The first stage of AlphaLab’s plan to merge Pittsburgh’s manufacturing history with its high-tech future began officially this week with the opening of AlphaLab Gear.

The 10,000-square-foot office atop a rehabbed East Liberty warehouse is the latest addition to Pittsburgh’s accelerator community. However, unlike the dozens of software-centered programs that have cropped up throughout the region over the past two decades, AlphaLab Gear is one of four programs across the globe designed to push makers of hardware and other physical products past the startup phase to profitability.

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