Innovation is Pittsburgh's heritage. From coke and steel to aluminum and food processing, pioneering Pittsburgh entrepreneurs built the companies that made the 20th century the "American Century" and led the industrial age. Our region must tap into this entrepreneurial heritage to thrive in the 21st century.

Natural resources provided the foundation for Pittsburgh's leadership in industrial innovation. By 1900, Pittsburgh manufactured fully half of the open-hearth steel produced in the United States and also was a leader in the manufacture of electrical equipment, packaged food, aluminum and machinery. Venture capital was abundant here, and local money financed growth. No other city had as many outstanding industrial leaders.

Today, the natural resources that will provide the foundation for our future prosperity are found in universities and other centers of knowledge rather than in raw materials.

In areas from nanoscience, bioengineering and translational medicine to robotics and national preparedness, the University of Pittsburgh, UPMC and Carnegie Mellon University are doing breakthrough research. They work together with a collaborative spirit unusual among major institutions, creating new technologies that will change the way people live and work worldwide.

The Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, an example of an innovative collaboration involving these three institutions and the state, is attracting national attention and millions of dollars of funding for new biotech and medical device ventures.

Maya Viz, Akustica and other start-ups in the information technology industry are rekindling the entrepreneurial spark created in the 1990s by innovators such as FORE Systems and FreeMarkets.

Innovation and the entrepreneurial energy necessary to make new ideas into commercial successes should provide the foundation for a new era of regional prosperity. Andrew Carnegie once said that the secret to success was putting all of your eggs in one basket and then watching the basket.

In Western Pennsylvania, we must put our collective energy into not just watching, but actively cultivating the spirit of innovation that will build the economy of the 21st century.