Pennsylvania where much of US industrial strength was built over the last century with immigrant Irish labour, is now looking to Ireland to develop its high-tech industries for the 21st century.
Later this month, the state's chief executive, Governor Tom Ridge, will lead a trade mission to Ireland to discover what Pennsylvania can learn from Irish brain-power rather than the brawn which built the railways, canals and helped develop the coal and steel industries now fast disappearing from this "Quaker State" founded by William Penn.
It will not be the usual "trade mission". Along with the 18 high-tech companies will be four university presidents from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh seeking Irish expertise in collaboration between academia and industry.
Pennsylvania under Governor Ridge is, like most of the US, experiencing an economic surge which makes it the 17th richest economy in the world on a per capita basis. Ireland took $113 million (£80 million) of its exports last year out of a total of $18 billion.
Governor Ridge, who is running again for office later this year and is being mentioned as a contender for the Republican ticket for the presidential election in 2000, is largely basing his reputation in developing Pennsylvania's high-tech economy. This is where Ireland comes in with its top ranking in Europe for information technology.
Ireland's growing dominance in the PC software sold in Europe and even in the US has caught widespread attention in a country where computers reign supreme.
This month's mission is not the usual trade mission with companies hungry to set up big selling contracts, but is aimed at tapping into mutually beneficial partnerships, especially in electronics. Governor Ridge, who was reared in an Irish Catholic community in Erie in the north-west of the state also sees a cultural attachment.
As he put it in a joint press conference in the state Capitol in Harrisburg with the Irish Ambassador to the US, Mr Sean O hUiginn: "Ireland is more than Pennsylvania's powerful trading partner and ally she is part of our family. More than 2.5 million Pennsylvanians, including my wife, Michele, and I, are of Irish descent."
Pointing out that their Irish ancestors "toiled in the factories, mines, steel mills and shipyards that powered America's victory in two world wars", Ridge said that "as we approach a new century and a new global economy, it is fitting that, once again, we look to Ireland to help propel Pennsylvania's progress".
It is not all one way, however. Some 40 companies from Pennsylvania have established themselves in Ireland where they provide good employment. These include Unisys, Heinz, SmithKline, Fore Systems, PPG and Amp.
Last year, however, there was some shock when Allied Irish Banks swooped and took over Dauphin, one of Pennsylvania's best known banking chains. It was one thing to celebrate St Patrick's Day and boast of being Irish, but suddenly having your bank going green was something else.
The first call of Governor Ridge's mission will be to the Galen Holdings high-tech pharmaceutical company in Northern Ireland which last September opened a Clinical Trial Services (CTS) facility in south-east Pennsylvania creating 200 jobs. This is a sector which Governor Ridge has been cultivating through tax incentives and his state is now second in the US for pharmaceutical employment.
The Irish mission follows others to Canada, Asia, Chile, Argentinian, Brazil and Poland. Before arriving in Ireland, Governor Ridge's group is first going to Israel which "has the most Internet start-ups anywhere in the world outside Silicon Valley". Other US states such as Massachusetts and New Hampshire have also organised trade missions to Ireland.
Governor Ridge's career has been along American Dream lines. He was born in Pittsburgh's Steel Valley in 1945 and raised in a working class family in Erie living in public housing.
From Catholic schools he won a scholarship to Harvard where he graduated with honours in government studies in 1967. His post-graduate studies in law were interrupted when he was drafted into the army and sent to Vietnam from which he returned as a decorated infantry staff sergeant.
In 1982, he was the first non-commissioned officer who saw combat service in Vietnam to be elected to the US House of Representatives. He was a Republican although his district was largely Democratic, but these were the Reagan years when blue collar Catholics switched political allegiance in large numbers often because of social issues such as abortion.
Governor Ridge's Catholicism has not stopped him being pro-choice and he also favours the death penalty, having signed more than 100 death warrants. the first carried out in Pennsylvania since 1962.
His abortion stance is bringing him into conflict with pro-life groups as he does fund-raisers for his re-election campaign, but observers see him as certain to win in November.
Two years later, he could well have the ideal Republican profile for the White House with his Vietnam record, his anti-crime stance and his economic successes in Pennsylvania. His good looks and tightly knit family will not do him any harm either, nor will a trip to Ireland.
