City tech officials and leaders to share resources with communities across the five boroughs
NEW YORK-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced the Digital.NYC Five-Borough Tour, a series of public events to directly introduce New Yorkers to Digital.NYC, a first-of-its-kind comprehensive hub for the city's tech ecosystem. The Five-Borough Tour will help people across the city access the resources on Digital.NYC to help turn ideas into businesses, aid digital startups, and connect New Yorkers to opportunities and jobs in the city's tech ecosystem.
Launched in October 2014 by the Mayor's office, New York City Economic Development Corporation and private partners including IBM and Gust, the Digital.NYC platform features combine to create an unprecedented one-stop shop for everything technology-related in New York City. The Five-Borough Tour events will introduce the site features; present panel discussions with City tech leaders and some of the city's most celebrated tech company founders and investors; and offer networking time for attendees to connect with others in their local community. Leading New York City digital companies and organizations participating in the Five-Borough Tour include IBM, Control Group, TinyBop, Startup Box, Meetup, General Assembly, Vizalytics, and Harlem Biospace.
"With Digital.NYC, you don't need to be an insider to find a job in the tech industry, gain technology skills, or grow a digital company in New York City," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. "We're proud to take Digital.NYC on the road to expand access to its extraordinary resources for New Yorkers in all five boroughs. More participation in the city's tech community means more innovation, growth, and economic opportunity for New Yorkers-all of which Digital.NYC fosters."
"The Digital.NYC Five-Borough Tour is more than just an introduction to the site's incredible resources-it's a chance for New Yorkers to connect to the increasing momentum of the city's tech ecosystem, and the jobs and opportunities it generates," said Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen. "We are committed to driving innovation, supporting growth, and expanding the reach of tech to maximize its benefits to both local communities and the citywide economy."
New York City's tech ecosystem has experienced dramatic growth, now directly employing nearly 300,000 people and indirectly generating another 250,000 jobs, altogether accounting for 12.6 percent of the city's workforce. Tech offers quality employment for New Yorkers of diverse educational backgrounds; more than 125,000 jobs in the tech ecosystem do not require a bachelor's degree, and pay approximately 45 percent more than jobs with the same qualifications in other industries. Through programs including Digital.NYC, the Tech Talent Pipeline, LinkNYC, NYC Generation Tech, and NYC BigApps, the de Blasio administration is working to support this growth and deliver on its commitment to make New York City the most tech-friendly and innovative city in the world, and to connect all New Yorkers to opportunities generated by the growing tech ecosystem.
Digital.NYC features a pioneering search portal and database with profiles of virtually every city-based tech company and investor, a continuously updated list of tech and digital job openings, a citywide tech event and class calendar, an interactive map of tech companies, an index of startup resources across the boroughs, and more. To date, more than 104,000 people have viewed over 570,000 pages on Digital.NYC, where they have engaged with over 50,000 pieces of content, including the latest job listings, startup profiles, and news.