cornell tech arose from an economic development initiative of michael bloomberg's mayoral administration in 2008. the initiative sought to attract another engineering school to the city in the hope that it would produce entrepreneurial engineers who would in turn start job-creating companies. seven bids were submitted for the competition, with the administration ultimately selecting cornell/technion's bid. as proposed, cornell tech would create 28,000 jobs, including 8,000 for academic staff. it would also be able to create 600 companies, leading to $23 billion in economic benefits and an additional $1.4 billion in taxes, during its first three decades of operation.