DETROIT ? Tom Murphy, the former mayor of Pittsburgh, said there are a lot of parallels between the Steel city and Detroit, both from where they came from and where they are headed ? towards the new normal.

When the United States comes out of recession this time ? and some noted economists say were are already doing so ? business will not return to normal, Murphy said.

?I contend there will be a new normal, because of environmental changes, climate changes, and all that represents,? he said in an interview with MITechNews.Com. ?All of this represents huge opportunities for entrepreneurs looking to start companies. Whole new industries will be created with different technologies in transportation. Detroit can become the center of the new auto industry, an industry based on electricity or biomass.?

Murphy said Pittsburgh was a steel town, but with a huge reservoir or talent. There were lots of engineering companies. There were universities that were very technically oriented.

?What?s this sound like? It sounds like Detroit. Detroit is a reservoir of over one hundred years of automotive technology. In that reservoir could be the kernel of what cars will look like and how they are fueled in the future.?

But what Detroit needs to do. What Michigan needs to do is have single focused leadership that makes a serious unwavering commitment to making this region entrepreneur focused, he said.

Twenty-five years ago, Pennsylvania created the Ben Franklin Partnership that invested from $30 million to $50 million a year in startups. The fund was partnered with four major universities statewide.

?We funded an entrepreneur with an idea he or she had developed in their garage and needed to take to the marketplace,? Murphy said. ?We gave these companies up to $200,000. They began to commercialize their products and take it to the Venture Capital level.?

Michigan started doing the same thing with the Tobacco Settlement funds a decade ago, when former Governor John Engler committed to spending $50 million a year to fund Michigan startups. Unfortunately, with the state?s economy in a shambles because of the rapid decline of the auto industry, the legislature has dipped heavily into those funds to help close the budget deficit. As a result, the 21st Century Jobs fund no longer has funds to invest in entrepreneurs ? what Murphy said is a big mistake for Michigan.

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