Unlocking industrial innovation across states and industries

Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia have all the ingredients needed to be a powerhouse of industrial innovation: grid infrastructure, strong industrial bases, and the presence of research universities with deep expertise in artificial intelligence (AI), energy systems, robotics, and automation. The challenge is how to ensure the region leverages these strengths to lead in—and, importantly, benefit from—the next wave of economic opportunity, spurred by the development of new industries such as manufacturing and data centers and their energy demands. 

The Resilient Energy Technology and Infrastructure (RETI) Consortium, led by West Virginia University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University, represents an effort to innovate and implement critical energy technologies and resilient infrastructure in ways that contribute to regional growth and prosperity. 

The RETI Consortium recently published a discussion paper, “Unlocking Opportunities in the Industrial Innovation Economy for West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania,” that breaks down six key challenges facing innovation and industrial growth in the region. The findings are based on an interactive discussion hosted by RETI at the Scott Institute in July 2025 that invited local business and thought leaders to contemplate factors that might inhibit or support energy and infrastructure modernization. 

The half-dozen categories identified by the group illustrate the range of factors, from policy to funding, that interact with entrepreneurship and industrial innovation. Importantly, a category of barriers related to institutions and culture at the systems level emerged as important for many participants. 

The group also recognized that solutions were likely to be different across populations and contexts within the region. Recommendations for boosting innovation focused on workforce readiness and specialized training; early access to capital for startups; and site selection and permitting processes. 

Read the story here.