The New York Times has story today about New York’s efforts to woo a top flight engineering school that could produce homegrown tech talent.
Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steele spoke at the Googleplex, because Google (GOOGL) is the kind of Silicon Alley powerhouse New York hopes will take root here during the coming decades.
But something about the tone of the story seemed awfully cynical.
Without one, the city has fallen far behind San Francisco, Boston and other metropolitan areas in the competition to attract new technology companies and the jobs they create. … For all their efforts, New York’s fortunes are still closely tied to the ups and downs of Wall Street. Many of the biggest investors in start-up ventures are based in the city, but the companies they back tend to congregate in Silicon Valley and around Cambridge, Mass., which is home to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Someone missed the memo about New York funding more startups than Boston, more tech jobs than Silicon Alley, and generally being in the midst of a full-blown bubble for tech investment.
The city’s event explains why Eric Schmidt was spotted sulking around the Soho Apple store.
And for reasons why startups would choose NY over CA, have you seen the kind of parties we throw!