Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: But I often refer to robotics not as an industry, but as a sector. It's a horizontal because industries are vertical. And so we have applications of robotics being developed here that go across 18 different market verticals.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Robot Industry Podcast. My name is Jim Beretta, and I'm your host. And. And I'm here today with Jennifer Apicella, and she is the executive director of the Pittsburgh Robotic Network. Hey, welcome to the podcast, Jen.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for having me. Happy to be here.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Hey, so listen, let's. I'd like you to tell me a little bit about you and how you maybe got involved in this really important role.
[00:00:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So, yeah, my journey is definitely not a traditional one, but whose is really, right? How do we all get to where we're getting.
It's not a linear path usually. So for me, my background is I worked in corporate, corporate enterprise technology. Right. So I spent most of my career at IBM. I've lived in Pittsburgh, though, the entire time. So while I haven't worked, this is the first time I'm working for a Pittsburgh organization. I've worked remote most of my career in advanced technologies. Started out in project management, moved into global program management, and then found my calling really in account management and business development when it comes to getting a product to market.
So largely what it was is that IBM sells a lot of things, and they do a lot of things. And so there was a period of time over a decade ago where they acquired a ton of companies that had different products for different lines of business beyond the cio. And so I got involved in that. So there were mergers and acquisitions involved. There were a very specific product team. But largely I was focused on a portfolio focused on smarter cities technology, which includes some computer vision stuff. Right. Video analysis, IoT devices. So having those conversations on the public sector about how to integrate those technologies right into an entire city or an entire region. And then I also then expanded into a security portfolio that had very, very specific product that helped to do security intelligence analysis. So, long story short, talking to corporates big and small, as well as the public sector, about how to integrate advanced technologies into their businesses or into their operations in a purposeful and in an intelligent way. And I really enjoyed those conversations. Things are complicated, right? They didn't always have the budgets, and the technology oftentimes had hardware considerations and middleware and data considerations. So when I started to get involved in my local ecosystem here in Pittsburgh, largely, I was not shying away from these more emerging tech conversations. They were not Foreign to me, it was through that ecosystem building that I was doing as well as the technology side that I was sort of able to find that go between. And that's exactly what the ecosystem needed. Right. We've got a lot of deep tech, tough tech inventors who are trying to get their product into market. And so being able to interface with market and bring that into the ecosystem just made it easier for them to be found and to explore their own commercial journey. And so largely that's a lot of what I do, interfacing with investors and corporates and, and VPs of innovation and others throughout the world and just helping them figure out how to connect the dots as to, you know, what they need to grow their businesses and get in touch with some of these startups. So yeah, it's exciting.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: It sounds like you've been ticking off the boxes as you've been going like cybersecurity and machine vision and AI and all these things. So that's really exciting. So Pittsburgh, it seems both likely and unlikely to be a robotics hub. So tell us a little bit about the city. I've actually never been to Pittsburgh, but it's on my list.
[00:03:59] Speaker A: Yeah, sure. So I think what's really interesting about what happens here in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a city is not top of mind for a lot of people from a geographical geography perspective. We're not, you know, New York or we're not one of the top five largest cities in the U.S. but what we do have here is a world class global powerhouse of deep tech, tough tech innovation. And so, and a lot of that is, is, you know, hearkens back to the fact that Carnegie Mellon University is here. But beyond Carnegie Mellon University, we also have the University of Pittsburgh and many, many other very strong academic institutions. From those institutions, right, have birthed PhD, you know, programs and all of these people creating all these, inventing all these technologies. We have this rich, asset rich environment of innovation that is now part in alignment, right, with what's happening in the world. This sort of global phenomenon of this new industrial revolution, call it Industry 4.0 or Industry 5.0 or whatever people are calling it these days. It's almost as if for the past several decades Pittsburgh has been waiting for this opportunity because now we just have this treasure trove of serial entrepreneurs, world class scientists and inventors and amazing innovation that's ready to be, you know, go from project to product. And that's what makes Pittsburgh so special. And that's what I think a lot of people, if you're not, if you haven't been here. People are surprised to see that we are not only on the cutting edge, but also the bleeding edge of what's happening right now in emerging tech.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: We chatted before we started this morning about other communities, and one of the things I note about, one of the ones I'm familiar with is that they have this culture. They just want the whole ecosystem to, to do better. And do you have that in Pittsburgh?
