Bringing Together The Best Talent In Cybersecurity With Vice President of NYC EDC, Wilson Lin

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Today on the podcast, your host, Matt Hooper, is joined by one of his favorite people in the New York City start-up ecosystem, Mr. Wilson Lin! Wilson Lin is the Vice President at NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYC EDC) and is the Head of the initiative, Cyber NYC. In his role at EDC, Wilson is leading NYC initiatives to strengthen the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem by partnering with leading VCs, entrepreneurs, major corporations, and academic institutions. They’ve invested $100 million into the initiative Wilson is spearheading — Cyber NYC — to strengthen the cybersecurity ecosystem and create thousands of jobs. Wilson and his team are truly making major strides in the area of cybersecurity and are working hard to bring together the best minds in NYC around cybersecurity!   Together in this episode, Matt and Wilson speak about EDC’s initiative (in particular, Cyber NYC), the exciting blockchain security applications Wilson is seeing being developed in NYC, how EDC is helping shape the next generation of cybersecurity employees, and what a successful ecosystem really looks like. Wilson also speaks about how many new companies he’s seeing that are being created in cybersecurity, where the people’s appetite for working in the cybersecurity industry is coming from, and his predictions for the growth of the cybersecurity industry three years from now.    Key Takeaways: [1:21] About today’s episode! [1:36] Wilson gives his full job title and describes what he gets to do all day. [1:46] Wilson speaks about the exciting career change he’s been through within the NYC Economic Development Corporation, what his current role is, and how it relates to the development of Cyber NYC and Hub Dot NYC. [3:18] When did the initiative, Cyber NYC, that Wilson is spearheading, come to be? And what is it about cybersecurity and NYC that felt ready for the development of the next generation of cybersecurity employees? [6:34] What is the Hub? How did it take shape? And what is the vision? [11:31] Playing devil’s advocate, Matt asks Wilson how many jobs can this industry (of cybersecurity) actually realistically grow? [13:05] Wilson highlights some of the exciting blockchain security applications that he’s seeing being developed in NYC. [14:34] Wilson lists some of the challenges inherent in public-private partnerships and in any big company-small company partnerships (or, David-and-Goliath partnerships as Matt Hooper likes to call them). [17:01] About the IBM Garage! [17:58] What does a successful ecosystem look like? [20:25] With cybersecurity always being in the news, has Wilson found this to be a helpful aid in recruitment? If not, where does he think the appetite for working in the industry comes from? [22:33] How can we start to anticipate collaborations between different EDC initiatives throughout the city? [24:12] Wilson explains what the role of the NYC EDC is in seeding the next generation of work. [28:32] Wilson speaks about another metric EDC is keeping an eye on: how many new companies are being created in cybersecurity. [29:09] Wilson speaks about what the start-up growth rate is looking like right now compared to three years ago and then gives his predictions on what he thinks it’s going to look like three years from now. [30:35] What does real success look like to Wilson (with regards to EDC’s initiatives)? [32:00] What are the ways in which Wilson sees success between the city and a company like IBM; a major player in the New York ecosystem? How can companies of a similar scale to IBM continue to get involved? [33:39] Matt thanks Wilson for joining the podcast! [33:48] Matt closes out the podcast!   Sources Mentioned: NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYC EDC) Cyber NYC Fullstack Academy Columbia | Technology Ventures   Follow-up with Our Guest: Wilson Lin’s LinkedIn   Looking for More Episodes? Visit ibm.com/blockchain — and for news and updates, follow @IBMBlockchain on Twitter!