It’s a truism those experiencing the Industrial Revolution would have recognized immediately: The world is increasingly wider than our own backyard.

The march of progress — especially in production, transportation and shipping — makes business competition far broader than a comparatively local contest of price and quality. Ensuring prosperity in modern times means going head-to-head with others at the regional, national and even global level.

Computing power in Asia can be brought to bear on problems in Akron, Ohio. Parts made in Brazil can be more effective than parts made in Boise, despite shipping costs.

Those realities make collaborating with potential partners over ever-widening geographic areas essential to remaining competitive on the larger stages modern commerce demands to ensure prosperity.

It’s no longer about “What can I bring to the table?” but about “What can we as a group offer together?” It’s about leveraging the strengths of different members of an alliance to provide assets no individual part can.

What makes initiatives like Power Northwest — the recently announced collaborative advocacy effort including 10 counties in Western Pennsylvania, including Butler — so important is the ability to stand together and say “We’re here and we can offer all of this.”

While the newly formed coalition’s focus at present seems to be largely AI-focused, including on the power generation needed to support large-scale AI endeavors, the group is still in its formative stages. We hope it proves successful and resilient enough to encourage expansion into other areas and, as progress inexorably rolls on, pivot as needed to accommodate the next big innovation.

Regional partnerships like Power Northwest are key to competing and remaining relevant in a world where there’s less and less difference between the next town over and the country across the ocean. We wish the group success and hope it encourages other initiatives like it.

— JP