Mayor of Pittsburgh Bill Peduto - Building a Technology Hub for All

Summary: Mayor Bill Peduto provides an overview of the history of Pittsburgh’s connection to advanced analytics and technology, and talks about why Pittsburgh has become a hub for artificial intelligence innovation.

In this episode, Bryce and Mayor Peduto discuss:

• Pittsburgh’s transformation into a city at the forefront of AI, robotics, technology, and green energy
• How AI and big data have played a role in transforming Pittsburgh into a smart city
• How Mayor Peduto got involved with public service and Pittsburgh politics
• The role of education and training in encouraging Pittsburgh’s industrial and economic innovation
• The P4 framework - people, planet, place and performance - and its role in the changing landscape of Pittsburgh’s economy
• How the Mayor and the City of Pittsburgh use data to drive policy
• Pittsburgh’s approach to attracting and retaining a talented workforce

“The transformation from a steel city to a modern manufacturing and technology hub happened over decades starting with the first robotics program at Carnegie Mellon in the 1970’s.”

Mayor William Peduto was elected to the office of Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh in the General Election on November 5, 2013, and took office as Pittsburgh’s 60th Mayor in January of 2014. Prior to taking office, he worked for 19 years on Pittsburgh City Council - seven years as a staffer then twelve years as a Member of Council. Since taking office, Mayor Peduto has lead a collaborative effort to make Pittsburgh a leading 21st Century city. The Peduto administration has partnered with the White House on numerous initiatives, resulting in direct access to federal support related to affordable housing, education, economic development, energy efficiency, immigration, manufacturing, community policing, workforce development, technology and transportation. In 2015 Mayor Peduto signed a unique agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy to make the city a world leader in district energy production and Pittsburgh joined the UN's Compact of Mayors, a global coalition of climate leaders committed to local action and global impact.

Dr. Bryce Meredig, is the host of DataLab: The Materials Informatics Podcast, and Chief Science Officer and co-founder of Citrine Informatics. Dr. Meredig researches the application of machine learning to materials science. He earned his PhD in materials science from Northwestern University, where he focused on materials informatics, and his BAS and MBA at Stanford University, where he is also on the faculty of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He is the author of more than 20 peer-reviewed publications, including some of the earliest on applying machine learning (ML) to materials development. He was an Arjay Miller Scholar and Terman Fellow at Stanford, and a Presidential Fellow and NDSEG Fellow at Northwestern.

Connect with Bryce:

Twitter: @brycemeredig

Website: Citrine.io