Riding a wave of start-ups, New York has emerged a national leader in fields that leverage the Internet and mobile technologies—a development that has provided a key economic boost and left the city well positioned for future tech growth.
According to a new report from The Center for an Urban Future, in just a few short years, New York’s tech sector has emerged as an increasingly powerful economic driver for the city. At a time when few other industries were growing in New York, more than a thousand new tech start-ups were formed in the city. This burst of tech company formation has created thousands of good paying jobs in the five boroughs, attracted large amounts of capital from outside the city, pumped new life in the city’s entrepreneurial economy, and lured some of the world’s smartest and most innovative people to New York at a time when the most competitive cities are the ones with the best human capital and greatest capacity for innovation.
The flood of digital start-ups in recent years has also transformed the city from a second-rate tech center to literally the nation’s second leading hub for technology companies. And as this report shows, there is ample evidence that what’s happening in New York’s tech scene today is no flash in the pan. Though a number of the recent Internet start-ups will ultimately fail, New York appears to be building a sustainable tech sector—one that is benefiting from a much stronger local tech ecosystem than existed in the city’s first wave of tech growth in the 1990s and taking advantage of several big technology trends that play to New York’s natural strengths.
Key Findings:
- In the past few years, there has been an explosion of tech start-ups in New York City, most of which are companies that leverage the Internet and mobile technologies.
- Although it is still well behind Silicon Valley as a tech hub, New York City has the nation’s fastest growing tech sector and has surpassed Boston as the number two tech center in the U.S.
- More and more New York-based tech start-ups are achieving significant growth.
- The city’s tech sector has created thousands of jobs in the past few years, giving New York’s economy a much-needed boost at a time when few other industries have been growing.
- Unlike the fleeting dot com boom in the 1990s, New York now appears to be building a sustainable tech sector that has significant potential for future growth.
- The city lacked a strong tech ecosystem during Silicon Alley’s first wave of tech growth in the 1990s, but that couldn’t be more different today.
- Until four or five years ago, tech entrepreneurs in New York struggled mightily to access investment capital, but that has changed in a big way, particularly for early stage companies.
Comments