Building New York City’s Innovation Economy

A new study by the Center for an Urban Future finds that New York City’s leading universities and scientific research centers have not become catalysts for entrepreneurship and local economic development the way similar institutions have in other regions.

The report argues that this is a huge missed opportunity for New York, given the need to diversify the economy and create new engines of job growth. The study details why New York is falling short, showing that university leaders have not done enough to support start-up ventures.

The report also contains recommendations about the efforts that the leaders of the city’ s universities and nonprofits as well as city and state policymakers should take.

Universities and Nonprofit Research Institutions

• Strengthen and expand local engineering programs
• Make it a clear institutional priority to convert scientific research into start-up ventures
• Promote and support a more entrepreneurial culture among faculty and post-doctoral researchers
• Place a greater emphasis on spin-offs that aren’ t researcher-led
• Bolster technology transfer offices
• Strengthen ties between tech transfer offices and the city’ s investment community.
• Create a public policy center at a university focused on the growth of the local technology-based economy

City Government

• Establish an innovation intermediary’”perhaps called Innovation NYC
• Make science and technology a priority in economic development.
• Leverage city support to get New York’ s academic research institutions to support local technology spinoffs

State Government

• Reorganize the state’ s economic development agency to include a greater focus on growing the innovation economy
• Expedite the launch of Knowledge 4 NY , a long-awaited online portal that would provide scientists, investors and businesses with updated information about the state’ s scientific resources and patented technologies.
• End the practice of steering the lion’ s share of state funding for science and technology development to areas outside of New York City.

The report is accompanied by the city’s first-ever “Innovation Index,” a package of 49 charts and graphs that show where New York stands compared to other cities and regions on a broad range of indicators measuring both existing science and technology assets and the city’s level of success at commercializing these assets.

The Center for an Urban Future is a public policy organization dedicated to improving the overall health of New York City and serving its long-term interests by targeting problems facing low-income and working-class neighborhoods in all five boroughs.

Sources

• Report: Building New York City’s Innovation Economy (PDF Document)
• 2009 Index of the NYC Innovation Economy (PDF Document)