One of the region's foremost advocacy organizations for the local burgeoning robotics scene has appointed a new top executive.
Jennifer Apicella has dropped the interim title moniker and is now the official executive director of the Pittsburgh Robotics Network, an organization where she served as the vice president of partnerships and programs before she temporarily filled the top executive spot following Joel Reed's departure from the organization in May 2023 as the organization's board searched for new leadership.
With that search now over, Apicella's appointment comes during an important time for the PRN and the region's robotics scene more broadly. Ensuring the two work in harmony is paramount, Apicella said.
"Building an ecosystem and managing it, taking care of it and nurturing it, it's a team sport and we have a lot of great organizations here, and my passion is in partnerships," Apicella said. "So how to move the needle forward, you can't do that alone. And we shouldn't do it alone. We need to do that together as a region."
On Nov. 16, the PRN will host its second-annual Robotics Discovery Day event, which has ballooned to include over 130 exhibitors across two show floors at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, more than double the inaugural event's exhibition list and spacing footprint. Logging over 4,500 attendees last year, Discovery Day has become one of the organization's flagship events as it works to inform businesses and organizations about the local capabilities that the region's robotics ecosystem possesses.
Apicella's appointment follows the recent launch of the Robotics Factory, an intiative backed by funding from the $62.7 million federal grant the region won in September 2022 to foster and grow local robotics-based companies. The Robotics Factory is an effort being led by North Side-based startup investment firm Innovation Works Inc. with support from the PRN, support that will likely grow even stronger as the PRN also just moved into subleased space from IW out of the Robotics Factory's home in Lawrenceville's Tech Forge facility on 47th Street.
Working to coalesce the talents of the region's robotics assets will be a top priority for Apicella as she looks to lead the more than 140-member group that consists of companies and organizations around the metro area. Viewing this as a strategic moment for the whole region to tap into is also critical, Apicella said.
"This needs to be an opportunity for the entire region to partake in, whether it be through businesses who want to learn how to be better partners and do more business with these companies or [those in] economic development and government [who want] to get more understanding of ways they can help these businesses grow or whether it be through exporting and international relationships and partnerships that need to be put in place to help accelerate some of the opportunities," Apicella said. "Do we have a strategy and how are we leveraging the resources we already have here and what are the resources that we don't have here that we need to get here to make this ecosystem everything that it can be and more?"
For over a decade and prior to joining the PRN in February 2021, Apicella's career has spanned various jobs working in business development, which included stints at IBM Corp., Blue Light LLC and PGH.AI. She also co-founded Build412 Tech, a networking group for tech and tech-minded people throughout Pittsburgh.
"Jennifer's appointment comes at a pivotal time, marking a new chapter for our region’s robotics ecosystem," Kevin Dowling, managing director of the Robotics Factory and board chair of the PRN, said in a prepared statement. "Her proven ability to connect, inspire and propel the robotics business community forward makes her the ideal leader to navigate the organization’s journey ahead."
