Yesterday NYC Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies hosted a private summit to discuss ways of attracting tech businesses to New York, and make sure that the US keeps its edge in tech innovation, amNew York reported today.
Forty-four venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and government officials attended, reported The Verge, including Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, Kickstarter cofounder Perry Chen and Union Square Ventures founder Fred Wilson.
The summit was followed by a press conference at the offices of Boxee, a New York startup that sells an online media streaming device. PC Magazine reported that there Bloomberg talked up New York City's technology sector, saying it is "bigger, more diverse, and more innovative than ever before."
According to BetaBeat, Bloomberg presented statistics illustrating the City's tech industry growth, saying that from 2007 to 2010 the number of employees at New York City's digital media companies grew 74 percent.
The Bloomberg administration has devoted itself to New York City's tech industry growth, creating an applied sciences campus near Manhattan in partnership with Cornell and Technion universities, and establishing business incubators around the city to help entrepreneurs get started.
Other initiatives the Mayor tauted, as reported by PC Magazine, include the Venture Fellows program, launched in December 2010, which provides mentorship and networking opportunities to 20 or 30 rising stars in business from around the world; and the establishment of an entrepreneurial firm to provide tech startups with early-stage capital - the first of its kind outside of Silicon Valley.
New York City is now the nation's second-largest tech industry hub. According to data from a MoneyTree report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, it is the only city to see an increase in the number of venture capital deals between 2007 and 2011.
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