[00:05:47] Speaker A: We do, as a matter of fact. I think because we all, we are a city that, you know, is a little different than, you know, say, New York or Boston or some of the larger cities. There's a real community spirit here. And so what we have is a close knit community. We have over 125 commercial, private, commercial robotics businesses that operate here.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: Okay. So that density is significant in any region, but especially here. And so what we're able to do is largely, most of them are not competitive. Right. So I know your podcast is called the robotics industry, but I often kind of refer to robotics not as an industry, but as a sector.
And so it's a horizontal because industries are vertical. And so we have robotics being a part, applications of robotics being developed here that go across 18 different market verticals.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Largely they all have the same similar problems, similar challenges as they're trying to commercialize, as they're trying to grow their businesses. Our talent here, right, we have almost 8,000 jobs that are provided by this ecosystem. And so when you have that robust amount of talent and those similar needs and commercialization journeys, right, it's investor networks that are shared, it's talent that's shared, you know, expertise and mentoring that's shared. And so that creates bonds, that creates really business partnerships and just a sense of community that I think is unique and unparalleled than what I've seen in other, in other regions.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: So how long did it take the city to turn into a robotics hub? Like, I've been in this industry for a long time and I've heard more and more and more about robotics, but how long did it take?
[00:07:30] Speaker A: Yeah, so I would say it didn't happen overnight. Many regions reach out to me and say, hey, we want to be a robotics cluster. How do we build that? And largely what I say is, well, you've had to have a world class research and development institute probably about 40 years ago, get started with the journey of invention and R and D, and then from that, right, have some spin outs and have some success and failures, and then have that serial entrepreneurship flywheel get started and then have the robust talent and have the companies of all different types and then also have the corporate partnerships. The momentum has been building over time, even before commercially viable opportunities existed in many of these markets.
And so like I said, you know, it's just, it's as if a garden of all different varieties of vegetables and all different varieties of items have been growing here, and it's now time to harvest those because market's ready.
But yeah, it's been decades that this has been growing and we just happen to be reaching like a crescendo of momentum here.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: And that's a great analogy. I love this garden thing because you're right. It's like they've been all here and now all of a sudden it's like, wow, we have a thing, guys. Let's actually create an asset or an organization. So tell us a little bit about some of your numbers. I know this is the unsexy part of running the robot network, but you've got 8,000 people, you've got 125 companies. What else? What other numbers do you have?
[00:09:04] Speaker A: Yeah. So in terms of our following, right. While we are the Pittsburgh Robotics Network, and our mission is really to create more jobs, more companies, and attract more investment to this cluster to support the growth of it. We do that with global partnerships. And so I would say our global digital audience, 40,000 followers across all of our media platforms and channels. What we're noticing is that while we are an economic development, ecosystem building entity, in a lot of ways, we also are a media platform.
And that's very helpful for the three key pieces that all of our services revolve around. And that's to one, help entities become more visible. Right. So increase visibility so they can promote themselves. And what happens when you're more visible? The next thing is make the connections that matter, that help you increase your market share, that help you to grow commercially. So if you can be found, are you found by the target audiences you need to be found by? And then the third piece is once you are visible and you have the connections and now you're really moving, you need to start leading the conversation and become influential. And so those are the three places that we typically go toward. But in terms of numbers, right? So our global audience, it's on both sides of the fence, whether it's a robotics company that needs to be more visible or whether it's a large corporate that needs to show their market relevance and that they're innovative leaders. We have platforms and programs for all of them. But Pittsburgh has, with Carnegie Mellon University here. That's the number one AI program in terms of education, academia and research. They also are the world's first robotics PhD program was released in the 80s that was very, very influential and largely trailblazing and risk taking at the time, right when there weren't so many commercially viable options for robotics. But beyond that, our region has attracted over the past five years over $7 billion in capital investment for these companies. And so a lion's share of that has been through the autonomous vehicle development companies. We are the birthplace of autonomy when it comes to the autonomous vehicle industry. Many of those people either stayed and are currently running startups and businesses here in that, or have left the region and have gone to become a leader in some of the others around the world.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: And thank you for that, Jen. That's really exciting and some great numbers there. So if you, when you talk to your members a lot, what's the reason that they want to join prn?
