FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 21, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 33
Photo courtesy of LIC Partnership
LIC Summit explores ways to foster
innovation and community building
BY ANGELICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
LIC Partnership hosted its sixth annual
LIC Summit, “LIC: Inspiring Innovation,”
at the Museum of the Moving Image on
Tuesday.
Th e event, which was co-hosted by
Modern Spaces and Schneps Media,
brought together some of Long Island
City’s most infl uential companies and
businesses, both new and established, for
a series of panels and networking.
“Everybody’s doing their thing in Long
Island City, and people don’t always
remember how big it is and how much
activity there is,” Elizabeth Lusskin, president
of the LIC Partnership and executive
director of LIC’s BID, told QNS.
“So because we’re so well located,
because we’re so dynamic and there’s so
much great, diff erent kind of energy here,
it’s a great place for all these diff erent and
new approaches — whether it’s living,
business, etc. — to be both fi nding customers
and also evolving and learning
from the experience and the new ways
of doing what they do for the future,”
Lusskin added.
Th e Summit began with welcoming
remarks from Lusskin, Modern
Space’s President and CEO Eric Benaim,
Rockrose Development Corp’s Senior Vice
President Patricia Dunphy, MoMI Deputy
Director of Education and Community
Engagement Sara Guerrero, and Schneps
Media’s CEO and Co-Publisher Joshua
Schneps.
Th ere were fi ve panels throughout the
morning, starting with the keynote panel.
Th e panelists ranged from educators,
such as LaGuardia Community
College’s Interim President and LIC
Partnership board member Paul Arcario
and Cornell Tech’s Dean of Computing
and Information Sciences Greg Morrisett;
and nonprofi ts, such as NYC Economic
Development Corp’s President and CEO
James Patchett and Tech:NYC’s Executive
Director Julie Samuels.
The panel explored Long Island City’s
current innovative and entrepreneurial
resources, like LaGuardia’s programs
that are preparing the next generation
of tech professionals, as well as what
role it should be playing so that the
benefits of that innovation reaches the
community.
Samuels also talked about the importance
of diversity and inclusion in the
tech workforce in a time that she called a
“moment of great societal transformation”
that only happens once in a century.
“I hope jobs grow in places like
New York where we are incredibly well
equipped to have those hard conversations,”
Samuels said. “Technology will
continue to grow, and jobs will continue
to grow … And we need smart, diverse,
interesting people in those jobs so that we
can grapple with those kinds of hard questions.
We need LaGuardia students and
Cornell Tech students at the center.”
Samuels added, “We need that diverse
coalition of people dealing with these
things because if we got a lack of diversity
and a lack of diversity of thought and
experience, you’re gonna have a really
tough time getting those questions right.”
At the end of the keynote panel, Patchett
made a rhetorical question that resonated
throughout the day.
“Th ere’s no doubt that NYC is a center
for tech and is going to be, the question
is: Are we going to be a center for tech or
are we going to be a center for tech coma
done responsibly,” Patchett said.
Other panels consisted of a discussion
on advancing mobility and accessibility
in LIC and another on life sciences that
emphasized the importance of mixed-use
living and reliable transportation in order
to generate job opportunities.
Another panel featured four diff erent
brands that specialize in co-living
and co-working spaces that have made
LIC their home or are looking to do so,
including Ollie, Th e Collective, Studio by
Tishman Speyer and Spaces, a division
of International Workplace Group that
works out of the Falchi building.
Representatives from these companies
talked about their distinct business models
and how they’re steering away from
traditional living and working environments
in order to off er new forms of living
within the community and leasing
work spaces.
“I think what it points out is that this
is an area that needs to meet the needs of
lots of diff erent kinds of people,” Lusskin
said about these new ways of looking
at residency and work accommodations.
“Th ere’s niches that need to be fi lled in
addition to the traditional way of having
an offi ce and the traditional way of having
a living space.”
One of the fi nal panels of the day,
“Fastest Growing Companies — Fastest
Growing Neighborhood,” featured representatives
from a diverse group of companies
in LIC who emphasized the importance
of community building.
Th e panelists included members of Estee
Lauder Companies Inc., VaynerMedia,
JetBlue, Lady M Confections and RUX
Studios.
Nick Miaritis, EVP of VaynerMedia,
said that part of the reason their advertising
company was attracted to Long Island
City was due to the community feeling
and the familiarity that comes with the
neighborhood.
He added that it’s “on the businesses to
do more for the community, not the other
way around.”
From left, Greg Morrisett, James Patchett, Paul Arcario, Elizabeth Lusskin, Seth Pinsky and Julie Samuels at the LIC Summit on Nov. 19.
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
