Manhattan evolved into a metonym for the sphere encompassing the New York City metropolitan region's high tech industries, including the Internet, new media, telecommunications, digital media, software development, biotechnology, game design, financial technology ("fintech"), and other fields within information technology that are supported by the area's entrepreneurship ecosystem and venture capital investments. , New York City hosted 300,000 employees in the tech sector. In 2015, Silicon Alley generated over US$7.3 billion in venture capital investment, most based in Manhattan, as well as in Brooklyn, Queens, and elsewhere in the region. High technology startup companies and employment are growing in Manhattan and
CADRE Laboratory for New Media is the second oldest media lab in the United States and has a long and notable list of alumni. CADRE offers BFA and MFA degrees in Digital Media Art. CADRE has published SWITCH, an online journal of new media, since 1995. SWITCH and CADRE were early centers of the net.art movement that coincided with the Dot-com bubble in nearby Silicon Valley. The CADRE labs have historically worked closely with the ZeroOne Biennial, one of the foremost new media art exhibitions in the world. In 2006, CADRE, along with SJSU served as the academic hosts for the ISEA symposium and ZeroOne