Could the Philly region become the ‘eds, meds, and defense industrial base’ region?

Area colleges are positioned to compete for increased DOD training contracts and research grants

As Chris Scafario sees it, Philadelphia’s reputation as an “eds and meds” region, referring to its plethora of colleges and hospitals, could grow a third leg.

It could also become the defense industrial base region, said Scafario, CEO of the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center.

President Donald Trump wants to increase defense spending, with $1.5 trillion proposed for 2027. This could mean more research and workforce development training opportunities — and local universities are positioned to take advantage of it, Scafario said.

“A lot of that investment is going to be targeted toward university and innovation-based relationships because they need help getting stuff done,” said Scafario, who is talking to local colleges to help get them ready to capitalize. “They need access to brilliant people, whether they’re faculty or the faculty’s work products, the students.”

The move comes as colleges face potential cuts in research funding under the Trump administration in other areas, such as the National Institutes of Health. Both Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania in the last month announced cutbacks to cope with potential financial fallout from federal policies.

The Philadelphia region has been involved in defense contracting on and off for years, with major hubs in naval and aerospace manufacturing, and local universities say they worked with the Department of Defense in the past. Rowan University in New Jersey says it has $70 million in defense-related research projects underway.

But Scafario sees the opportunity for major expansion.

Drexel University, Temple University, Penn, Rowan, and Villanova University, which is already a top producer of naval engineers, are among the schools that are “in a great spot to leverage the opportunities that are going to be coming through the defense industrial base,” Scafario said. “In the next year, people are going to start realizing that we are meds, eds, and a defense industrial base region. It’s going to bring a lot of investment, a lot of economic opportunities, and some really, really great employment opportunities in the region.”

Page was hired by the center in October to help build relationships between the center, the Department of Defense (which the Trump administration has rebranded the Department of War), local higher education systems, and the city.

“I’m super excited about what it will bring to the region and what the region can prove to the Department of War about its legitimacy,” she said, “as a manufacturing and technology powerhouse.”

Local colleges say they are reviewing potential collaborations.

“There are a lot of opportunities we are looking at,” said Aleister Saunders, Drexel’s executive vice provost for research and innovation, declining to provide specifics for competitive reasons.

Key opportunities are available in advanced manufacturing and workforce development, he said.

“There could be folks who are already working in manufacturing who need [upgraded skills] in advanced manufacturing techniques,” he said.

“The key to doing that is going to be partnerships,” he said.

Josh Gladden, Temple’s vice president for research, said he has met with folks from Scafario’s group and they are talking about some opportunities, but declined to discuss them because they are in early development.

He noted that the Navy is interested in working with Temple’s burn unit.

Temple has also been getting to know the workforce needs of businesses at the Navy Yard and looking at how to align its educational programs, Fry said.

“Those are relationships I would love to pursue,” he said. “Part of our mission is to develop the future workforce and grow the regional economy, and that’s one way of doing it.”

Rowan has been a longtime research partner with the U.S. military, said Mei Wei, the school’s vice chancellor for research.

“It’s encouraging to know there could be more funding available for research,” Wei said. “These projects give our undergraduate and graduate students the opportunities they need to develop their research skills with close guidance from our faculty and our external partners.”