Technology Industry Seen Growing Fastest in New York

New York City’s budding technology industry is growing rapidly by attracting investors and engineering talent despite spotty access to a reliable broadband network, according to a study, “New Tech City,” conducted by the Center for an Urban Future.

The study concluded that the technology industry is growing faster in New York City than anywhere else in America and that the city now trails only Silicon Valley as a hub for the development of new technology companies. The study’s authors, Jonathan Bowles and David Giles, identified 486 technology companies that had been founded in the city since 2007 and determined that the financial crisis and the recession that followed did not slow the industry’s growth. The report attributes some of the growth to the efforts of the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to reduce the city’s dependence on Wall Street as an economic engine. The push to build up the industry has been much more successful than previous efforts to establish the city as a hub for biotechnology or environmental technology, which Mr. Bowles calls clean tech.