City-States and Talent Hubs

Special economic zones attract foreign investment to a region.  After the success of manufacturing free-trade zones, special economic zones broadened their scopes of business services offered.  These zones now centralize entire sectors, known as business hubs.  Vast numbers of people, capital, and ideas gravitate toward focused areas.  These are the Silicon Valleys of all industries.  India, South Korea, and Israel all have cities built around high-tech industrial parks.  Saudi Arabia is developing four new cities, concentrating on Finance, Science and Research, Agribusiness, and Industrial Manufacturing. 

By huddling an industry so close together, healthy competition and exchanges of ideas nurture accelerated growth.  Scattered talent is less efficient than a concentration of an industry’s professionals.  Sectors capitalize on these advantages.  They develop (and thrive) by attracting talent and easily accessible capital to a single city.

Proposed Development of
Governors Island, NY

Now, a most unexpected player hopes to create an engineering hub in the center of an already established city.  With ambition to diversifying its own economy, further attracting talent, and reinforcing its reign as a city-state world power, New York City is looking to invest $100 million in creating a new engineering hub.  The city is willing to offer the land and then help develop Brooklyn Navy Yard, Roosevelt Island, Governors Island, or the Farm Colony on Staten Island to a University willing to establish engineering or bioscience research facilities.  Of the top urban academic institutions, New York City ranks 20^th in degrees awarded in applied sciences.  The city now wants to change its image and bring more engineering business within its borders and sphere of influence.  "This is an area that we believe will be increasingly important as we develop a 21st-century workforce and also 21st-century businesses," said Robert Steel, New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic Development. 

Sprouting city in Saudi Arabia

An emphasis on special economic zones and industry hubs is rapidly changing the way the world does business.  In 2007, urban centers surpassed their rural counterparts as a majority of the world’s inhabitants now live in cities.  While urban populations grow, cities compete for economic might.  Specialization allows nations to concentrate their industries and compete globally.  And as many cities across the world begin to specialize, global cities like New York strive to become the hubs for hubs – economic capitals amidst regions of smaller cities.  The emergence and success of special economic zones and smart cities shows how world interactions have begun a revolutionary transformation around the reemergence of city-state power structures.

City-States and Talent Hubs