Authors Use Metrics to Identify NYC's Challenges in TBED
While New York City's universities and research centers are among the country's top institutions for performing scientific research, the city’s institutions have not become the drivers of entrepreneurship and economic development witnessed in other regions of the U.S, according to a new report from the Center for an Urban Future. Additionally, the high cost of real estate and lack of affordable laboratory space inhibits local entrepreneurs from succeeding and deters high-tech investment. Building New York City's Innovation Economy authors Jim O'Grady and Jonathan Bowles incorporate data from an innovation index examining 48 comparative metrics of NYC's five boroughs and the greater New York City metro region.
The authors identify many of the existing components that should make New York City fertile ground for future entrepreneurial efforts. For example, in the five boroughs there are six institutions among the top 100 universities for life science R&D spending in the U.S. Generating discoveries also has been lucrative for universities in the city, as NYU collected $791 million in royalties in 2007, while Columbia University generated $135 million in the same year. The report states no other university in the U.S. bested $100 million in royalties in 2007.
Even though these knowledge-based assets are in place, the authors contend there are an insufficient number of tech-based companies arising from these resources. The report explains the shortfall occurs, in part, for the following reasons:
- The city lacks the engineering presence that provides the impetus for commercialization and New York’s academic leaders have not invested heavily in engineering programs;
- The leadership of New York’s educational and medical institutions have done little to foster a culture that promotes entrepreneurship, especially by under-investing in technology transfer programs;
- A comparatively small number of existing tech-based entrepreneurs are local, producing a shortage of people with tech-management experience who can provide mentoring and attain capital;
- The city has a small number of venture capital firms and angel investors concentrating in technology companies; and,
- New York state economic development leadership has been more assertive helping the state’s other regions and the “lion’s share” of funding goes to every part of the state but NYC.
To ameliorate these problems, the authors present several recommendations. For example, the existing universities should commit new funds in order to create “at least one” first-rate engineering program in the city. Joining with the universities, the city’s research institutions should set up proof-of-concept centers, offer courses in entrepreneurship, provide faculty time off for pursuing business interests, and develop a public policy center focused on growing NYC’s tech-based economy.
Besides providing additional recommendations for city and state government, the report calls for the state to overhaul Empire State Development (ESD), one of the state’s economic development organizations, realigning its efforts to concentrate more on supporting the innovation economy.
Both reports, Building New York City's Innovation Economy and the 2009 Index of the New York City Innovation Economy, are available at: http://nycfuture.org/content/articles/article_view.cfm?article_id=1252&article_type=0.
Attend SSTI’s Annual Conference for a Lively Discussion on Proper Metrics
With the need for TBED organizations to convey results to their stakeholders, questions often arise on the best metrics to use. As a practitioner, do you think the metrics you are using best suits the impact of your organization’s initiatives? Additionally, as a community, are there a common set of metrics that we should gravitate towards to allow comparability between programs?
SSTI has developed an interactive session to discuss these topics with three of our own staff members. Policy analysts Phillip Battle and John Slanina, and vice president Mark Skinner will lead the discussion.
More information on this special session can be found at: http://www.ssticonference.org/
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