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DIGITAL.NYC to Kick off Five-Borough Tour
City tech officials and leaders to share resources with communities across the five boroughs
NEW YORK—New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced the Digital.NYC Five-Borough Tour, a series of public events to directly introduce New Yorkers to Digital.NYC, a first-of-its-kind comprehensive hub for the city's tech ecosystem. The Five-Borough Tour will help people across the city access the resources on Digital.NYC to help turn ideas into businesses, aid digital startups, and connect New Yorkers to opportunities and jobs in the city's tech ecosystem.
Launched in October 2014 by the Mayor's office, New York City Economic Development Corporation and private partners including IBM and Gust, the Digital.NYC platform features combine to create an unprecedented one-stop shop for everything technology-related in New York City. The Five-Borough Tour events will introduce the site features; present panel discussions with City tech leaders and some of the city's most celebrated tech company founders and investors; and offer networking time for attendees to connect with others in their local community. Leading New York City digital companies and organizations participating in the Five-Borough Tour include IBM, Control Group, TinyBop, Startup Box, Meetup, General Assembly, Vizalytics, and Harlem Biospace.
"With Digital.NYC, you don't need to be an insider to find a job in the tech industry, gain technology skills, or grow a digital company in New York City," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. "We're proud to take Digital.NYC on the road to expand access to its extraordinary resources for New Yorkers in all five boroughs. More participation in the city's tech community means more innovation, growth, and economic opportunity for New Yorkers—all of which Digital.NYC fosters."
"The Digital.NYC Five-Borough Tour is more than just an introduction to the site's incredible resources—it's a chance for New Yorkers to connect to the increasing momentum of the city's tech ecosystem, and the jobs and opportunities it generates," said Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen. "We are committed to driving innovation, supporting growth, and expanding the reach of tech to maximize its benefits to both local communities and the citywide economy."
New York City's tech ecosystem has experienced dramatic growth, now directly employing nearly 300,000 people and indirectly generating another 250,000 jobs, altogether accounting for 12.6 percent of the city's workforce. Tech offers quality employment for New Yorkers of diverse educational backgrounds; more than 125,000 jobs in the tech ecosystem do not require a bachelor's degree, and pay approximately 45 percent more than jobs with the same qualifications in other industries. Through programs including Digital.NYC, the Tech Talent Pipeline, LinkNYC, NYC Generation Tech, and NYC BigApps, the de Blasio administration is working to support this growth and deliver on its commitment to make New York City the most tech-friendly and innovative city in the world, and to connect all New Yorkers to opportunities generated by the growing tech ecosystem.
Digital.NYC features a pioneering search portal and database with profiles of virtually every city-based tech company and investor, a continuously updated list of tech and digital job openings, a citywide tech event and class calendar, an interactive map of tech companies, an index of startup resources across the boroughs, and more. To date, more than 104,000 people have viewed over 570,000 pages on Digital.NYC, where they have engaged with over 50,000 pieces of content, including the latest job listings, startup profiles, and news. More information and an RSVP for each event may be found at http://www.digital.nyc/mediaroom. Tickets for individual events open two weeks in advance of each event.
