Never before have locales that foster technology innovation been more important than they are right now as our global community fights the spread of COVID-19. Accelerated collaboration, partnership, and the cross-pollination of ideas is crucial in times of crisis, and we are seeing technology hubs facilitate this.
Technology innovation hubs are defined by certain ecosystem components such as research universities, modern infrastructure, a pipeline of skilled young talent, available investment funding, and a supporting ecosystem (law firms, professional services, banks, etc.). These hotbeds of innovation are providing a fertile environment for companies to thrive and quickly deliver products, services, and solutions to directly combat the COVID-19 virus or mitigate its social and business impacts.
One example, and perhaps the most appropriate example, of an enabling tech hub is New York City. Not only is it the U.S. epicenter for COVID-19, but it also ranks as the #5 global innovation hub (outside Silicon Valley) in our 2020 Technology Industry Innovation Survey (PDF 629 KB). The survey also includes other global hubs where companies are developing their own innovative solutions to combat COVID-19.
Several established companies and startups headquartered in and around New York City are at the forefront of the COVID-19 battle. After working for many years in New York City, I can personally attest to the resiliency and ingenuity of New Yorkers. Even more impressive is that these companies’ initiatives are moving forward while the city and surrounding area are in lockdown and workforces are remote:
Looking forward, history suggests that once we overcome this challenge, businesses will eventually seek to ramp up their growth again through likely actions such as M&A, joint venture deals, or the establishment of new innovation centers. During this process, these location factors should be assessed for the acquisition target, potential partner, or new site:
It’s been proven that technology innovation hubs drive great local economic benefits. Now they are showing they have an even greater role to play, and may help avert the next global health emergency.
Adapted from article by Tim Zanni, Leadership, Global and US Head of Technology, Media, Telecommunications; and Technology Sector Leader.