New York City has long been trying to establish itself as a new nest for entrepreneurs and tech companies, competing with San Francisco’s Silicon Valley.
While the existing and growing presence of tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google in New York City indicates that the city is coming for the Silicon Alley title, current research also signals the Big Apple’s bright future as a tech and entrepreneurship hub.
The city tied with San Francisco on the percentage of the entrepreneurs they host in the United States with 15%. Los Angeles is the third on the list with 9%, followed by Boston with 5%, according to LinkedIn Economic Graph team’s data.
They analyzed U.S. company and member profile information on LinkedIn to identify members associated only with companies in the private sector with at least 10 full-time employees.
Other surveys and studies done by several companies also concluded New York City’s rapid growth as a tech hub can mean great competition for the Silicon Valley.
“Between 2003 and 2013, the New York City tech sector grew twice as fast as Silicon Valley’s in terms of dollars invested, with its companies raising more than $3.1 billion in funding in 2013,” a report from Endeavour Insight stated.
Technology industry leaders also expressed their insights on New York City’s potential to become a tech and innovation center worldwide, according to a study by KPMG LLP.
The results from the KPMG survey are based on responses from more than 740 tech-industry leaders at companies across a dozen countries, fielded between December and January 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported.
According to the study, nearly 60% of survey respondents said it is “likely or very likely” that Silicon Valley will be displaced as a global technology hub by 2023. However, they indicated that New York still had some room to grow before taking its place.
Even though Amazon canceled its plans to build a corporate campus in Queens in February 2019, the expansion of other major tech companies, like Facebook and Google, in Manhattan continues.
Facebook signed the lease at Hudson Yards for 1.5 million square feet in three buildings and Google is waiting to move into a large development near the Holland Tunnel in 2022, The New York Times reported.
Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google alone are expected to have 20,000 employees in New York City soon.
These developments spike hope for the city’s reputation as a tech and entrepreneurship hub and signal the possible increase of job opportunities for New Yorkers.
