What would it take to make Pittsburgh a High Tech Leader? (Washington: rent, credit)

[MathmanMathman]

I saw a listing of the leading high tech centers in the US.

America

And GM is looking to have four innovative technology centers by hiring 10,000 computer workers.

A look at GM's technical innovation centers - Businessweek

The first two are Austin TX and naturally Detroit. Atlanta might be next

General Motors eyes Atlanta for IT center which could employ up to 1,500 - Atlanta Business Chronicle

GM does have a research center at CMU but I haven't heard Pittsburgh in the running for a center up to as many as 1,500 IT jobs. Even for Atlanta, that's a lot, for Pittsburgh, that's insane. Given the strength of CMU, why isn't Pittsburgh more of an IT Mecca? What does it lack?

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

What does it lack?

Authentic Mexican restaurants. Close proximity to beaches. Direct flights. Sunshine.

Google thought we were cool enough. That should count for something, right?

[Goodjules]

Start ups, VCs?

[pman]

seems like a good start
Schools With The Highest Reported Salaries Upon Graduation
julie may be right
(the state as a whole is home to ten of 2, though cmu and penn make up the bulk of those entries)

[sealie]

First you need to figure out what you are trying to achieve. The list in the news article didn't include Atlanta either, it lists the cities with the highest technological patent output. So your big cities that have a lot of IT jobs are not the same as your big innovators. I've worked in startups that generated a lot of patents for their size and I have worked at megacorporations that were less cutting edge but they both got the rent paid at the time and the latter probably employed a lot more, but the work isn't what they call "sexy".

[AaronPGH]

venture capital

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Authentic Mexican restaurants. Close proximity to beaches. Direct flights. Sunshine.

Yeah, IT workers can demand a nice location. But Texas and other places have been able to poach companies or at least branches to leave California.

Google thought we were cool enough. That should count for something, right?

Again, three letters C-M-U

[gg]

With UPMC and Pitt dominating with their "tax free" status, I don't think Pittsburgh will be a leader in high-tech. The tax frees are expanding and dominate our city and that creates an unfair playing field, because the city has to get the money from somewhere and that would be companies and residents. A high-tech company is at quite a disadvantage in our region. Now if those tax free companies would stop lining their top brasses pockets and invest in Pittsburgh and promote our area in technology, that would certainly help.

What do you think? Do the tax free companies create a bad environment for a startup high-tech or a big high-tech company to open here? Google is here, but they have... well pretty deep pockets.

[XRiteMA98]

Pardon me but I thought we are a high tech leader. There are over 400 it companies in the pittsburgh area. Many university professors start up their own companies. An example of CMU startups back in the day (and they are doing pretty fine today) are: Management Sience Associates (known as MSA to the IT people) in East End (intersection Washington rd with Penn), known for their data processing projects (data wharehousing end everything database related they have it) and Ansys, in Southpointe, leader in engineering simulation, former Swanson Engineering.
This trend (CMU spin-offs) happens even today.

[gg]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

Again, three letters C-M-U

I agree, if you take CMU out of Pittsburgh, tech would be about dead other than the medical field. We can credit CMU for bringing tech here pretty much single handedly. Companies aren't going to have an office here without them.