Mention the word "Pittsburgh" and you are likely to conjure up images of heavy industry, steel production and smoke-clogged skies. By the late 1980s, the Pittsburgh Region had lost 125,000 jobs as a result of the downturn of the steel industry and the closing of mills and plants across western Pennsylvania. But if 'technology' isn't part of your visualization of Pittsburgh, then it's time to change your thinking! Today, the innovation that drove the engines of heavy industry remains at the heart and soul of Pittsburgh, even while the products have changed. The new Pittsburgh has reinvented itself as a high-tech and medical center, with a thriving downtown area, clean air and new football and baseball stadiums along its famed riverfront. Today the technology industry in Pittsburgh employs 132,000 people, a total greater than that of the jobs lost through the shutdown of the steel industry. And in a world impacted by the events of September 11, 2001, the Pittsburgh region has recognized expertise in cybersecurity, robotics, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and bioterrorism.

Robotics
Pittsburgh's robotics industry has experienced rapid growth over the past two decades and currently boasts more than 100 organizations involved in research, development, engineering and the commercial sale of robotics and automation technologies.

Biomedicine/Biotechnology
From mapping the human genome and the development of cloning capabilities to the advent of new life-improving and life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical devices, scientific advancements in the life sciences have profound implications for humankind.

The fastest growing U.S. city in terms of its Internet population is not New York, Seattle or San Francisco, but Pittsburgh, according to data from Nielsen//NetRatings.

The online population in the Steel City jumped 20.4 percent from December 2000 to December 2001, giving Pittsburgh and online population of about 1.2 million.

Nielsen//NetRatings, a joint venture that does market research on online usage, said Thursday that Pittsburgh edged out Salt Lake City as the fastest-growing ``wired city'' in the nation last year. That means a bigger percentage of the population in southwestern Pennsylvania began surfing the Internet in 2001 than anywhere else.

Ronald Gdovic, who is executive director of 3 Rivers Connect, a nonprofit organization which promotes the use of technology in the Pittsburgh region, said the growing use of the Internet is one of the area's ``hidden secrets.''