Digital.NYC Five-Borough Tour event schedule:
Lower Manhattan:
Date: 6:30 PM, Wednesday, February 4
Location: XO Group, 195 Broadway, 24th Floor, New York, NY
In partnership with the Alliance for Downtown New York and LaunchLM
Colin O'Donnell, Founding Partner, Control Group, LinkNYC
David Rose, CEO, Gust.com, Digital.NYC
Lori Anne Wardi, Ownit, .NYC
Sandy Carter, GM Ecosystems and Social Business, IBM
Kyle Kimball, President, NYCEDC
Aaron Holiday, Managing Entrepreneurial Officer, Cornell Tech
Matthew Flamm, Crain's NY reporter (moderator)
Brooklyn:
Date: 6 PM, Wednesday, February 18
Location: Made in NY Media Center by IFP, 30 John Street, Brooklyn, NY
In partnership with Made in NY Media Center by IFP and Dumbo BID
Anastasia Leng, Founder & CEO, Hatch
Noah Rosenberg, Founder, Narratively
Raul Gutierrez, Founder & CEO, TinyBop
Charlie O'Donnell, CEO, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures
Bronx:
Date: 6:30 PM, Wednesday, February 25
Location: Bronx Academy for Software Engineering, 2474 Crotona Avenue, Bronx, NY
In partnership with The Bronx Academy for Software Engineering and Bronx Tech Meetup
Pedro Torres Picón, Managing Director, Quotidian Ventures
Majora Carter, CEO, Startup Box
Kathryn Finney, Managing Director, DigitalUndivided
Queens:
Date: 6:30 PM, Wednesday, March 25
Location: Coalition for Queens, 31-00 47th Avenue #1105, Long Island City, NY
In partnership with C4Q and Queens Tech Meetup
Kristin Hodgson, Communications Director, Meetup (one-on-one session)
Jukay Hsu, Founder, Coalition for Queens
Flatiron:
Date: 6:30 PM, Thursday, April 2
Location: General Assembly, 902 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY
In partnership with General Assembly and Flatiron BID
Jake Schwartz, Co-Founder & CEO, General Assembly
Hagos Mehreteab, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition, AppNexus
Madison ("Maddy") Maxie, Creative Technologist
Kristen Titus, Founding Director, NYC Tech Talent Pipeline
Staten Island:
Date: 6:30 PM, Wednesday, April 8
Location: Staten Island Makerspace, 450 Front Street, Unit B, Staten Island, NY (entrance on Thompson St)
In partnership with Staten Island Makerspace
John Salis, CEO, SIABC
Aileen Gemma Smith, CEO, Vizalytics
Kevin Lawrie, Co-Founder & CTO, INBOX25
Harlem:
Date: 6 PM, Wednesday, April 22
Location: MIST, 46 West 116th Street, New York, NY
In partnership with Silicon Harlem
Clayton Banks, Co-­Founder, Silicon Harlem
Ofo Ezeugwu, CEO & President, WhoseYourLandlord.com
Sam Sia, Co-Founder, Harlem Biospace
"We are proud to be a part of New York City's current tech boom, which will help generate new job opportunities for the borough. Events like the Digital.NYC Five-Borough Tour help spread the word to small business and entrepreneurs of the resources that are available to help grow their businesses. We are fully committed to helping Mayor de Blasio and organizations such as Quotidian Ventures, Startup Box, and DigitalUndivided make The Bronx and New York City become one of the most tech-savvy and innovative cities in the world," said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
"The Digital.NYC five-borough tour is a fantastic way to introduce New Yorkers to the many exciting tech initiatives we are working on across the city. By cultivating a diverse ecosystem of technology jobs and talent, Digital.NYC can be a hub that connects government, the private sector, and our civic and non-profit leaders. We need to showcase technology as a driver of our economic future, and this tour is a great place to start," said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.
"The hottest tech ecosystem is in Brooklyn, where ideas are incubated and transformed into lucrative businesses, sought-after products and game-changing solutions for our daily lives. Digital.NYC promises to be a resource hub that will further grow this important sector into its full potential, helping our borough create jobs and fund innovation. I look forward to working with our borough's tech leaders to see how Digital.NYC can best serve their needs, with the goal of further cementing our position as America's new Silicon Valley," said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.
"To encourage access, innovation and entrepreneurship, we're aiming to build the city's leading tech ecosystem in western Queens," said Queens Borough President Melinda Katz. "We're thrilled that the administration has launched this citywide initiative. In Queens, we offer a dynamic and attractive landscape for investment and job creation. By leveraging western Queens' ample space for growth, its projected development, and its proximity to the Cornell NYC Tech campus, we will steer our borough into the competitive lane of the digital age."
"I am proud to join Mayor de Blasio to help introduce this new platform to the rich tech community of New York City. With this roll out of Digital.NYC, we are providing real leadership and nurturing a sector that has become an important driver of economic growth, jobs, and innovation for our city. If we want to be the most tech friendly city in the world, this is exactly how we get there," said Chair of Technology Committee James Vacca.
