Contents

CUF in the News

	Illiteracy takes a toll on job-hunting New Yorkers; jail also a big drawback, New York Daily News, February 8, 2010
	Joblessness and the Skills Gap, Huffington Post, January 28, 2010
	Boro has most low-wage workers in city: Study, Queens Times Ledger, January 28, 2010
	In Kingsbridge: Will Derailing a Bad Project Lead to a Good One?, Gotham Gazette, January 22, 2010
	Boro immigrants make gains, New York Post, January 21, 2010
	Policy group urges retooling of Columbia plan, The Real Deal, January 21, 2010
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Center for an Urban Future
is a New York City-based think tank that fuses journalistic reporting techniques with traditional policy analysis to produce in-depth reports and workable policy solutions on the critical issues facing our cities.

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New York by the Numbers

Economic snapshots of the 5 boroughs

This month's data... This edition of New York by the Numbers reveals that nearly a third of all adult workers in New York City are employed in low-wage jobs. While the percentage of low-wage workers is high across the city, the Bronx is in a league of its own, with 42 percent of the boroughs workers in low-wage jobs.

Building New York City's Innovation Economy

This report finds that New York City's leading universities and scientific research centers have not become catalysts for entrepreneurship and local economic development the way similar institutions have in other regions. It argues that this is a huge missed opportunity for New York, given the need to diversify the economy and create new engines of job growth. The study details why New York is falling short, showing that university leaders have not done enough to support start-up ventures.

The report is accompanied by the city's first-ever "Innovation Index," a package of 49 charts and graphs that show where New York stands compared to other cities and regions on a broad range of indicators measuring both existing science and technology assets and the city's level of success at commercializing these assets.

by Jim O'Grady and Jonathan Bowles

September 2009

Updates

Manhattan Borough President Announces Plan to Implement CUF Idea for Growing NYC's Innovation Economy In his February 2010 State of the Borough Speech, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer singled out CUF's 2009 report, "Building New York City's Innovation Economy" while outlining a plan to diversify the city's economy and spark new job growth in the tech sector. The Borough President embraced CUF's recommendation to create Innovation NYC," an intermediary for building bridges between universities and entrepreneurs, and unveiled the creation of a Presidents Council for Manhattan's Innovation Economy, made up of the presidents of the borough's leading scientific universities and research institutions. Citing the Center's recent report, "Building New York City's Innovation Economy," the council's purpose will be to act on major recommendations from the report such as leveraging city support to get New York's academic research institutions to support local technology spinoffs, fostering linkages among the individuals and institutions that are important to the development of a self-sustaining tech cluster, and growing the number of New York City startup companies drawing on university research. The text of his speech dedicated to the Council is below. The entire speech can be found here.

Report: Building New York City's Innovation Economy - DOWNLOAD PDF

2009 Index of the NYC Innovation Economy - DOWNLOAD PDF