[00:11:44] Speaker A: Yeah, so we have two different types of like membership really that we, that we focus on. One is that mission, right, Our economic development mission. We call it like our core, our core cluster members. And those are all the robotics companies that happen to operate, you know, within a 150 mile driving radius of the greater Pittsburgh region. And so. And we serve them in a different way, right? They might need talent services, they might meet, need investor relations, they might need camaraderie, right? So community building events.
And then we also create like mini committees and subgroups for them so that they can, the goal is to help them grow faster and help them get whatever it is that they need from around the world and bring that here to Pittsburgh, but also serve them here in Pittsburgh. The other membership that we have is what we call our network membership. And those members can come from anywhere. And so they could be from, they could be a supplier, right? So someone who could be an integrator. We have integrators, we have suppliers, we have service providers. And so these are basically the businesses that do business with these robotics companies and they're looking for that faster engagement strategy. Like how, you know, I might do business with four of these companies, but how do I do business with. There's 125. How do I increase my relationships there? So we've created strategies and programs and a whole membership program that helps accelerate their ability to connect with these companies. Because I will say this is largely an introverted community. I think that's a surprise. The culture of engineers and scientists tends to not be as social as your classic business development you know, kind of.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: Person, sometimes they have to be dragged into it. I totally, totally get it. So I just wanted to ask. So I know what your life is like a little bit, but I'd love you to tell the audience a little bit what a typical day for Jen looks like.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: Yeah. So.
[00:13:33] Speaker B: Or is there such a thing?
[00:13:36] Speaker A: Yeah, chaos. Right. So I have a very fantastic. A strong team now. And, you know, largely what's happening is we are attracting inquiries from around the world as well as inquiries from here in our own backyard. And so it's a lot of outreach where people are coming to us with, I have this problem, or I have this challenge, or I need this support, or can you help? And then there's also leading the organization in and of itself. Right. And so making sure our local economic development partners and our ecosystem at large is keeping up with what's happening here and what these companies are doing. So there's demystification that has to be done. Education, events, evangelism, communications, and messaging. Right. So that largely the economic opportunity that we are building here and that we're witnessing being built here becomes more equitably available to. All. Right. With the. With the expansion of all this opportunity. But yeah, the second piece would be lots of meetings, lots of delegations to the team. Right. For them to take on. We get a lot of incoming stuff, which we welcome. And anyone listening to this podcast, we encourage you to reach out to us if you want to get engaged and learn more about our companies or our work or how to stay at the cutting edge of innovation, which is what we are most excited about. But yeah, I would say meetings, insane amounts of email, and then just really trying to strategize about how to best keep accelerating all of this incoming outcry for support, how to create and do operational design and create engagement strategies and pathways in. We largely just sit in the middle of it all and our air trafficking, controlling it, Reducing conflict and reducing bottlenecks.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, when you said engagement, I'm like, oh, my God, talk about all these members. And they all need different things. And you want to create a calendar of events and keep people coming in and. Because engagement is one of those things that becomes very, very important.
[00:15:37] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:15:37] Speaker B: I imagine. So. Do you have, like, a perfect member profile? Like, I know that a lot of your members probably have profiles on their perfect customers. Does it kind of matter?
