By Christopher Drumm
In July, Sen. Dave McCormick convened the inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh.
By any measure, the event was a huge success. Attendees included President Donald J. Trump, Gov. Josh Shapiro and other government leaders along with top executives from both energy and artificial intelligence and their organized labor counterparts. The extensive media coverage generated by the event served to draw the attention of the nation to Pennsylvania’s unique position at the confluence of innovation and natural resources. Most importantly, the summit yielded over $90 billion of investments in Pennsylvania’s energy and innovation economy.
Pennsylvania’s energy past is strong; its energy future is stronger. Today our state is the nation’s second-largest producer of natural gas, behind only Texas. So abundant are Pennsylvania’s natural gas reserves, many industry observers have adopted the phrase “the Saudi Arabia of natural gas” to capture this strength linguistically.
Artificial intelligence or AI has the capacity to serve as a multiplier of the impact of this natural resource. Fortunately, Pennsylvania’s unparalleled higher education community positions us as an AI leader. Our state is both an energy and innovation powerhouse.
You would be hard pressed to find a drilling well in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The energy boom has largely skipped our region. However, the five counties are at the center of an equally vital Pennsylvania resource: health care. The renowned excellence of the sector presents a set of circumstances similar to those that made the inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit a success. Health care is to most of the commonwealth what energy is to the Marcellus Shale Region. It is an unparalleled resource and the envy of much of the world.
AI also holds the promise of serving as an economic multiplier here. Fortunately, AI lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania and always has – from the days of Penn’s ENIAC to the work being done at West Philadelphia’s University City Science Center today.
The Energy and Innovation Summit held in Pittsburgh was a great success, health care and innovation hold the same promise. Sen. McCormick, it is time to convene the inaugural Pennsylvania Health Care and Innovation Summit. Let’s replicate July’s Pittsburgh success in Philadelphia in 2026. ••
Christopher Drumm is an AI enthusiast and a health care lobbyist based in Harrisburg.
