A global IT firm and CMU partnered to open a new advanced research center in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh tech has caught the eye, and a new investment, of a multinational tech consulting firm.

Today, Tata Consultancy Services announced that it had opened Pace Port Pittsburgh — a new “co-innovation” and advanced research center at Carnegie Mellon University. This will be the Mumbai-headquartered IT services consultancy’s fourth global hub, and will specialize in innovation for the manufacturing and utilities industries by leveraging the university’s Internet of Things and artificial intelligence expertise, per a press release.

Today, CMU dedicated the new TCS Hall, made possible by an extraordinary $35M gift from @TCS.@CMUProvost welcomed dignitaries, including @GovernorTomWolf and Tata Sons Chair Natarajan Chandrasekaran, as we officially opened the space for collaboration and innovation. pic.twitter.com/CtMIBJtzoh

— Carnegie Mellon University (@CarnegieMellon) April 21, 2022

The new space will include an academic research lab for CMU experts focused on tech related to AI, the blockchain, advanced analytics, cybersecurity and quantum computing. It will also offer a facility for innovation showcases, a design-focused think space, an incubation lab for rapid innovation, an agile development workspace, and TCS’s trademarked co-innovation network accelerator, which will enable crossovers between academia and industry partners.

And while the new physical space offers in-person interactions, the hope is that it will ease digital interactions between relevant parties as well, creating a “phygital hub.”

“Collaboration between universities and industry is key to addressing the pressing global challenges that face our society,” CMU President Farnam Jahanian said in a statement. “We are grateful to TCS for its exceptional philanthropy that has made possible this dynamic new facility. TCS Hall serves as a training ground for CMU students as well as a nexus of collaboration for partners across the innovation ecosystem. This is the latest chapter of our ongoing partnership to drive innovation and entrepreneurship at the leading edge of technology, science, and society.”

A CMU student shows a demonstration at the new TCS Hall. (Courtesy photo)

It’s a sign that CMU plans to double down on its entrepreneurship program, which already includes the successful Project Olympus incubator out of the university’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship — a program that helped launch one of Pittsburgh’s most successful tech companies, Duolingo. This latest collaboration between CMU and TCS underscores the university’s understanding that broader commercialization efforts for its startups might require heavier involvement from industry partners, who typically have the talent and the funding to grow ideas to their full potential.

This new space also shows that Pittsburgh is increasingly in the minds of leading technologists, even those headquartered on the other side of the globe, an encouraging sign for those who have staked claims on the city being the world capital for some spheres of tech.

“Pennsylvania’s rich history of innovation is one of the best things about the commonwealth, and our world-class research institutions and universities are some of its greatest assets,” Gov. Tom Wolf said following his attendance at the space’s opening event. “Bringing these two things together promises to keep Pennsylvania on the forefront of the manufacturing industry. I am proud TCS selected CMU for their newest co-innovation hub and look forward to seeing what they create together.”

Wolf is right that Pittsburgh is increasingly becoming a player in the advanced manufacturing industry on a national scale. Recently, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo mentioned Pittsburgh as a place that would benefit from investments in domestic semiconductor chip manufacturing, adding that so many of the jobs coming out of the city require chips. More broadly, workforce development initiatives from organizations like the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute and the Digital Foundry at New Kensington aim to leverage the city’s base of industrial talent for new careers in advanced manufacturing. And with this new center at CMU, the hope is that those efforts will only continue to increase.