Silicon Alley

The term Silicon Alley was derived from the long-established Silicon Valley in California. It was originally centered in the Flatiron District, in the vicinity of the Flatiron Building at Fifth Avenue near Broadway and 23rd Street, straddling Midtown and Lower Manhattan.{{cite book | last1 = Indergaard | first1 = Michael | name-list-style = vanc | title = Silicon Alley: The Rise and Fall of a New Media District | date = 2004 | publisher = Routledge | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-415-93571-5 | url = https://archive.org/details/siliconalley00mich | url-access = registration | page = [https://archive.org/details/siliconalley00mich/page/3 3]}}{{cite web|url=http://themidtowngazette.com/2013/10/startups-move-to-co-shared-offices-amid-high-real-estate-prices/|title=Startups move to co-shared offices amid high real estate prices | first = Karim | last = Lahlou | name-list-style = vanc | publisher = The Midtown Gazette | access-date = 20 August 2014 | date = 30 June 2013}} Silicon Alley initially also used to extend to Dumbo, a neighborhood in Brooklyn. Columbia University and NYU's leaderships were especially important in the alley's early development.{{cite web | title = NYC Start-ups: Growth of Silicon Alley | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-zabusky/nyc-tech-start-up_b_3185826.html | date = 30 June 2013 | work = The Huffington Post | first = Jonathan | last = Zabusky | name-list-style = vanc }}

The term Silicon Alley may have originated in 1995 by a New York staffing recruiter, Jason Denmark, who was supporting clients in the newly dubbed technical hub in downtown Manhattan; in an effort to attract candidates who, at that time, were focusing on positions in Silicon Valley, he posted in public usenet postings of Object Technology Developers, job ads with the Silicon Alley label. "Subject: NYC - silicon ALLEY" shows up in an internet post by Jason Denmark on February 16, 1995; another Jason Denmark post on June 16, 1995, is "Subject: SILICON 'ALLEY' POSITIONS."{{cite news|url=https://www.builtinnyc.com/2015/10/12/where-exactly-or-was-silicon-alley|title= The Mysterious Origins of the Term Silicon Alley Revealed|date= 10 Feb 2020| work = Built In NYC| first = Fergal | last = Gallagher}}

The first publication to cover Silicon Alley was @NY, an online newsletter founded in the summer of 1995 by Tom Watson and Jason Chervokas.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} The first magazine to focus on venture capital opportunities in Silicon Alley, AlleyCat News co-founded by Anna Copeland Wheatley and Janet Stites, was launched in the fall of 1996.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} Courtney Pulitzer branched off from her @The Scene column with @NY and created Courtney Pulitzer's Cyber Scene and her popular networking events Cocktails with Courtney. First Tuesday, co-founded by Vincent Grimaldi de Puget and John Grossbart, became the largest gathering of Silicon Alley, welcoming 500 to 1000 venture capitalists and entrepreneurs every month.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} It was an initiative of law firm Sonnenschein and the Kellogg School of Management, as well as other corporate founders, including Accenture (then Andersen Consulting), AlleyCat News and Merrill Lynch. Silicon Alley Reporter started publishing in October 1996.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} It was founded by Jason Calacanis and was in business from 1996 to 2001. @NY, print magazines, and the attending media coverage by the larger New York press helped to popularize both the name, and the idea of New York City as a dot-com center.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}

In 1997, over 200 members and leaders of Silicon Alley joined NYC entrepreneurs, Andrew Rasiej and Cecilia Pagkalinawan to help wire Washington Irving High School to the Internet. This response and the Department of Education's growing need for technology integration marked the birth of Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools and Education (MOUSE), an organization that today serves tens of thousands of underserved youth in schools in five states and over 20 countries.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}

The rapid growth of internet companies during the 1990s, known as the dot-com bubble, came to a rapid halt during the early 2000s recession. During this economic contraction, many internet companies in Silicon Alley folded. The recession also affected publications that covered the sector. After the dot-com bust, the Silicon Alley Reporter was rebranded as Venture Reporter, in September 2001, and sold to Dow Jones. Self-financed AlleyCat News ceased publication in October 2001.{{cite web | url = http://www.builtinnyc.com/2015/10/12/where-exactly-or-was-silicon-alley | title = The mysterious origins of the term Silicon Alley revealed | first = Fergal | last = Gallagher | name-list-style = vanc | work = Built In NYC | date = 4 November 2015}}

