Corbett Administration Announces Grant for University Collaborative Initiative to Grow Interactive Media Industry

Press Release

Continuing to advance his JOBS1st PA initiative, Governor Tom Corbett today announced the award of a $750,000 Discovered in PA -- Developed in PA grant to Harrisburg University of Science & Technology to collaborate with Carnegie Mellon University and Drexel University for the PA Interactive Media Consortium. The goal of the PA Interactive Media Consortium is to grow the high-tech sector of digital entertainment and video gaming.

"I'm proud to partner with these three outstanding Pennsylvania universities to support this collaborative strategy. Together, we will help propel the interactive media industry in the commonwealth," said Gov. Corbett. "Not only will this initiative help Pennsylvania remain at the forefront of technology and innovation, but will also lead to educational and employment opportunities for our students and entrepreneurs."

Harrisburg University, Carnegie Mellon University and Drexel University, all known for interactive media and gaming programs, will establish a consortium of educational and industry professionals to fuel the interactive media industry in Pennsylvania. The consortium will unite various stakeholders around a strategic marketing and recruitment campaign promoting Pennsylvania to interactive media companies and potential entrepreneurs while enabling the universities to expand education, applied research and entrepreneurship programs targeting interactive media and gaming.

"Our mission is to build a community of higher education partners and interactive development firms which will focus on the cultural, scientific, and economic importance of digital media across the commonwealth," said Charles Palmer, Executive Director for the Center for Advanced Entertainment & Learning Technologies and Associate Professor of Multimedia. "By creating robust mentoring networks we will assist in the incubation of new companies grown from Pennsylvania's rich pool of talented innovators."

The initiative will bring together stakeholders around a strategic marketing and recruitment campaign to interactive media companies to grow the industry and create new educational and job opportunities for students. In addition to the comprehensive campaign, each university will employ unique strategies including awarding of micro-grants to startups, employing a gamer-in-residence and startup mentoring, for growing the interactive media industry. Resources and ideas for success will be shared between the three universities.

Today's grant announcement continues the momentum of Gov. Corbett's JOBS1st PA initiative, which was first launched in 2012 and has created a comprehensive roadmap to economic recovery that harnessed the state's resources and talents to prioritize private-sector job creation and retention. Today, Pennsylvania's unemployment rate is below the national rate and jobs have been growing on a consistent basis for nearly four years.

D2PA was established by Gov. Corbett in 2011 to build capacity to support Pennsylvania businesses and to spur creativity and innovation in the provision of economic development services. Last fiscal year, the D2PA program supported initiatives tied to growing the life sciences, advanced manufacturing, business incubators, and education, workforce and economic opportunity collaborations.

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