Start Alliance: Cities help ideas to spread faster

Josh Levin, Director of Economic Development at the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office, looked at the landscape of Brooklyn tech: it was booming, with passionate founders aiming to make the world a bit better by leveraging technology. Missing only was an international bridge to make it easier for companies like Etsy to expand beyond Brooklyn and go international. In June 2015, when a delegation from Berlin announced its visit to Borough Hall, Josh suggested to his boss, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, a new form of collaboration: innovation and helping young companies expand easier.Berlin was the ideal partner for Brooklyn. Similar in size, both cities share an appreciation for craftmanship, the arts, diversity, and technology. Eric liked the idea and suggested it to the Berlin delegation, led by Stefan Franzke, head of Berlin’s trade promotion agency, Berlin Partner. One of the first companies supported was BigRep, expanding from Berlin to Brooklyn and covered early on in an NPR public radio feature. The rest is history – almost.Stefan and his team, namely the head of digital business, Christian Herzog, developed a simple framework consisting of three parts: (1) enable startups to expand easier into new markets, (2) share information about strategic initiatives and programs, and (3) foster a personal exchange for what works and what doesn’t in urban tech development and international trade, making each member a bit smarter by collaborating instead of competing. Building it as a startup itself, Christian got other global tech hubs to join and named it “Start Alliance,” which now consists of 10 global tech hubs: In addition to Brooklyn and Berlin, it is Paris, Tel Aviv, Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna, London, Warsaw and Dubai. Some of those cities will send representatives and startups to this year’s TEP conference in the City in October, making it a members-plus-startups meeting and enabling New York City institutions and investors to promote their activities in key global tech hubs – without traveling much further than the subway line.While it is too early to tell what is on the horizon, a few things are likely or have already begun. For instance, what if traditional companies and corporations can leverage the Start Alliance member cities for their global scouting needs? The Commerzbank and the German Railroad have done it already. And what if an urban future startup can show improvements in one city and thus garner referrals to other member cities? There is probably no faster way for an idea to spread. And how about Start Alliance industry chapters? TEP’18 and the Start Alliance will have a special focus on Fintech. In other words, the future is already beginning.

First published July 21, 2018