PATRICK MAKES A PITT STOP

American physicist Patrick Gallagher addresses the changing nature of innovation

On his first visit to India, American physicist and University of Pittsburg Chancellor Patrick Gallagher shared the idea of innovation and the Pittsburgh model of innovation and technology.

“I am often asked, ‘How does a great university measure itself’, ‘What is the definition of success?’ You can look at ranking, money and test scores but the best way to measure a university’s worth is through the life of its students.”

The story of innovation is never just a story of inventors. Innovation is about addressing needs and so it is always about the place where the innovation takes place. You can’t tell the story of Pittsburgh innovation, said Patrick, without telling the story of Pittsburgh and its circumstances. The story of Pittsburgh provides an important context to the university’s innovation. Through his talk, Patrick took Rotarians to the past, present and future of Pittsburgh.

“Pittsburgh is in Western Pennsylvania. The university was founded in 1787 when the Constitution of the United States of America was not even ready. In fact, looking at the pictures of the University then, you see a Frontier town. The initial land given to the University was a small parcel of land just outside the fort. Pittsburgh is situated at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which form the Ohio River. It is a strategic location as many battles between the British and French have taken place here.”

“The area has rich, natural resources and also transportation access. For a country that was expanding, access to transport became a key strategic asset. Coal was abundant in Western Pennsylvania and petroleum gas was discovered. In fact, the first petroleum revolution in the US didn’t take place in Texas but in Western Pennsylvania. Iconic petroleum companies were born here. The abundance of resources and access to natural transportation gave Pittsburgh a unique position as the Industrial Revolution took off in the United States.”

“A series of changes began that transformed the city forever. When people talk of Pittsburgh today, they talk about heavy manufacturing, steel production and they call it a steel city. But Pittsburgh became a city of heavy manufacturing because of innovation.”

“A series of technological innovations enabled industries to be born and Pittsburgh as it is widely known was reated. These inventions included the electrification of USA.”

Patrick went on to talk about George Westinghouse who ran heavy manufacturing companies and also a company making air brakes. Westinghouse began working with Nikola Tesla and proffered major competition to Thomas Edison. This became a battle between AC and DC to decide upon the right way to electrify USA. “Westinghouse was right. The AC-based technology of Nikola Tesla became the foundation of the electrification of USA. The Westinghouse corporation, built in Pittsburgh, eventually diversified and moved on to entertainment. CBS was born out of this but also Nuclear Westinghouse. In fact, the earlier nuclear power industry was based in Pittsburgh.”

“Alcoa, the largest company to produce aluminium in USA was born in Pittsburgh because of the area’s natural propensity to resource-led innovation. Major advances in the steel industry, born in UK, were made by US-based industrialists who set up high efficiency steel plants in Pittsburgh and quickly rose through the late 1800s up to World War II. At one point, they produced 60 per cent of all steel of USA. Pittsburgh literally became the steel capital. From a modern perspective we see a city that, up until I did my graduation in the late 1980s, was identified by steel workers and the proud legacy of building USA. The birth of this manufacturing might was technological innovation.” While Patrick was doing his PhD in the late 1980s, the steel industry succumbed to the pressures of globalisation. US industry had not invested and modernised its plants but other countries had picked up pace, in particular Japan and South Korea. USA found itself no longer in a competitive position in steel manufacturing and the economy contracted. The Pittsburgh that Patrick knew became a city of high unemployment, a city of crisis and a city with a large diaspora where people kept leaving to find work at other places in the country.

“Pittsburgh realised something important at that moment and that is why it is getting so much attention now: the advantage that it had in the first place, the creativity, the ingenuity, the entrepreneurship of new ideas and letting them take hold to become mature companies. Wisely, they didn’t forget that.”

“WHEN PITTSBURGH WAS LOSING HALF OF ITS POPULATION, THE CITY DECIDED TO REFOCUS AND DOUBLE DOWN ON NEW TECHNOLOGY, CREATING A NEW PITTSBURGH BASED ON NEW TECHNOLOGY.”

“What did they turn to? The universities within Pittsburgh: the University of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Mellon University, sitting right in the middle of the city.”

All this time, the University of Pittsburgh had also been growing. It had moved to a location and a new campus and built a skyscraper – one MAY 14, 2019 THE BULLETIN OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF BOMBAY 03 of the most identifiable buildings of Pittsburgh – a building that celebrated the ethnic diversities of Pittsburgh, in particular the communities that had contributed to building it. Each community developed a classroom in the style of their home country at the time either before or when the Pitt was formed in the 1780s.

