United States Department of Commerce designated southeast
Pennsylvania as a regional technology and innovation hub for
life sciences in advancing biotechnology and awarded the
Southwestern Pennsylvania New Economy Collaborative $62.7
million toward its globally recognized robotics and autonomy
cluster; and
WHEREAS, The PAsmart workforce development initiative has
helped Pennsylvania to become a national leader in computer
science and science, technology, engineering and mathematics
(STEM) education, training individuals to become computer
scientists, engineers, nurses and software developers; and
WHEREAS, In 2020, Pennsylvania's $4.8 billion higher
education research and design enterprise ranked fourth largest
in the nation; and
WHEREAS, In 2021, 37.8% of all bachelor's, master's and
doctoral degrees conferred in this Commonwealth were in science
and engineering fields; and
WHEREAS, In 2022, the National Science Foundation awarded
more than $334 million to Pennsylvania, including $264 million
in fundamental research and $69 million in STEM education; and
WHEREAS, Nationally competitive innovation clusters centered
in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia comprise research and industry
activity in fields such as life sciences, computer and
information services, robotics, chemicals, plastics and rubber
products; and
WHEREAS, Advanced industries, which include technology
research and development and STEM workers, employ approximately
500,000 workers in this Commonwealth and produce upwards of $85
billion per year; and
WHEREAS, The engineering services industry in this
20240HR0313PN2566 - 2 -
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30