offer its laboratories and the expertise of its scientists.
“It's a one-stop organization,” Abolina says.
The partnership isn't just for manufacturers based in the Pittsburgh region, but they must plan to have at least one location in southwestern Pennsylvania. It is targeting startups in areas including alternative energy and natural gas. Abolina says the two groups are already working with a company building a prototype for a new wind turbine and another developing a more environmentally conscious technique for natural-gas drilling in rock formations.
Source: Ieva Abolina, Renewable Manufacturing Gateway
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen
