More Good News in Keystone State Tech
We’ll take our heads out of the clouds after sharing some recent space-based data center developments by pointing out some of the good news down here on the solid earth of the Eastern Pennsylvania technology sector.
Ben Franklin Fund Tech Distributions: Let’s kick off our good news in Keystone State tech with welcome grants for 16 Eastern Pennsylvania organizations.
Last fall we reported that the state budget includes $17 million for the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority fund in support of Pennsylvania tech-centric companies. That money is allocated to regional economic development affiliates of the fund to select recipients in their area. Right before the 4th of July the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania selections were announced for the 21-county area that includes our home base of Berks County.
$2,316,250 has been allocated to 13 early-stage firms and three established manufacturers. Congratulations to the recipients, some of which are tech to the core, while others are traditional businesses that (like nearly all organizations) rely heavily on technology. We look forward to the success stories of these companies moving forward.
Silicon Valley R&D Hub Moves to Philly: French textile regeneration firm Reju announced the opening of a new research & development center in Conshocken. With the opening of their new facility Reju is moving the team responsible for developing their innovative VoCat depolymerization technology to our area from the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose. Eastern Pennsylvania gains a sharp group of people committed to developing technologies and processes that break down textile waste into usable raw materials, and a global company chooses Eastern Pennsylvania over Silicon Valley.
Smart AI Moves by State CIOs: StateTech Magazine is impressed with our Commonwealth’s approach to AI and cloud in digital transformation, as highlighted in a white paper that they link to. They sagely appreciate the suggestion to “align technology investments with business goals and build momentum through incremental improvements rather than attempting a single large-scale transformation.”
Our state government tech leaders are primarily using those step-by-step AI strategies to improve constituent services, including revamping the DMV online vehicle registration system. Their strategic adoption of technology is drawing notice in government technology circles.
Catch Up on More Good News: We’re all fortunate to be in a vibrant region with so much positive technology news for us to report on. You can catch up on our previous updates on all the good stuff happening in Eastern Pennsylvania’s tech sector here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
We look forward to sharing more good news soon!