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Corbett Leads Bi-Partisan Tour Of Local Inventors Workshop

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It was one of those rare displays of bi-partisanship between Republicans and Democrats as local elected officials joined Gov. Tom Corbett to launch a program called Innovate in PA targeted at dozens of local inventors.

"You're helping to ignite an entrepreneurial renaissance that is making Pennsylvania the envy of the nation," Gov. Corbett said.

Touring the Alpha Lab of Innovation Works on the South Side, a leading business start-up facility, Corbett saw the results of investing in new local inventions that he said will turn Pennsylvania into the next Silicon Valley -- like a high-tech baby rocker that plays music from your iPod or a stroller with running lights that opens and closes automatically, or a robot that delivers pharmaceuticals from one hospital room to another on its own.

"Some of this stuff looks like the Star Wars stuff that came on the scene in 1977 and 1978 that was in somebody's imagination -- and that's what exactly drives us. It's the imagination," Corbett said.

Using $100 million in tax credits, Innovate in PA hopes to create more than 1,800 new technology jobs and double the return on investment in these new ideas.

Corbett encouraged Pennsylvanians to "keep dreaming, keep taking risks and continue to be the engine of our marketplace and I promise you, we will always be there to support you."

Officials predict that for every dollar the state invests in early start up companies, it will earn $2.37 in additional tax revenues down the line -- not a bad return on investment.

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