Cities battle to become next big data geek hub

New York and Seattle are in a classic East Coast vs West Coast battle to become the next hotbed--beyond Silicon Valley--for educating a new generation of data scientists.

Data scientists, professionals charged with taking massive amounts of data and looking for patterns that will produce insights, are the occupation of the moment. They've even been proclaimed the sexiest job of the 21st century.

And their importance will only increase with the expanding processing capability of machines.

Seattle and New York have become especially active in pursuit of the "data scientist hub" title,  reported New York Times in an article outlining each city's various efforts.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg started the Applied Sciences NYC initiative, which will include an applied science campus on Roosevelt Island,

The city is contributing $15 million to Columbia University's new Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering and has provided $15 million to New York University, which has the new Center for Data Science and Center for Urban Science and Progress. NYU's CUSP will use the funds to apply "big data" to practical urban issues, such as making skyscrapers more energy efficient, reported the NYT.

Seattle has made its own efforts. The University of Washington opened the eScience Institute for studying data and now has a Ph.D program in big data.

The university also has some big-name tech supporters, including Redmond, Wash.,-based Microsoft. The multinational software company has donated $22 million to the university's computer science program over the past 13 years, according to NYT. Other donors include Google and Amazon.

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This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com