On February 26, 2014, Roosevelt House hosted a panel, "New York: A City for Tech Innovation?" featuring a range of technology industry experts in a conversation moderated by Manoush Zomorodi, host and producer of WNYC's "New Tech City."
The speakers: Jessica Lawrence, Executive Director, NY Tech Meetup; Michael Mandel, Chief Economic Strategist at the Progressive Policy Institute and author of Building a Digital City: The Growth and Impact of New York City’s Tech/Information Sector; Steve Schlafman, a principal at RRE Ventures, who also writes the blog “Schlaf Notes: The Chronicles of an Accidental VC,” about trends and his “adventures in startup land”; and Stanley S. Litow, Vice President, Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs of IBM, President of the IBM Foundation, and member of the Roosevelt House Advisory Board, who made opening remarks.
The focus: How to maintain and expand the explosive growth of New York’s tech industry in the last decade. What skills, what education is necessary? How do we ensure equal access to technology so that there is a level playing field for all – and those in every borough? The title of the panel ends with a question mark, but Ms. Zomorodi opening the panel said it should be punctuated differently: “New York City, a city for tech innovation exclamation point.” (11:00)
New York, Ms. Zomorodi pointed out, is the number two tech city in America (11:08). And as the de Blasio administration moves forward, she proposed, “Legislation needs to keep up with the changing economy” (12:00) to guarantee it stays that way.
Panelists discussed the ways in which the tech industry has reshaped the city’s economy and its demographics – and debated how even the meaning and scope of what the “tech industry” is has changed significantly. The panel explored what the future of the city and its workforce will look like as the tech industry and technology itself continue to evolve.
Social media has changed citizen involvement in government – “Citizen engagement was about inviting people to forums to express their opinions,” Mr. Litow said (03:38). Now “people can express their opinions instantly. They don’t have to come to a forum. They can become a participant” immediately.
What are the jobs of the future? As Jessica Lawrence put it, every New York business – from finance to media to retail and the law requires “technology literate” employees. “You don’t think of Macy’s as a tech company,” she said, “but the nature of all business” has changed (20:15). Steve Schlafman added, “Tech touches everything…. Fashion, art, finance, commerce.” Technology is a layer that touches” all these industries, he said. “It is not its own beast.” (20:50) As Michael Mandel put it, “Jobs that were formerly physical… will be internet enabled in some way,” making the question of access “essential,” so that people can not only use but build the internet of the future.” (30:39). Jessica Lawrence said, “Everyone is going to need fundamental” tech literacy in the future. “It will be a basic skill, like driving.”
And Steve Schlafman urged that in education and training, the city needs to “point people toward developing skills for the long-term – not two years but five years.” (23:42). There is a “great need for designers and developers” in every industry, Steve Schlafman said. (17:20) “I get a dozen emails a day: the biggest need is development talent.” (17:53). As Michael Mandel put it, “The next wave of technology may be different than the wave that we’re in,” which is why in education and training the city needs to think of “skills more broadly.” (51:50). Tech growth means that there is a “broader employment” in all areas, including in back office jobs “reaching in deeply to the community.” (19:00)
Tech growth has changed the city and every business in it, Jessica Lawrence said, arguing that there is “a lot more home grown tech in this city: college students creating websites at hackathons in 48 hours,” on the one hand (16:00), but on the other “Google also has 4000 employees in the city.”
Over the last decade, Bloomberg administration policies aimed to foster this growth in the tech and information sector. What new directions should the new de Blasio administration consider in order to ensure – and strengthen – New York’s role at the forefront of innovation?The panel agreed that outmoded ideas of regulation often hamper creativity – but new policies related to new pressures and new complexities are required, for both economic growth and to ensure future innovation. “The sharing economy makes the economy more efficient,” Michael Mandel said. (39:13) “It takes capital that is not being used and puts it to better use. It does redistribute who gets what.” Mandel pointed to studies that show that a “wide variety of jobs creates a lot of opportunity” and that the tech boom has meant that the percentage of blacks and Hispanics in computer jobs “has soared.” (14:45) And the new tech economy is a more broad-based one: More jobs are being created in the boroughs and the new tech industries are not Manhattan-centric. (15:06)
As Jessica Lawrence put it, “What regulations really do need to be in place to truly keep people safe that don’t cross the line… and inhibit innovation?” (43:45). Michael Mandel said that a new view of how technology affects the economy and politics plays well with Mayor de Blasio’s agenda for the city: “Tech innovation enables progressive goals.” (45:11).
The future of the city – and the creation of economic and educational policies for broad opportunity here – is related, Michael Mandel said, to “a question of digital readiness” (32:50) and to wide access to training and to technology itself, so that “people can not only use but build the internet of the future.” (34:05) “A kid using a phone to play a game is very different from a kid knowing how to build the game,” he said.
Public Programs at Roosevelt House are free to the public and open with advance registration, made possible through the support of the Charina Endowment Fund and other generous donors.
