Just as a trench dug in the 1800s created a shortcut to the nation’s interior and helped make New York a global trading hub, the city is now hoping for another “Erie Canal moment” with a high-tech research complex to be built on an island in the East River.
The idea is to create an applied-sciences university where engineers are also trained as entrepreneurs from day one. Proponents say New York, home to powerful global companies and now exploding with technological startups, could shift this sector into top gear if the latest findings went straight into new businesses.
