Cities that did not win QG2 should not be excluded – TechCrunch

The dance that lasts more than a year between the cities and Amazon because his second seat is finally over, with New York and Washington, winning the grand prize. With one of the greatest spinoffs of economic development in a generation, 238 cities have used all the book's tactics to seduce society, including proposing to rename an "Amazon" city and naming Jeff Bezos. "Mayor for life"

Now that the process and hysteria are over and cities have stopped asking "how can we get Amazon," we'd like to ask a different question: how can cities create stronger ecosystems for creation? of Amazon, still to build?

In September 2017, Amazon announced that it would seek a second seat. But rather than being the typical process of selecting a site, this would become a highly publicized advertisement. Hunger Games-esque scenario.

A request for proposals has been submitted regarding the needs of the company. It included everything a good planner would want, with walking, transportation and cultural features on file. But of course, the incentives were also at the top of the list.

Amazon could have been a catalyst for transformation for a multitude of cities across the United States, but it chose two superstar cities: the number one and five largest cities in terms of GDP, which together represents a GDP of nearly 2,000 billions of dollars. These two metropolitan areas also have some of the highest real estate prices in the country, a profusion of well-paying jobs and, of course, financial and political power at your fingertips.

Perhaps the kidnapping for cities is not that we should all be so focused on hooking this big fish away, but rather that we should grow it in our own waters. Amazon itself is an excellent example. It's worth noting that in a quarter of a century, Amazon has moved from a garage in the suburbs of Seattle to a consumption of 16% or 81 million square feet of downtown. In contrast, the world's largest technology company in 1994 (the year of Amazon's birth) was Netscape, which no longer exists.

The result is that cities that rely solely on the attraction of large technology companies usually arrive too late.

In the National League of Cities, we believe that there are ways to expand the pie without reinforcing the existing spatial inequalities. This is precisely the idea behind the launch of the process of urban innovation ecosystem commitments. With the support of the Schmidt Futures Foundation, fifty cities in rural suburbs, colleges and major metros have partnered with more than 200 local partners and leveraged more than $ 100 million in regional and national resources to support start-ups, take advantage of technology and develop STEM. education and vocational training for all.

The investments these cities are making today could actually be the precursor to some of the largest technology companies of the future.

With this in mind, eight cities have not won the head office bids, but ensure they are prepared to create the next tranche of high-growth startups.

Austin

Austin has just built a medical school adjacent to a Tier 1 research university, the University of Texas. This is the first project of its kind to be completed in America in over fifty years. To make the addition an economic opportunity for the city, Austin's public, private and civic leaders partnered to create Capital City Innovation to launch the city's first innovation district in the new school. of Medicine. This will help extend the city's already world-class start-up ecosystem to the health and wellness markets.

Baltimore

Baltimore is home to more than $ 2 billion worth of university research, making it the third largest nation behind Boston and Philadelphia. To make sure everyone participates in the growing research-based ecosystem of start-ups, the city is transforming community recreation centers into designer training centers and technologies to enable young people and disadvantaged families to acquire new skills and to make a career in technology. The Rec-to-Tech initiative will begin with community design sessions in four recreation centers, in partnership with the Digital Harbor Foundation, to create a feasibility study and implementation plan for consideration for future expansion.

Buffalo

The 120-acre Buffalo Niagara Medical Center (BNMC) is home to eight academic institutions and hospitals and more than 150 private technology and health companies. To ensure that Buffalo's startups reflect the diversity of its population, the BNMC Innovation Center has announced a new program to provide free spaces and mentorship to 10 high potential start-ups to minorities and / or women.

Denver

As in Seattle, real estate development in Denver is growing at a breakneck pace. And while growth offers new opportunities, the city is growing faster than the workforce can keep up. To ensure a sustainable growth trajectory, Denver has recruited the next generation City Builders to train students and retrain existing workers so that they can occupy high-demand positions in the fields of architecture, design, construction and transport.

Providence

Providence, which has a population of 180,000, is home to eight higher education institutions, including Brown University. and the Rhode Island School of Design – turn it into a hub for technical and creative talent. The City of Providence, in collaboration with its institutions of higher education and two hospital systems, has created a new public-private-academic partnership, the Urban Innovation Partnership, to collectively contribute and support the city's growing innovation economy.

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh may have already been known as a steel city, but today, it is a high place of research in robotics, with over 4.5 times the national average of R & D in robotics on its territory. Like Baltimore, Pittsburgh is creating a more inclusive innovation economy through a Rec-to-Tech program that will reinvest in the city's 10 recreation centers, giving students and parents the skills they need to participate in the economy of tomorrow.

Tampa

Tampa already has 30,000 technical, scientific and computer design jobs – and that number is growing. To meet future demand and ensure an inclusive growth strategy for the region, the City of Tampa, with its 13 academic, municipal and private partners, has announced "Tampa Bay's Future Innovators". This new, six-year initiative aims to have each of the 600,000 K-12 students in the Tampa Bay area trained in digital creativity, inventions, and the arts. # 39; entrepreneurship.

These eight cities are helping to demonstrate the innovation we are currently seeing on the ground across the country. The seeds of success have been planted with people, partnerships and public leadership at the forefront. They may not have landed at their QG2 this time, but when we move quickly to 2038 – and the search for Argo AI, SparkCognition, or the new Welltok headquarters is well advanced – the basics will be already prepared for cities with powerful competitive ecosystems on a playground.