A couple of years after the dot-com bust, Silicon Alley began making its comeback with the help of NY Tech Meetup,{{cite web|last1=Oremus|first1=Will|title=New Tech City |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/the_next_silicon_valley/2013/12/new_york_city_tech_boom_how_it_became_the_silicon_valley_of_the_east.html |website=Slate |access-date=25 March 2017 |language=en|date=10 December 2013}} and NextNY.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}} On December 19, 2011, then Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced his choice of Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to build a US$2 billion graduate school of applied sciences on Roosevelt Island, with the goal of transforming New York City into the world's premier technology capital.{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/nyregion/cornell-and-technion-israel-chosen-to-build-science-school-in-new-york-city.html | first = Richard | last = Pérez-Peña | name-list-style = vanc | title = Cornell Alumnus Is Behind $350 Million Gift to Build Science School in City |work=The New York Times|date = 19 December 2011 | access-date = 1 August 2014 }}{{cite web | url = http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2011/12/nyc-chooses-cornell-technion-build-tech-campus | title = 'Game-changing' Tech Campus Goes to Cornell, Technion | first = Anne | last = Ju | name-list-style = vanc |publisher=Cornell University | date = 19 December 2011 | access-date = 1 August 2014}} As of 2013, Google's second largest office by number of employees, 111 Eighth Avenue, is located in New York.{{cite web|url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/downloads/pdf/2013report.pdf|title=p.26, The 2013 Report|publisher=NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment|access-date = 23 August 2014 }} Verizon Communications, headquartered at 140 West Street in Lower Manhattan, was in 2014 in the final stages of completing a US$3 billion fiber-optic telecommunications upgrade throughout New York City.{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/business/2014/06/verizon-will-miss-deadline-to-wire-all-of-new-york-city-with-fios/|title=Verizon will miss deadline to wire all of New York City with FiOS | first = Jon | last = Brodkin | name-list-style = vanc | work = Ars Technica | date = 9 June 2014 |access-date = 27 October 2014}}

This revival was not restricted to Lower Manhattan, but was spread throughout New York City. Hence "Silicon Alley" has been considered by some observers to be an obsolete term.

• BioValley
• Silicon Beach - Westside, Los Angeles
• Silicon Docks - Dublin, Republic of Ireland
• Silicon Fen - Cambridge, United Kingdom
• Silicon Forest - Portland, Oregon
• Silicon Hills - Austin, Texas
• Silicon Prairie - Several Midwestern cities
• Silicon Slopes - Lehi, Utah
• Silicon Valley - San Jose, California
• Silicon Wadi - coastal Israel
• Tech Valley - Hudson Valley, New York

{{Reflist|30em}}

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• [http://www.builtinnyc.com/2015/12/10/numbers-behind-new-york-techs-steady-growth "How Silicon Alley Growth is Outpacing Silicon Valley," December 10, 2015]
• [http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/silicon_alley_soaring_zfbKHSZZOdf5m32tiIOl2I New York Post, "Silicon Alley Soaring," January 24, 2012]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/fashion/sundaystyles/12silicon.html The New York Times, "Alive and Well in Silicon Alley", March 12, 2006]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/technology/07reboot.html The New York Times, "New York Isn't Silicon Valley. That’s Why They Like It", March 6, 2010]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130731174458/http://www.siliconalley.com/blog/2013/07/new-yorks-taxfree-zones-an-emerging-technology-companys-dream-come-true SiliconAlley.com, "New York's Tax-Free Zones: An Emerging Technology Company's Dream Come True?," July 26,2013]
• [http://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-alley-is-dead-2011-4 {{"'}}Silicon Alley' Is Dead"]
• [http://www.digitaltrends.com/features/silicon-valley-vs-silicon-alley-can-new-york-compete-with-the-best-of-the-west/ "Silicon Valley vs. Silicon Alley: Can New York compete with the best of the west?"]

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Category:Neighborhoods in Manhattan

Category:Economy of New York City

Category:High-technology business districts in the United States

Category:Information technology places

Category:Flatiron District