Many new technology companies are starting up in New York according to a new New York Times article. After reviewing public records in New York City, they showed that over 400 new companies have raised money from venture capitalists as well as having taken up residence near the offices of venture capitalists according to reporter, Gail Bellafante.
Most of these start-ups are in Midtown South. Affordable rent and well regarded restaurants and bars seem to be one of the big draws to this area. Many hope to use the new technology advances to support the reshaping of this citiy’s retail, finance, health-care and entertainment industries.
New York is working to position itself as the 21st century global business supremacy which has been a pre-occupation of the Bloomberg administration. This vision is central to expanding technology education by dramatically increasing the amount of science and engineering education that currently has been offered through the city. They have offered land plus $100 million in capital to seed the establishment of major science and engineering programs, with Stanford and Cornell on the list of alliances. They have proposals from 17 different education sources.
There seems to be a genuine attempt to mastermind New York into a sort of up-scaled Silicon Valley, in this attempt to bring more emergent new technology start-ups into this major industrial center. The question is can it be done? Union Square is now home to a number of high technology enclaves. Most near Dumbo, Brooklyn. Although many areas have tried and failed to replicate the technology emergence that has happened in the Silicon Valley area, professor of urban planning, dean of the School Of Information at UC Berkeley, Annalee Saxenian, reminds us that many of the major world-re-known technical universities and engineering schools do not stimulate or even generate any sort of on-going applications for commercial and economic growth. We should also note that these institutions require major influxes of funding to keep running. With so many new companies, there are many owners who will be new. They may not be financially savvy. Something that new business owners should watch out for is to make sure they get advice about taxes and such. If a start-up is strapped on cash, they can get free tax help from various sources on the internet. As with all things free, make sure you do your research to make sure the company is reputable and trusted. Business owners, especially fresh ones, have many things to worry about.
Still, Silicon Valley, Route 128 in Boston and Austin, Texas have emerged as helpful centers after combining Military Cold-War funding under government research, some venture capital as well as a combination of quality university contributions. Clearly New York lacks the government funding advantages, although it does attract hundreds of millions through major medical centers from the National Institutes of Health. Leading economists are saying the city has a plan and a model anyone would follow.