[00:15:48] Speaker A: Yeah, I would say what we really like to see in our members are organizations that are focused on growth and so. And also. But they're focused on understanding that they don't know everything. We have some really brilliant people doing a lot of just fantastic things. But the faster that these individuals, these humans behind these robots, the faster that they understand what their deficits are, that just identifies need. If they can identify their needs and communicate their needs in an open way, then we can help accelerate access to whatever it is that's going to fit their needs.
Largely the events that we host, these are services in a lot of ways for people to get their needs met. And the faster you expose that, it actually increases your business viability.
It's more of an asset than a deficit, which is sometimes counterintuitive. Right. To individuals who aren't used to needing things.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Or asking for help.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: That's right. But I mean, it really takes a village to build all of this because what we're witnessing is this global shift, right. This nexus point that we're at. And so when it comes to that kind of environment where change and chaos is really, you know, introduced to you in a very direct way in order to navigate through that, you can't do that alone. Ineffective. It's also silly to try. I mean, you can, right? But you're going to limp along. And so the more you embrace camaraderie and partnership, I think is where you can start to really accelerate what it is that you can accomplish.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: What I like about these ecosystems is when two competitors can get together and say, hey, listen, can we do coffee? Or hey, listen, I need to borrow that very specific thing you have. Do you mind if we do that? And a lot of times they don't mind. They want that whole ecosystem to do better.
[00:17:40] Speaker A: Well, and that's exactly right. And I would say some of the competition isn't actually very competitive. There are maybe parallel alignments to their work or in the Venn diagram of what they do, there might be some areas where they might cross sect sometimes understanding that having a frenemy approach really can figure out how to craft and shape ways of partnership. So a lot of these companies need to be heads down and focused on just getting their own. There's a lot of stuff they just need to do. Right. But once they figure that out, going to market is a heavy lift. It's a heavy lift. And so having an ecosystem here, right, where everything's served up to you on a platter in terms of like, what do you need, right. Do you need to partner with another complimentary technology and you can go to market together and that's, you know, helping you to share leads and helping you to share customer relationships and tell a better story and ultimately just solve pain. Like a lot of this stuff is everyone's trying to automate, everyone's trying to adopt advanced technology. People are confused about what can I buy today? What's working on the shelf? Is this startup too new. Right. Or everyone's trying to take the temperature of the room in a lot of ways. And so an ecosystem can validate that at scale much more quickly. And if you can absorb that intelligence, really leverage that to help you go to market more effectively, that's great, Jen.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: Thank you for that. So maybe this is an unfair question. Who are some of your new and hot robot companies? And do you see any patterns and areas of interest like AI versus humanoid versus mobile?
[00:19:16] Speaker A: Yeah, so there's a lot of buzz around humanoids, of course. And, you know, we have one here with Agility Robotics. They have an office here.
One of their founders is from here. And so largely there, I think they're exploring the humanoid use and application in a pragmatic way. More pragmatic than maybe some of the others that are, I think, going after or maybe getting distracted by sort of this like very future forward, moonshot kind of humanoid application.
So that's one. But our autonomous vehicle companies are fantastic and they've been here employing lots of people working very hard to fully realize autonomy when used in trucking. Right. For transportation. I think we're going to see some really special things happen over the next three years in that. In that area. So Aurora and Stack AV are here and they're doing really amazing things. Caterpillar has their Pittsburgh Automation center here. It's actually in the same complex as where I'm sitting for our office.
And so when people think Caterpillar, they largely just think, you know, tractors and, you know, or, you know, construction equipment and, you know, things like that, heavy equipment. But they're creating some really interesting autonomy components as well and doing some, and have been for decades actually being a leader in that space. We also have some startups in computer vision and AI platform technology for automation that are emerging. And so, yeah, I mean, there's a lot we have. We have a fantastic chart on our website that can be downloaded and you can actually, what we've done is created. It's like a logo directory and then we've subclassified where we're starting to see critical mass of companies in terms of what they're inventing and what they're creating and how that relates to market and industry.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: So, yeah, and I'll put those in the show notes, you can send them to me and go from there. So what are some of the challenges that you have being an executive director? I mean I've seen that before where you've just like, oh my God, what are we going to do next week? And probably too, you mentioned Caterpillar. You're probably open to other companies going, oh my God, why are we not doing this?
