At the beginning of the 20th century, Pittsburgh's industry and commerce grew rapidly and became the center of the American Industrial Revolution, giving birth to a large number of pioneers of the Industrial Revolution. Andrew Carnegie, the steel king, established Carnegie Steel (later became U.S. Steel), once monopolized more than half of the nation's steel production, and became the trustees of the steel industry; Andrew Mellon established the Mellon Consortium, which became the richest man in the U.S. at the time, and later became the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury; and George Westinghouse, the U.S. engineer and manufacturer. Received more than 400 patents for his many inventions, including the air brake (1869), railroad brake-signaling facilities (1882), and practically usable methods of transmitting electricity. He founded the Westinghouse Electric Corporation (1886); H. J. Heinz founded the Heinz Company, the world's food giant.
On September 24-25, 2009, the Group of 20 (G20) summit has been held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has been nicknamed Steel City, City of Bridges, City of Champions and Roboburgh due to its steel, bridge, sports and robotics manufacturing industries.
In the 1950s, the government began to remodel the Pittsburgh area. Through the 1970s, the focus of the remodeling had been on urban environmental improvements. At that point, the government began to realize that environmental improvements alone would not be enough to revitalize the city, and began to develop and implement a strategy to diversify the region's economy, shifting the focus of renovation to the promotion of new industries. By the end of the 1980s, this strategy had yielded significant results. The Pittsburgh region has retained a number of large and competitive traditional enterprises, such as the production of steel and transportation equipment USX Corporation, the production of electrical equipment, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the production of aluminum products, Alcoa, the production of aluminum products, the production of food
Heinz Company, as well as the PNC Bank, the Mellon Foundation, and so on. Driven by the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, a number of high-tech enterprises engaged in research, development and production of computer software, robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and biomedicine have developed, forming a diversified industrial structure dominated by high-tech industries, metallurgy, biopharmaceuticals, chemicals, computers, information and finance, etc. Since the 1990s, Pittsburgh has been on its way to becoming a world-class city. Pittsburgh has built the 4th largest international airport in the United States, and a large number of hotels, cultural and sports facilities. By strengthening the city's infrastructure and improving the investment environment, Pittsburgh has attracted a large amount of foreign investment. At present, there are 220 foreign companies with representative offices in Pittsburgh. Germany's famous Bayer and more than 100 foreign companies in the United States headquarters here. After half a century of transformation, the Pittsburgh region's social development has also achieved significant results, has become the United States banking, health care and high-tech center. In terms of education, the Pittsburgh region has 28 colleges and universities, housing more than 100,000 college students. Colleges and universities are not only the bases of high-tech enterprises, but also provide a large number of employment opportunities for the community. According to 1997 statistics, the University of Pittsburgh's 9,700 faculty and staff, plus 10,000 medical center employees, outnumber American Airlines, which has 12,000 people located in the Pittsburgh area.
Into the 21st century Pittsburgh has transformed itself into a thriving industrial and commercial city known for its biotechnology, computer technology, robotics manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and education, and has become a model for the successful transformation of urban economies in the United States.
In 2009, The Economist named Pittsburgh the best city to live in America. In addition, Pittsburgh has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.