Pittsburgh weekly roundup: $2.9M for emerging tech; Meet Pitt racecar drivers; Behind the VFA shutdown

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ARM doles out $2.9M for emerging tech

Millions of dollars flowed into Pittsburgh-area startups and projects this month. 

Government at several levels poured multi-millions into projects like the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center and building out a local manufacturing park.

Six additional advanced manufacturing projects received grants from the ARM Institute, and Comcast granted $150,000 toward providing internet to more members of the community in Allegheny County and the surrounding areas. 

➡️ Read up on all the latest money news in Pittsburgh

Pitt engineering’s award-winning racing team

At the recent Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix at Schenley Park, Italian classics like Ferraris and Lamborghinis were the stars of the show. That’s why Panther Racing’s sleek and modern formula car from the University of Pittsburgh made quite an impression. 

While the team originates from the Swanson School of Engineering, Panther Racing blends students from diverse disciplines to create its vehicles. It takes nursing majors to make sure the biomechanics support drivers, and business students to secure high-profile financial partnerships with companies like PPG and Asana.

➡️ Get up to speed (ha) on the Formula SAE racecar team

Leveraging data to find solutions on the ground

So many big geospatial datasets, so little time — or really, so few professionals trained to leverage the wealth of information they contain. That’s why Temple University’s Geography, Environment and Urban Studies Department runs three professional science master’s degree programs that train more experts in the field.

Students in these GIS programs learn to harness the power of existing data to find novel approaches to urban and regional planning, public health, environmental assessments and other issues. If you’re into mapping and want to make an impact, this program could be for you.

“I feel like a lot of the social sciences are about defining problems,” a department professor told Technical.ly. “But with GIS, I feel like we’re kind of flipping that and figuring out solutions to the problems.” 

➡️ Find out more about Temple’s GIS grad programs

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News Incubator: What else to know

• Alumni of VFA, which operated in Pittsburgh before it abruptly shut down earlier this month, are working on plans to continue building entrepreneur communities in cities they now call home. [Technical.ly]

• Saxonburg-based semiconductor manufacturer Coherent grew its revenue 9% year over year, according to the most recent earnings report. Q4 revenue totaled $1.3 billion. [Coherent]

• Software and hardware startups can now apply for AlphaLab and AlphaLab Gear’s next accelerator cohorts. The companies selected get a $100,000 investment and other business resources. [Technical.ly/Innovation Works]

• A team of Carnegie Mellon hackers won the big capture the flag competition at Las Vegas cybersecurity conference DEF CON. [CMU]

• Pittsburgh’s been an epicenter for autonomous vehicle efforts for years now — and PennDOT wants your input. Tell the agency whether you think vehicles should be allowed on the road without safety drivers, if self-driving cars should be marked as such and more. [Technical.ly/Union Progress]

• Local law firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney has bhas started incorporating generative AI with an internal ChatGPT tool to answer common questions about legal cases. [NEXTPittsburgh]

• Pittsburgh Regional Transit is partnering with French company Flowbird to implement 80 new ticket vending machines with greater language accessibility and new fare payment options. [WPXI]

• Entrepreneurship community Ascender announced 11 new companies joining its 2025 incubator program. They include AllerVision Tech Inc., Compos Mentis, Conduit, Copilot Data Solutions, Kevo Brew, Nunu Collective, OneBluePlanet, Real Soju LLC, Redd-Up Pgh LLC, TharsisAI and the Weak-End Foot. [Technical.ly/Instagram]

• The Pittsburgh Business Times is chronicling local tech companies that address mental health. Features so far include NuRelm and Apollo Neuroscience. [Biz Times]

• We’re hiring! Help me find a stellar journalist to join the Technical.ly team covering the Pittsburgh innovation economy. [Technical.ly]

On the Calendar

• Thinking of starting your own company? On Aug. 23, the University of Pittsburgh is holding the second seminar in its series on business development on how to develop a plan. [Sign up]

• Code and Supply’s build night returns on Aug. 26. Co-work, mingle, network or just bring an idea to noodle on. [Find out more]

• The monthly B2B Software Meetup will be on Aug. 26 in the North Side. The event caters toward seasoned developers, tech entrepreneurs and anyone else interested in the space. [Details here]

• Cheers! The Robotics and Tech Happy Hour, organized by the Pittsburgh Robotics Network, will be on Aug. 27 in Bakery Square. Prices range from $20 t0 $55 for non-members. [Register]

• Share your hot takes on bitcoin at an event run by BitDevs Pittsburgh. The Aug. 28 get-together encourages participants to bring their thoughts on Fedi, now that it’s been released. [Learn more]