“WE HAVE ACTIVE CLASSROOMS CALLED THE NATIONALITY CLASSROOMS FROM OVER 30 COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD REPRESENTING THE ORIGINAL DIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH. WE HAVE AN INDIA ROOM TOO.”

Pittsburgh became one of the leading headquarters for industry-based research in USA.

“All the major industries operated dynamically and innovation continued on the corporate side. The University benefited from it and science and engineering programmes were developed. One of the fruits of that collaboration is that the industrial engineering programme of the University of Pittsburgh began doing contract work for Gulf Oil, developing deep expertise on polymer chemistry and looking at advances of new polymer products. That institute was
supported by the industrialist Andrew W Mellon, also associated with Alcoa, which went on to become the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research.”

“The University benefited from Pittsburgh’s innovationcentric economy. When industries collapsed, innovation capability moved to and resided in universities. Pittsburgh decided to bet on a new economy that would come from the universities. This became known as the Eds and Meds Economy. Eds and Meds because the University was primarily involved in research for health sciences. Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh. He considered science to be for the public good, for humanity. He made no money from that development. Later, other Pitt scientists led further developments and inventions.”

Soon, Pittsburgh found itself always in the news. It became a powerhouse in medical care. The USA decided to make a large investment in the National Institute of Health that funded life science, chemistry and related sciences and doubled the budget for an assured five-year period and sustained that doubling till today. It is the largest investment in any one area of science that has ever been made. No university in USA has taken as much advantage of this doubling than the University of Pittsburgh. It was a well-known medical school but not a research powerhouse.

Pittsburgh grew its research enterprise in life sciences in particular and is now the fifth-largest research enterprise in America’s health sciences. Today, the employment from Eds and Meds has more than replaced the jobs lost from the steel industry. The largest employer in the state of Pennsylvania is the University of Pittsburgh, Medical Centre, followed by the University of Pittsburgh.”

“We have become an attractor of new companies and new formations. Our story of innovation today is one of unleashing the science that Pitt benefited from. We enjoy the ability to create one of the leading research universities of health science in the US and we focus on giving back and addressing needs by spinning off new technologies, new clinical practices and new therapeutics that harness the sciences.”

Patrick added, “There is an interesting thing happening around innovation that is worth noting because I don’t think it is unique to Pittsburgh. People talk about innovation and entrepreneurship and they talk about technological innovation.”

“INNOVATION MEANS CREATING SOMETHING NEW BUT THERE ARE MANY INNOVATIONS THAT ARE NOT SIMPLY ABOUT TECHNOLOGY.”

“When Amazon announced a competition to identify a new city for a second headquarter. It was a very clever move because every city in the US started competing by giving Amazon things to seal the deal. Pittsburgh also competed. Interestingly, the public began to react negatively to the idea of Amazon coming to Pittsburgh. This is a city that
had seen the hardship caused by losing the steel industry. The people desperately wanted more work and opportunity. Yet, they were negative towards Amazon. Why? Because, when they looked at Amazon and other Silicon Valley companies, this is what they saw:

“BRIGHT, SHINY AND SPECTACULAR TECH COMPANIES WERE CREATING REAL OPPORTUNITIES AND WEALTH FOR SOME PEOPLE ALONGSIDE OTHER COMMUNITIES THAT WERE BEING LEFT BEHIND.”

When New York was finally selected, we wondered whether the Pittsburgh reaction had been too negative. But then the reaction of New York was so negative that Amazon cancelled their plans to build their headquarters there.” “This is something we need to pay attention to: it’s no longer enough to focus on new technology. People are realising that technology brings good things, sure, but it is also disruptive. And, not everyone is a beneficiary.” He concluded, “We are looking at a more holistic and strategic form of innovation. It should be a place-based model of innovation where you look at the community where the innovation is going to take place and work with that community to develop a strategy to benefit from the new economy. Thus, at Pittsburgh, we have embraced all communities. We have community
engagement centres, extension officers. We have a forum working on strategies.

I THINK THAT IS GOING TO BE THE NEXT MODEL OF INNOVATION: LOOKING BEYOND TECHNOLOGY MODELS AT AN INCLUSIVE STYLE OF
INNOVATION.”