Two congressmen to hold tech forum
YOUNGSTOWN — Two congressmen are holding a forum so that business, education and community leaders can talk about creating a “Tech Belt.”
It is designed to bring together leaders from the Cleveland, Youngstown, Akron and Pittsburgh area to talk about ways they can work together to create jobs using advanced technology.
“Our region has been linked for over 100 years, first as the Steel Belt, then as the Rust Belt,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th. “This is our chance to emerge as the Tech Belt.”
The invitation-only forum Oct. 1 at Youngstown State University is being organized by Ryan and U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire of McCandless, Pa., D-4th.
The congressmen noted that in April two bio-tech consortiums, BioEnterprise in Cleveland and Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, announced they would be working together to attract more investments in start-up companies. The region already has more than 700 bioscience companies that employ 25,000, the congressmen said.
They said this model can be used across industries, and they want to create a plan of action on how to best use the resources that are available to this region.