Our History
The PLSG was designed to be the Economic Development engine behind life sciences in Western Pennsylvania. Established in 2002 by funding from major foundations and the state of Pennsylvania, our charter was to leverage the intellectual capital of Pittsburgh’s world-class universities and medical facilities to establish life sciences companies.
PLSG has been a resource center; supporting life sciences start-ups, recruiting star university researchers and seasoned life science executives to the region. All with the goal of speeding up the routing of product from technology to commercialization.
What We Do
Technology needs commercial leadership. We import executive talent to serve as the management pool for start-up technologies in the region. Our Executives-in-Residence help to de-risk companies by providing domain specific coaching, interim leadership and eventually choosing to lead a company they have supported. This program, together with the Investment Manager program, provides the knowledge, connection and capital entrepreneurs need to succeed.
Economic Development with a Twist
Economic development seeks to improve the well-being of a community by creating and retaining jobs, growing incomes and expanding the overall community tax base. Traditional economic development organizations are often perceived as organizations who oversee the distribution of funds to achieve these goals.
At the PLSG, we believe our mission to promote life sciences can only be attained by maximizing the value of each company we touch through our Executive Program. By increasing value, we attract commercial investors from both inside and outside Western Pennsylvania. With more dollars coming into our region generating returns for investors, we encourage reinvestment, continuing the cycle of job creation.
We also make direct investments into companies with the goal of generating financial returns. These returns are ‘plowed-back’ into the region, enhancing our ability to make a significant impact.