"Digital.NYC is already having an incredible impact on the City, connecting thousands of New Yorkers to opportunities and jobs within the tech ecosystem. This Five-Borough Tour will convene members of the city's tech ecosystem, showcasing startups, events and available jobs, and displaying them across New York City. We encourage New Yorkers to take advantage of these opportunities offered by Digital.NYC to join the tech ecosystem and be a part of the fastest growing digital center in the world," said Kyle Kimball, President, New York City Economic Development Corporation.
"Empowering startups with the technology and tools that they need to succeed—such as cloud and collaborative platforms like Digital.NYC—is key to fueling tech ecosystems, such as the one growing by the minute in New York City. By using cloud to build an interactive, digital community for every member of the tech ecosystem, including investors, students, larger companies and professionals, New York City has created a global model to enable anyone to tap into the opportunities within their city's tech industry," said Sandy Carter, General Manager, Cloud Ecosystem Development, IBM.
"The Five-Borough Tour is a personal and interactive way to introduce Digital.NYC to the City. The Tour will bring together NYC's tech and startup communities to learn from each other in person, the same way the site brings all of the city's tech and startups together online. We are proud to lead the effort and look forward to an inspiring series," said Justin Cina, Marketing Director, Gust/Digital.NYC.
"Lower Manhattan is incredibly excited to be a part of Digital.NYC's five-borough tour. As home to more than 800 TAMI (technology, advertising, media and information) companies and a hotbed of industry activity, including LMHQ, our newly announced collaboration space for tech and creative companies, Lower Manhattan is a perfect match for advancing Digital.NYC's exciting work. I'm thrilled to be working on this event and on strengthening and accelerating the city's tech sector together," said Jessica Lappin, President, Downtown Alliance.
"New York City is a beacon for tech innovation and entrepreneurism, and we are proud to participate in the Mayor's Digital.NYC 'Five-Borough Tour' series, as well as present some of the extraordinary work coming out of our incubator," said Joana Vicente, Executive Director, IFP and the Made in NY Media Center. "We share the City's commitment to connecting New Yorkers to essential resources and initiatives like Digital.NYC to help us better serve the next generation of media makers and entrepreneurs."
"We're a Brooklyn company. We started in Brooklyn, every single person in the office lives in Brooklyn, our first investor was from Brooklyn, and the kids who test our apps are from all over Brooklyn. The richness of our apps is a direct result of our ability to tap Brooklyn's deep well of culture, ingenuity and creativity. One of our new apps, Homes, even features a very complete Brooklyn brownstone. We hope that as we grow we can give back to the community as much as it's given us," said Raul Gutierrez, Founder & CEO, Tinybop.
"We are thrilled to host an event with General Assembly on April 2 to connect more New Yorkers with the Digital.NYC platform. The Flatiron Partnership was one of the founding organizations of the historic launch of .nyc in 2014, and looks forward to working with Mayor de Blasio and the driving forces behind the Digital.NYC initiative to support the city's flourishing tech sector. This effort is a win-win-win, for those just entering the tech ecosystem to employers seeking to identify talented hires, to the city's overall economy," said Jennifer Brown, Executive Director, Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership BID.
"Meetup plays a vital role connecting startup and tech communities around the globe, but NYC is our home—so Digital.NYC is an initiative we're very proud to be part of," said Kristin Hodgson, Meetup's Communications Director.
"Staten Island MakerSpace is pleased to be the host site for the Staten Island leg of the Digital.NYC tour. Digital.NYC is a fantastic resource for all New Yorkers, and we are proud to be a part of New York City's growing tech community," said DB Lampman, Associate Director, Staten Island MakerSpace.
"We at Silicon Harlem are fully engaged in the innovation economy and recognize Digital.NYC as a key asset for our startup community. The most common challenge we hear from the tech community is lack of resources but with the tools, services and information provided free by Digital.NYC, we see socio-economic parity for all NYC businesses," said Clayton Banks, Co-Founder, Silicon Harlem.
For more information on the Digital.NYC Five-Borough Tour, please visit http://www.digital.nyc/mediaroom.
pressoffice@cityhall.nyc.gov