New York and San Francisco Mayors Announce Joint "Digital Cities" Technology Summits

Starting in late September, Silicon Alley and Silicon Valley will be collaborating on high-tech solutions to the problems both cities face. The mayors of New York and San Francisco announced that they will be holding two Digital Cities summits (one in each city) to develop new ways of handing old threats, such as flooding and power outages. The summits have already attracted the likes of Jack Dorsey, who is well-known as a co-founder of Twitter and Square.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee made the announcement while in San Francisco, with Dorsey present. Other tech luminaries are likely to be invited to the summits, but the “who” will depend on the topics being discussed. In addition to brainstorming ways to prevent or handle major disasters, the summits will also seek technological fixes for important, but less dramatic problems, like fostering better environments for startups and housing issues.


In recent years, NYC has seen notable tech industry growth, in part due to mobile app developers. The city is often referred to as “Silicon Alley,” as the east coast counterpart to Silicon Valley in California. Bloomberg recently announce another technology-based initiative aimed at helping NYC’s citizens. The partnership with Nextdoor.com creates a social network for city residents and is meant to help them share local information, including safety alerts.