PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance has released its 2017 Business Investment Scorecard, and for the first time in 11 years, the information technology sector has topped the list as the most active segment of the regional economy.
Almost all of the information technology sector – which includes robotics and autonomous vehicles – was centered in Allegheny County. All told, $5.5 billion was invested by businesses in the 10-county region of southwestern Pennsylvania, the third-highest amount on record.
Of that, $3 billion was invested in health-care infrastructure, with more than $2 billion coming from UPMC alone. Another $700 million was invested by the Allegheny Health Network, which is building four mini-hospitals in the region, including one in Beaver County.
The energy infrastructure sector also ranked high on the list with $1.7 billion in investments last year.
For Beaver County, last year was like many others before it in that manufacturing led the way in powering the local economy.
According to the report, one of the biggest investments made last year in Beaver County was by a new venture formed between Allegheny Technologies and Chinese steel producer Tsingshan Group. The joint venture has reopened the former ATI plant in Midland and created 100 new jobs in the process.
Another large investment last year came from a contractor supplying concrete for Shell Chemicals’ $6 billion ethane cracker plant in Potter Township. Champion Concrete, which opened two plants in Midland last year, invested $1.3 million and created 55 jobs in the process.
A company that purchased the former Penn State Special Metals in Big Beaver last year ranked high in the listing for Beaver County. The company, Swagelok, invested $3.5 million locally while creating 13 new jobs and retaining 26 other jobs.
Jim Palmer, president of the Beaver County Corporation for Economic Development, said Tuesday that the scorecard for last year was important if only because it shows life beyond Shell.
“There were a number of good projects and investments in jobs in the community in addition to Shell,” he said. “You certainly can’t discount Shell and everything going on with that, but the additional projects completed in 2017 were important ones.”
In addition, Palmer said it has already been a “pretty good start” to this year and looks forward to what the next scorecard holds.
“We’re confident 2018 will be better than 2017,” Palmer said.
David Ruppersberger, president of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, said early gains this year are “promising” for next year’s scorecard.