Regional Economic Development

This paper is an analysis of one major local economic development policy in New York City. NYCEDC (New York City Economic Development Corporation) recently is implementing a program “UrbanTech NYC” to support entrepreneurs and innovators to help them find solutions for challenging problems in sectors of energy, transportation, water, waste, and agriculture in the city. UrbanTech NYC provides shared spaces and resources, equipment, pilot opportunities, prototyping, and learning opportunities to let these entrepreneurs and innovators being innovative in smart technologies. They provide two hubs, one in Manhattan, and one in Brooklyn with over 100,000 square feet of affordable and flexible space along with prototyping and piloting equipment. The paper also identifies three other policy options that New York City can adopt and implement instead of the current policy option. They briefly include maintaining the status que, providing tax incentives to big established well-known companies, and investing in implementation and provisions of smart infrastructure to attract entrepreneurs and firms to create a smart industry cluster in the city. Each of these policy options have positive and negative aspects that will be discussed in details through the paper. In addition, this paper provides an evaluation of the current policy option accompanying by alternative policy options. The paper will be concluded that the preferred policy is the current policy. The current policy, “UrbanTech NYC”, is a novel platform for new entrepreneurs and innovators that aligns with other simultaneous policies and programs in New York that together they can be successful in their goals. Since these new policies try to deal with newly identified problems in the city with novel solutions and perspective, they are actively involved in knowledge spillover and information, reducing regulatory burdens on entrepreneurs, so they are worth trying.