[00:21:34] Speaker A: Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, you know, we have companies here that are big like Omnicell, right. Which is, you know, they've been doing this for over a decade and you know, automating pharmaceutical access in. Right. In hospitals. So that's a really big billion dollar company. And then we have very, very small startups. And so from an economic development perspective, one of the biggest challenges is making sure local government, making sure the non technical leaders in our region understand what's happening here. And so, you know, that's a baseline conversation that I have to have. But then I also have to have conversations with the companies and you know, players like Nvidia, Right. Or JP Morgan and large corporate entities that are deep, deep in understanding this stuff. And so having those more cutting edge conversations, technological conversations or even like market conversations or even working with investors, VC firms. And so I have to be able to be flexible, right. In terms of meeting people where they're at and having conversations with the right framing so that we can bring everyone along. Because this work only works. It's a team sport. Economic development is a team sport. So we can only do so much, like I said, just like the companies, we can only do so much heads down on our own. And so I would say that is one of the, I welcome that challenge. But it can be a challenge to have the patience to have all those conversations.
[00:22:59] Speaker B: Yes. And some of them are big and some want it fast. And you're like, wait a second, you're like, let's slow down.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Well no, I like, no, I like those conversations.
Most of my day is everything being slowed down to catch up, let everyone catch up. So it's great to actually have a partner that gets it and can help accelerate the whole, the whole process. So moving fast is not a bad thing.
[00:23:21] Speaker B: And what kind of programs do you have? So you have like, do you have a like startup intake program for startup companies that you do some mentoring for?
[00:23:31] Speaker A: That's right. So our region received a very large federal grant a couple years ago. It was a four year long duration. It was through the, the federal government's EDA to economic development. And so and it was about $63 million.
And so that was dispersed to many organizations. So we have here a robotics factory which is a robotics specific accelerator program. And so we work very closely with our partners who manage that. And so what is available through that is a residency for prototyping equipment to access shared hardware resources. We also have a mentor network that helps advise startups that go through that accelerator. We also have a program that's focused on bringing in market experts at one industry vertical at a time and talking to them about their problems and their pain and what it is they need to do. Right. To help solve some of their innovation challenges and then matchmake them with entrepreneurs and companies to help create new opportunities.
And then also we get a lot of questions about how do I find this supplier or how do I find. I'm having a hard time, I need to machine this part. Can you help us with this? So directory, a lot of directory assistance. I call it signposting. Like if you're on a hiking trail and you're like, you get to a certain which way do I turn, which way do I go? And so we do a lot of that investor relations. So we can help with, you know, pitch deck advising or just how do you pitch, how do you develop relationships, introductions to investors, introductions to others within the network. Again, a lot of that air traffic control. So our, but our programs really are all focused on commercialized opportunity, how to translate the technology into commercial growth that again grows more company opportunities, attracts more investment, which ultimately makes more jobs.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: Jennifer, we haven't talked a little bit about other automation hubs and we kind of did just before we went on air. Are there any other robot hubs in the world that you like?
[00:25:38] Speaker A: Yeah, so I wouldn't say, well, I like them all right. So yeah, like attracts like, you know, when you see a cluster and I visited enough of them to understand now that the leaders of these clusters all largely, we have a spirit of camaraderie because we all have the shared challenge which is sitting in the middle of economic development and government and trying to educate them and bring them along, but then also having to go deep in the pocket with the companies themselves who are just on this cutting edge or taking moonshots for emerging tech and everything that swirls in between, which is a lot. And so I would say we work so Boston, Mass. Robotics, you know, they're doing great things, great work there. The Bay Area, right, has a sort of a Silicon Valley based robotics cluster which is a lot of activity happening. So we enjoy seeing things coming out of There and then internationally. Right. Denmark ONSE has a great robotics cluster. They call it like Cobot island, but they have been great partners. And so we do a lot of international work with them. And then out of Korea is a global robotics cluster forum of which I serve on the board of directors. And they're trying to bring this sort of global community together of all of these robotics clusters, some developed like Pittsburgh. Right. Which are more mature in their development of programs and operations and actually making impact, and others that are more just now emerging and trying to make sure they're not left behind. Right. As the world shifts and turns and moves quickly in this advanced tech sort of era.
