By Kathryn Wylde
New York City enjoys a prominent global brand, as a center of finance, media, commerce and the arts. In PwC’s annual Cities of Opportunity studies, New York consistently ranks as a top performer across a variety of indicators, ranging from economic clout to intellectual capital and, increasingly, as a global center of innovation. The high concentration of global headquarters across multiple industries and world-class educational, medical, and cultural institutions have all contributed to New York City’s position as the world’s biggest city economy and one that is experiencing growth at a faster rate than most cities in the developed world.
The Partnership for New York City is an organization of business leaders who work with government and the nonprofit sector to ensure that New York remains at the forefront of the global innovation economy. We mobilize the resources of business to support creation of jobs, expansion of educational opportunities and investment in the infrastructure and services that a great world city must offer to business and residents alike.
Kathryn Wylde, President & CEO of the partnership for New York City
How do we do this? For starters, it’s important to identify the city’s strengths and leverage them. For example, New York offers deep markets for technology products in its core industries, including financial services, media, professional and business services, healthcare, and retail. This makes the city a magnet for talent and business investment from around the world.
Through our Partnership Fund, a civic investment fund, we are running a FinTech Innovation Lab, a Digital Health Accelerator and a Fashion Tech Lab, which offer entrepreneurs in early- and growth-stage companies access to partnerships with the city’s major banks, corporations and medical institutions. At the same time, we are making direct investments in promising sectors, such as advanced manufacturing, and in the commercialization of research in the life sciences.
As a result of public and private partnership efforts, technological advances have driven the creation of 150,000 tech jobs across all sectors of our economy. Importantly, these are not just jobs at startup companies, but reflect the transformation of traditional industries through the adoption of technology.
Berlin is looking to do the same and there is great opportunity there. Berlin performed very well for its size among the Cities of Opportunity, demonstrating that it has what it takes to build and maintain a vibrant global business hub that is both livable and affordable. Focusing on the innovation economy, the attraction of talent and venture capital to fuel entrepreneurial growth will be key to Berlin’s future, as it is to New York’s.
While cities are in competition, they will ultimately benefit most by collaborating, learning from each other and providing international business with a truly global platform that spans every continent. New York is looking to the German experience to understand how to expand our export of goods and to replicate the industry-led apprenticeship training programs that have been so successful in preparing students for jobs in a fast-changing economy.
We look forward to continued interchange through the Transatlantic Entrepreneur Partnership Conference and other venues that bring leaders of great global cities together to pursue our shared objectives of opportunity and growth.
