Pittsburgh weekly roundup: Artzy the AI concierage; OpenAI considers PA for data centers; NIH funding pause hits Pitt, CMU

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This week in Pittsburgh, medtech innovations win big at Pittsburgh Startup Weekend, Wabtec Corporation spends $2 billion buying up the competition and more.

Read on for Technical.ly’s weekly roundup of top news in the region.

📰 News Incubator: What else to know

• The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council will debut Artzy, an AI concierge, this spring to provide information on local art events. Developed with Skillbuilder.io, which builds AI assistants for nonprofits, Artzy aims to enhance public access to arts happenings. [Pittsburgh Magazine/Technical.ly] 

• AI research and development company OpenAI is considering Pennsylvania for possible data centers as part of the $500 billion Stargate project. [Government Technology]

• Local inventory management startup GatherAI is partnering with a California-based startup to use US-made drones, moving away from Chinese drones after 10% tariffs were recently placed on imports. [BusinessWire/Pittsburgh Biz Times]

• The Trump administration’s changes to the National Institutes of Health’s grant funding cap has created uncertainty around whether the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University will continue to receive funding for indirect research costs. [WESA]

• At the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s 10th annual Beyond Big Data Summit,  keynote speaker Jake Loosararian, co-founder of Gecko Robotics, said Pittsburgh “would need a lot more success stories” to be considered the robotics capital of the world. [Pittsburgh Biz Times]

• County Controller Corey O’Connor outraised Mayor Ed Gainey nearly 20-to-1 in the month of January, with financial backing and endorsements from multiple trade unions. [WESA]

🗓️ On the Calendar

• Learn how to get your first customers through growth hacking, acquisition funnels and more at a talk on Feb. 18 at the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. [Register]

• Get a crash course on patents, trademarks, copyrights and personal rights from local attorney Shane Rumbaugh on Feb. 19 at the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. [Details here]

• Local IT and cybersecurity company All Lines Technology is hosting four information sessions on the key takeaways from Microsoft’s recent Ignite conference on Feb. 19 at Regional Learning Alliance in Cranberry. [More info]

• Discover the ins and outs of staffing a startup at the University of Pittsburgh’s second session of the Start Smart Legal Series on Feb. 20. [RSVP]

• Join Pittsburgh’s gathering place for AI learning and connect with like-minded professionals at the monthly meetup of Steel City AI Innovators on Feb. 24 at Cohatch Shadyside. [Find out more]