Potential Poly-NYU merger good for New York: think tank report

The merger of Poly and New York University would spark technological innovation by giving New York City a first-rate engineering school, something the city currently needs and lacks, says a new report by the Center for an Urban Future.

“While New York City boasts a dazzling array of top-flight scientific research institutions…the city has never come close to having an equally robust engineering presence,” writes David Hochman, a consultant in technology-based economic development who authored the report. Stating that federal funding of the city’s universities has yet to yield an adequate high-tech sector, Hochman writes that “dynamic science and engineering programs” can be spurs to growth in high technology industry. He cites two examples of such programs and communities of technological innovation that grew in tandem with one another: Silicon Valley and Stanford University, and the Route 128 corridor around Boston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

News coverage of the CUF’s report is on Poly’s Merger Central page.