New York City’s Innovation Makeover

Cornell Tech and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) announced the launch of Pilot: New York City (opens in a new tab) to advance New York City as a global hub for urban innovation. The new initiative, a key proposal within the “New” New York Panel Making New York Work for Everyone Action Plan (opens in a new tab), aims to streamline processes, collaborate with the private sector, nonprofits, and academia, and tap into the creativity of New Yorkers, to enable the city to become one of the world’s most important places to pilot and scale urban innovation ranging from curbside electric vehicle charging to building decarbonization technology.

Together with the Urban Tech Hub of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech, NYCEDC undertook a nine-month research collaboration to create Pilot: New York City (opens in a new tab). Cara Eckholm, an Urban Tech Fellow, served on the “New” New York advisory panel and was the lead author of the report. The research involved interviews with over 120 stakeholders, including government agencies, tech companies, accelerators and incubators, academics, and financiers. New York City’s experience was then compared with best practices in other cities.