An initiative to establish a top-tier applied sciences and engineering campus in New York City may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dramatically increase our potential for economic growth.

Federal agencies like the National Science Foundation (NSF)—and the grants they awarded in the 20th century—attracted the brilliant students that helped build some of the world’s most important technological advancements. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) developed the networks that became the first “Internet,” and the NSF-supported National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign developed the first graphical web browser, giving life to the web as we know it.

Recognizing the need to increase the scale of research that takes place within the five boroughs in the 21st century in order to maintain global competitiveness, create jobs and reinvigorate our economy, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg introduced Applied Sciences NYC in December of 2010 with the goal of creating a world-class science facility.

With the mayor’s announcement came a challenge to top institutions from around the world to propose a new applied sciences and engineering campus in New York City. The Applied Sciences NYC initiative includes the offer of city-owned land, and a seed investment of city capital—up to $100 million—toward a competitive process to choose the proposal that makes best use of the aforementioned city resources. A request for proposals, announced in July, was the next step; responses are due in the fall, and a winner will be selected by the end of 2011. The opening of the first phase of the project is anticipated for 2015.

Find out more about Applied Sciences NYC here.