Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the launch of the NYC Urban Technology Innovation Center today at a press conference in the newly-opened Northwest Corner Building.
The UTIC partnership will join Columbia, Polytechnic Institute of New York University, the City University of New York, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation with technology companies and real estate developers to research green building technologies.
“We’re launching a new public-private venture that will fuel innovation in the sector of our economy where innovation is key—and that is green energy technology,” Bloomberg said at the conference.
Bloomberg was joined by Columbia’s Senior Executive Vice President Robert Kasdin, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Dean Feniosky Peña-Mora, NYCEDC President Seth Pinsky, and IBM senior researcher Dr. Jane Snowdon, among others.
Bloomberg emphasized the development of technologies that would help reduce energy use and emissions in new and old buildings citywide.
“The idea is to promote building efficiency, because in the city of New York, the largest user of energy is buildings, not transportation like most cities,” said Timothy Cross, senior director of the SEAS Center for Technology, Innovation and Community Engagement, which will manage the center. The center has been under development for about a year, he added.
“We feel that this partnership brings together key consortium members to really drive new innovation in this important field, and it will also help to drive new jobs and sustainability and energy efficiency improvements for building owners and the real estate stock here in New York City,” Snowden said at the conference.
According to Cross, the UTIC is still looking for more companies and developers to join and doesn’t have a single physical location yet.
“So little money is yet on the table that the physical space is being spread among the three institutions, but IBM has shown interest and we are looking for other companies as well,” Cross told Spectator.
The partnership is structured so that companies and building owners can join at different membership levels, ranging from $1,000 to $50,000 a year.
So far, the NYCEDC is putting up $250,000, and each university will provide upwards of $500,000 of resources to launch the project.
Peña-Mora spoke about the opportunities for college students to participate in UTIC, saying that he perceives “a big role” for students and faculty from all institutions.
“The way I see it, the center is almost like a consumer report,” Peña-Mora said. “Established companies or start-up companies might say, ‘I have this technology,’ and we can give it to students to take it and try to deploy it. Or Columbia researchers may have developed technologies in our labs that students can also experiment with, so UTIC incorporates both components.”
Peña-Mora said that both undergraduate and graduate students could participate in research at the center, either for credit or for pay.
“Everything is a big, wide canvas, but a year from now, I believe we will be seeing a lot more from this center,” he said to Spectator.
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