[00:27:14] Speaker B: So what's next for prm?
[00:27:17] Speaker A: Yeah, so right now we are focused on really operationalizing our programs, focused on commercialization. So not just saying that we're going to help with mentoring and investor relations, but actually having a facility here that's going to be able to have audience Right. With those from around the world who are trying to engage effectively with the assets here. So whether it be with our great partners on academia and innovation and R and D, like Carnegie Mellon University, who is a market leader in research and development for this stuff, but then also they want to engage with, well, okay, great, 10 years from now, I can work with them to develop technology. What about my next 12 to 24 months?
[00:28:01] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:01] Speaker A: And so really operationalizing that so that we can do that very effectively in a pointed way, in an efficient way, and being able to then have investors be a part of that. When market has a demand, there's an opportunity for investors to come in and understand that there is viable places to accelerate. Right. Where they invest their money and help companies grow.
[00:28:25] Speaker B: Jennifer, thank you very much for coming on today. And is there anything that I forgot to ask you?
[00:28:31] Speaker A: Well, I mean, I could talk about this stuff all day.
No, this has been a great conversation. I would just say to anyone tuning in, if you haven't been to Pittsburgh yet or if you haven't seen what's going on here, reach out to us. Right. Our website, robopgh.org and so what we're here to do is just help the growth happen. And so if you fit into the ecosystem in any way, at the value chain, on the investment side, on the market adoption side, it doesn't matter what industry you're in, there's something special happening here. And so we encourage you to reach out. We will help you get connected. I want to see success stories, right?
[00:29:07] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:29:07] Speaker A: I want to see things move faster. I want to see growth explode And I want to see us all come together to, you know, we all have a role to play in that. And so excited to, to welcome the future forward and be sort of a part of that directly.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: Jen, when you're not organizing robotics clusters and events, what do you like to do?
[00:29:31] Speaker A: There's not a lot of free time. I will say.
Yeah, I'm a servant leader in all of this. So a lot of my time involved and because we have thousands of people in this ecosystem, a lot of my outside of work time involves in the relationships I've been building right in this. But outside of this, I do love to travel. I do.
So I travel a lot for work, but largely I've got to get myself to Ontario. I hear great things happening in Canada to check out what that is. But yeah, I love listening to music, I love drinking coffee all the time.
And then Pittsburgh has a really fantastic food scene and so just getting out, having delicious drinks and eating good meals and you know, I'm a pretty simple person in that way. So. Yeah.
[00:30:24] Speaker B: Well, thanks again for being out. And you know what, I agree with you. I think one of the things my wife and I do, and we love to travel too, is we usually go on a food tour. The first thing we do when we go to a city because it gets you to walking around, it gets you to understand a little bit about what's happening. So thanks again, Jennifer.
[00:30:38] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: Our sponsor for this episode is Earhart Automation Systems. Earhart builds and commissions turnkey solutions for their worldwide clients. With over 80 years of precision manufacturing, they understand the complex world of robotics, automated manufacturing and project management. Delivering world class custom automation on time and on budget. Contact one of their sales engineers to see what Earhart can build for you. And Earhart's hard to spell. It's E, H, R H A R D T. And I'd like to acknowledge a three the association for Advancing Automation. They are the leading automation trade association for robotics, vision and imaging, motion control and motors, and the industrial artificial intelligence technologies. Visit automate.org to learn more. Where you'd like to get in touch with us at the Robot Industry podcast. You can find me Jim Beretta on LinkedIn. Today's podcast was produced by Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing. And I'd like to thank my team, Chris Gray for the music, Jeffrey Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet, and our sponsor, Earhart Automation Systems.
