Ben Franklin Technology Partners (BFTP) creates and retains highly paid, sustainable jobs by investing in and linking early-stage technology firms and established manufacturers with experts, universities, follow-on funding, and other resources to help them prosper through innovation.
Ben Franklin Technology Partners is among the nation’s leading technology-based economic development programs.
Covering the entire Commonwealth through four regional centers, BFTP accelerates the growth of technology-based industries in Pennsylvania.
A National Leader In Technology-Based Economic Development
In partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, Ben Franklin provides critical funding, business and technical expertise, and access to a network of valuable resources that early-stage and established companies need to grow and succeed in the highly competitive worldwide marketplace.
As a statewide initiative, Ben Franklin also leverages the excellence of Pennsylvania’s colleges and universities and promotes greater collaboration among companies, academia, private investors, and government to build and development technology-based industries.
Today, Ben Franklin is one of the most widely known and emulated state technology-based economic development programs in the nation.
Investing in Pennsylvania
Since its inception in 1983, Ben Franklin has invested in more than 4,500 technology-based companies and boosted the state’s economy by more than $25 billion, helping to generate 148,000 jobs through investments in client firms and spinoff companies in Pennsylvania.