About Build Back Better

In Summer 2022, the Southwestern Pennsylvania New Economy Collaborative announced the receipt of a $62.7 million federal Build Back Better Regional Challenge grant awarded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (U.S. EDA). The southwestern Pennsylvania region is one of only 21 applicants receiving this grant funding, chosen from the 60 finalists involved in Phase 2 of the Build Back Better challenge. Phase 1 of the challenge received 529 application submissions, of which southwestern Pennsylvania was chosen as one of the 60 applications to move to Phase 2. Pittsburgh’s Build Back Better aimed at seizing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build the region’s robotics and autonomy technology sector through investments in five separate but intertwined projects.

Expanded Opportunities for Entrepreneurship

TMACE Data Specialist RFP

InnovatePGH’s project, Expanded Opportunities for Entrepreneurship, seeks to invest funding in local organizations and institutions to both increase the number of underrepresented founders, and create more financial and technical support for new small businesses to tap into the technology economy. This project seeks to expand the number and diversity of entrepreneurs in the cluster via two programs with significant industry support: Training and Market Access for Entrepreneurs and the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute’s Pathways Fellowship supporting entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs from historically excluded communities (e.g., women, people of color, veterans, and former rural and coal counties).

We are currently seeking proposals from qualified firms or teams of firms with the appropriate expertise to serve as a “Data Specialist” for Training and Market Access for Entrepreneurs (TMACE). InnovatePGH is seeking a firm that will identify and recruit robotics and/or advanced manufacturing companies with buying power and work with these companies to collect, benchmark, and analyze their procurement data and practices. The Data Specialist will make recommendations to these companies for ways in which they can increase their spending with local, diverse vendors and suppliers. The Data Specialist will also make strategic recommendations to InnovatePGH for how the TMACE program can evolve programming to close supply gaps in these industries. Proposals must be submitted by no later than 5:00 PM (EDT) on Friday March 15, 2024 to Erin Jensen at ej@innovatepgh.com with the subject “TMACE RFP Proposal.” Read the whole RFP here.