New York: The next Silicon Valley?

Yelp, Google, Flickr, Facebook. All of these were once tiny little tech and digital start-ups that grew to be wildly successful. Many of these full-grown start-ups now reside in Silicon Valley, the number one home of many booming tech companies, successful entrepreneurs, investors and engineers. However, New York might be giving Silicon Valley a run for its money.

Many start-ups, the majority of which are digital, are popping up all around New York. There is a growing grass-roots movement of cutting-edge technological ideas and digital start-ups. Economics professor at Harvard, Dale Jorgeson, says that a "broader shift in the types of innovation that are gathering speed in the technology industry" drives New York's growing success. This makes sense to me because if many companies make the same thing, logically each company would not have as much success as opposed to if they had created something new. New York's location as the home to "book publishing, advertising, media and even the fashion industry" has allowed for much of this innovation. New York has been the home to more of an art based creativity (rather than tech-based) for so long that now, with the popularity and utility of the internet, this artsy creativity is helping fuel these new digital startups. An example of a company that combines art and tech creativity is Gilt Group, a company that offers discounted luxury goods. By utilizing the power of the internet and the desire of many people to have name brand goods for less, Gilt Group has become relatively successful in New York. And, one of the main reasons they plan to keep their present location is because the people who they work with from Saks and Dolce and Gabbana, to name a few, are all based in New York.

Though this economic downturn has caused many-a-troubles, it seems to me that is is also reviving the creativity of the masses. After the dot com bust, "New York was a complete wasteland of dead funds and companies", but now, funds are growing as people are innovating and creating new companies from new ideas. This economic crisis has urged people away from jobs on Wallstreet, and towards jobs of the more creative sort. So, though New York might not quite be up to par with Silicon Valley, it is definitely gaining ground, and hey, I can't say I'd mind it if New York did take Silicon Valley's place. At least it would mean businesses were growing somewhere and our economy might be starting to revive.