How the city of Miami has become a major tech hub in the US
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The city of Miami is now a leader in terms of job growth in the technology sector and is among the top 10 cities in the country for startup funding. According to Crunchbase, Miami startups raised $2.6 billion in 2021, more than 20 times the amount in 2018, which at the time was $128 million.
According to City Mayor Francis Suarez, it is a combination of talent and capital that makes Miami attractive today. "Entrepreneurs are attracted to ecosystems that help them accomplish their goals."
A broader trend is also that of competition among U.S. states, particularly for their tax advantages. While the U.S. government used to use strong federal measures to neutralize the competitive advantages of states with low levels of regulation and taxation, the 2017 tax reform restored interest in relocating to states like Florida or Texas, for which migration was already underway when COVID struck.
Government and private sector responses to the pandemic have also created new reasons for talent to move. The emergence of telecommuting has also weakened the connection to California-based corporate offices in New York or Chicago. These are the same regions that enforced health restrictions that are now seen as abusive, weakened their police in fighting crime, and allowed woke ideology to spread through their schools. The governor of Florida Ron Desantis took the opposite position, deciding not to impose confinement and declaring Florida "the freest state in the USA".
The 15 months between April 2020 and June 2022 saw a net migration of nearly 300,000 people to Florida, more than any other state. Florida saw its tax base grow like no other state before, with more than $20 billion in additional tax revenue in 2020, while New York and California lost by the same amount.
According to Felice Gorordo, CEO of the eMerge platform, Miami's secret is that the city has bi-partisan support that allows it to attract innovators and entrepreneurs from all political sides. The relationship between the city's Republican mayor, Francis Suarez, and Miami Dade County's Democratic mayor, Danielle Levine-Cava, has never been better.
Miami, on the other hand, will need a lot of talent to keep moving up the rankings, because unlike San Francisco and Boston, it does not have an engineering school as prestigious as its competitors. For Peter Yared, a successful entrepreneur who launched and sold six startups in Silicon Valley and now resides in Florida, immigration may be an answer. "San Francisco and New York have recruited a lot of talent from China and India. We should recruit the best engineers from Latin America."
Source : Wall Street Journal
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