(Mark Your Calendars: RealShare HOTELS 2011, September 15 in New York City).

NEW YORK CITY-Following in the footsteps of New York’s Capital Region, the city is pushing to compete on a national stage as the Silicon Valley of the East. At an event Tuesday afternoon, city officials issued a request for proposals for its “Applied Sciences NYC” initiative, seeking a university, institution or consortium to develop a new engineering and applied science campus on city-owned land, offering up to $100 million for the best design.

During a speech, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city has become “an increasingly important player in the technology and bio-science industries.” And by investing new capital into the high-tech field, the city, in turn, will generate intellectual capital, generating thousands of jobs for years to come. “We have made major investments to help bioscience companies to grow and expand in New York City,” Bloomberg said, adding that the boroughs are also home to the “most promising and creative technology start-ups in the country” and more than 626,000 students.