INITIATIVES
Work | Build | Demonstrate
INITIATIVES
Work | Build | Demonstrate
Focus: Early-stage (Pre-seed to seed) cleantech and smart cities companies
Location: 15 Metrotech (Downtown Brooklyn)
Features: ACRE Incubator, PowerBridge Proof-of-Concept Center, CleanStart program
Partners: NYU Tandon School of Engineering, NYSERDA
Timeline: Opened in 2014
Focus: Growth-stage (Post-Seed & Series A + B) hardware urbantech companies
Location: Building 128 (Brooklyn Navy Yard)
Features: Prototyping and testing lab for rapid product iteration
Partners: Autodesk, Carnegie Mellon, and CUNY City Tech
Timeline: Opened Summer of 2016
In order to support technology development, commercialization, and new-company formation, NYCEDC has partnered with New Lab and Regional Economic Development Council to build a prototyping center and commercialization program. The space will offer Urbantech NYC member companies the physical tools to create new products, services, processes, and business models that solve critical urban challenges. Far from being only physical space and equipment, the program will bring support resources from City agencies, research universities, startups, and the private sector in a coordinated effort to facilitate new product development.
While cities are increasingly looking to utilize new technology to address urban problems, the process for engaging with them remains a challenging process to navigate. In partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation and New York University's Center of Urban Science & Progress, NYCEDC will be defining spaces throughout New York City that will provide a new way for Urbantech NYC companies to demonstrate their technologies on NYC infrastructure, and solve problems defined by City agencies in the communities in which they are deployed:
Improved alignment between community needs and new technology investments
Lower barriers of entry for innovative tech companies with smart city solutions
Creation of new opportunities for local economic development
Advancing academic research in urban science and smart cities
More robust testing and community input on new technologies prior to large-scale deployment
Not only will these spaces provide opportunities for growing companies to showcase their products, but also offer an avenue for New Yorkers to help shape how their City invests in tech.