Urbantech NYC

Urbantech NYC supports the entrepreneurs, researchers, and spaces that make New York City the global hub of urban technology innovation.

Innovation for New Yorkers

Cities exist because, together, we are greater than the sum of our parts. Being close together makes organizations more productive, makes people more creative, and drives collisions and new ideas that breed innovation. But as the opportunities in cities cause urban areas to grow in size and population, they need new solutions to address the strain this growth creates.

Enter “Urban Tech” or “tech-enabled urban development,” encompassing innovations and solutions that directly address the challenges posed by urbanization. It seeks new solutions for producing our food, delivering water, and managing waste; solutions that get us moving; that affect the places we sleep, live, study and work; and that help inform and support residents—at city scale.

Urbantech NYC: Making Cities More Livable, Sustainable, and Resilient 

NYCEDC launched Urbantech NYC in 2015, which invests in innovation and support for entrepreneurs making cities more livable, sustainable, and resilient. The program leverages flexible and affordable workspace, industry networks, proof-of-concept opportunities, and tailored programming to build NYC's urban tech community.

While NYCEDC continues to invest in urban tech's rise, NYC's urban tech community is not any single agency or organization. Instead, it is the collective ideas of all its urban tech actors: the emerging and the established, the public and the private, working together toward a vision for one of the world's greatest cities.
 

Active Programs and Spaces

UrbanTech Hub @ Newlab: Opened in 2016 in the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard, Newlab offers 84,000 square feet of affordable workspace, piloting opportunities, and mentorship that supports entrepreneurs working in advanced technology, including robotics, AI, urban agriculture, last-mile mobility, and more. In 2017, Newlab, with the support of Urbantech NYC, launched "The Circular City"—an effort to bridge City government, startups, academic institutions, and corporate partners toward applied research and development.

Urban Future Lab (UFL): Founded in 2013 in partnership with the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, UFL was NYCEDC's first major investment in the clean-tech and renewable energy technology space. Located in Downtown Brooklyn, the Urban Future Lab is NYC’s premier facility for the cleantech and sustainability communities, providing incubator and proof-of-concept support for urban agriculture, renewable energy, portable solar, and circular economy technologies.

Previous Programs

• NYCx Challenges: Engaging the tech community to tackle problems of urban life in all New York City communities through scalable tech solutions.
• The Grid: Building connections and networks for companies, organizations, and governments in urban tech through strategy roundtables, commercialization support, community events, educational series, and applied R&D matchmaking.
• The Urbantech Hub @ Company: Established in 2016 as Grand Central Tech and located in Midtown Manhattan, the Urbantech Hub @ Company provided 50,000 square feet of affordable workspace, community and sector programming, and resources to organizations addressing urban challenges in sectors such as energy, waste management, real estate tech, civic technology, water, and more. Additionally, in 2022 the City Fellowship at Company Ventures was launched to support NYC-based social entrepreneurs. The 6-month fellowship focused on supporting entrepreneurs solving entrenched challenges for New Yorkers. The program focused on deep impact more so than the speed of growth or scale, with a commitment to economic equity and climate justice.