The City’s Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) announced yesterday it is seeking proposals from across academia and industry to position New York City as a global leader in cybersecurity jobs and innovation.
Currently, the city is home to more than 6,000 cybersecurity jobs within such business sectors as financial services, healthcare, retail and media. Recent cyberattacks on these sectors underscore the increased importance for businesses and institutions to invest in protecting against cyberattacks. Consequently, cybersecurity is a major area of economic growth and is projected to reach $170 billion in global spending by 2020.
“Cybersecurity presents both a threat and opportunity to New York City,” said NYCEDC President and CEO James Patchett. “The de Blasio Administration is investing in cybersecurity to both fuel innovation, and to create new, accessible pathways to jobs in the industry. We’re looking for big-thinking proposals to help us become the global capital of cybersecurity and to create thousands of good jobs for New Yorkers.”
The initiative, dubbed Cyber NYC, is sending out Requests for Proposals (RFP) focusing on three priorities:
- Establishing a Cyber Center to serve as the primary hub of New York City’s cyber community. Specifically, the center will house New York City’s first cybersecurity accelerator to connect startups with space, training, potential customers, investors, industry mentors, and other resources. The center will also house community space and programming for the industry.
- Strengthening Talent Partnerships by developing a diverse, well-trained cybersecurity workforce, and connecting New Yorkers with Jobs. The key component of these partnerships will be an Applied Learning Initiative, which will operate across the city’s universities and educational service providers to create learning opportunities in cybersecurity. The City will also establish a Cyber Boot Camp to train and connect a diverse group of New Yorkers with jobs in cybersecurity.
- Creating Academic Innovation Exchanges to support the launch, growth, and commercialization of new cybersecurity research and development based in academia. The exchanges will include two programs: Cyber IP to pair creators of commercialization-ready IP with entrepreneurs and Cyber Innovation Bridge to connect academia-led startups with funding and entrepreneurship training.
Cyber NYC is also getting a lot of support from local elected officials as an avenue to grow the city’s economic environment with high-tech jobs dealing with cybersecurity.
“Cyber NYC comes at the right time, a time when we are keenly aware of the critical threats facing consumers, companies, and civic institutions alike. This initiative also comes to the right city, a city that is home to world-class academics and entrepreneurs as well as a new generation of young tech talent. Brooklyn is ready to house these good-paying jobs that will add to the security of our borough and beyond,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams.
“The risk of a serious cyberattack befalling NYC is great—which is why we need Cyber NYC,” said City Council Member Daniel ‘Danny’ Dromm (D-East Elmhurst, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights-East Elmhurst, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights, Chair of the council’s Committee on Education. “The City is obliged to safeguard the sensitive information it collects each day. This investment will ensure that NYC has access to the top talent necessary to do just that.”
“Our nation faces new serious threats as cyber attacks increase and become more sophisticated. Consequently, cyber security has become an important discipline in the computer and technology industry,” said State Senator Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach). “It is vitally important that New York City becomes a major player in the development of cyber security pipelines, strategies, business partnerships and providing well-trained cyber professionals. I want to commend the Mayor for investing $30 million to ensure that our City becomes the epicenter of innovation in cyber security and instrumental in protecting our nation from future cyber attacks.”
The RFP also drew support from existing companies involved in cybersecurity that are already operating in the city.
“There is no better place to start a cybersecurity company than NYC. Through our investments in Security Scorecard, Hypr, and BigID, we’ve experienced the amazing resources NYC has to offer; top entrepreneurs, academic institutions and innovative corporations. We are thrilled that Mayor de Blasio is uniting all of these forces to establish NYC as a global hub for cybersecurity,” says Ed Sim, founder of boldstart ventures, said Ed Sim, Founder, Boldstart Ventures.
“We are thrilled to be playing a role in building New York City’s resilience and look forward to collaborating on tackling the most significant challenges in cybersecurity,” says Nadav Zafrir, Co-founder and CEO of Team8 and former Commander of Israel Intelligence Unit 8200. “New York City is the epicenter of global business and its commitment to building a strong cybersecurity hub will act as a model for the rest of the world. This is what fueled Team8’s decision to base our US operations there. We believe the NYCEDC initiative is a critical step in securing the city and its tens of millions of residents and visitors and we look forward to being a part of it.”
