Four signs that LIC is becoming a center for tech in NYC

Image source: Kai Brinker on Flickr

It’s becoming pretty clear that LIC is leading the way when it comes to developing a friendly climate for tech in Queens. Here are four reasons why that is the case.

Education. Recently the Coalition for Queens has expanded their influence to include tech education in their mission, launching this arm of the organization this past September. They’ve partnered with Skillshare (their classes are listed with them as “School of C4Q”) and LaGuardia Community college to offer Queens-based workshops, classes, and even a 10 week course called Front-End Web Development that started on September 11 At LGCC. Leaders in the NYC tech community and successful entrepreneurs will be doing the teaching.

Meetups. Coalition for Queens is also behind the series of monthly meetups they host for “tech enthusiasts who come together from around the greater NYC area to foster a vibrant tech community in Queens through participation, interaction, and experimentation.” There’s usually both meet-and-greet time and a chance to hear a speaker or view a demo. Their inaugural Queens Tech meetup was last June and their next meetup is scheduled for Thursday, September 27.

Startups. A number of tech startups have decided to make their home here, including Songza, Digital Natives Group, and Shapeways. There’s a bunch of reasons why these young companies might want to put roots down in LIC – there are cheaper rents, large industrial spaces for their offices, not to mention being very close to Manhattan – only one subway stop, in some cases.

Tech Incubator. The Anable Basin Tech Incubator has been proposed to facilitate tech education and entrepreneurship. You may also be familiar with Anable Basin as the future home to the floating beer garden. Plaxall, a packaging company, is partnering with – yep, you guessed it – the Coalition for Queens to turn a warehouse off of Vernon Blvd at 5-46 46th Avenue (GMAP) into the Tech Incubator. This space happens to be just across the East River from the coming CornellNYC Tech campus on Roosevelt Island.