Innovation districts are clusters of startups, established businesses and academic institutions that serve as economic engines for cities. They are popular with young professionals who favor urban lifestyles. These districts would benefit from increased federal investment in research, skills training and infrastructure, they write.
Jones and Katz cite a recent report, Technology and the Future of Cities, issued by U. S. President Barack Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, as the right approach. The report concludes that the federal government should play a greater role in helping to facilitate “technology-enabled cities.”
The report, available here, validates the importance of urban innovation zones as technology incubators, write Jones and Katz, metropolitan scholars at Brookings. They also view the report in the broader context of cities driving policymaking at the national and global levels.
This article originally appeared at Citiscope.org. Citiscope is a nonprofit news outlet that covers innovations in cities around the world. More at Citiscope.org.
