Episode Details

Pittsburgh's technology sector now generates $24 billion in annual payroll — more than 28% of all wages across the region's 13 counties. In this episode, we break down the six numbers from the Pittsburgh Technology Council's 2026 State of the Industry Report that reveal where the region stands today and where it's heading next.

We cover:

• Scale — 9,179 tech establishments employing 241,000 people, nearly 1 in 5 workers, at an average wage of $105,000/year

• Growth sectors — Manufacturing (56,000+ jobs) and health services (107,000+ jobs) continue to expand, proving Pittsburgh tech goes far beyond software

• Research engine — $2.3 billion in university R&D spending, up 26% in three years, led by the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon

• Talent pipeline — 13,756 graduate students in science, engineering, and health fields, with CMU and Pitt accounting for 76% of the total

• Lab to market — 199 patents issued, 313 licenses executed, 26 university-connected startups, and $42.9 million in licensing income

• Early-stage capital — $59.2 million in SBIR/STTR funding, up 48% in a single year and nearly double from two years prior

But numbers alone don't tell the full story. The real opportunity lies in connecting these pieces — research to commercialization, graduates to careers, startups to capital. That's what the Pittsburgh Technology Council is all about: not just asking what Pittsburgh invented, but what we build with it next.

Read the entire report here.