In a keynote that sounded more stump speech than tech conference presentation, New York Senator Charles Schumer became New York City’s biggest cheerleader hyping the city as an up and coming tech center. Schumer believes New York can, by 2035, can surpass Silicon Valley to become the tech center of the world.

That’s not to say New York isn’t already a tech center unto itself. It trails only Silicon Valley in the amount of investment dollars spent on the sector and it has 300,000 companies which specialize in tech – more than any other city in the country. Schumer said, “The city has thrived because it is adaptable.”

Shumer, who says it is no longer a choice but a necessity for a tech company to be in New York, highlighted Brooklyn’s Dumbo tech neighborhood and pointed out the area was, 15 years ago, nothing more than a relic of early 1900′s manufacturing. The largest company in the area, with 300 employees, is now a tech company. He urged the audience to look at Dumbo as an example of what can happen all across the city and that the city needs to nurture this growth.

Of government’s involvement, Shumer pointed out if it weren’t for government investment, there would have been no internet or Silicon Valley. He claims the government, as well as the business community, must “invest in the future.” He pointed to Boston and Silicon Valley as areas which have done a better job fostering growth in tech because those areas did a better job fostering the transference of scientific expertise to commercial business.

Of the education needed to help foster the growth in technology, Schumer said the city needs to improve its engineering schools and hire more qualified math and science teachers. He says not enough current math and science teachers have the proper background having transferred over from non-math areas. And if the state can’t properly educate kids in science and math, the state can’t graduate kids who might go on to become successful in technology.

Schumer, while acknowledging the government must cut overall spending, wants an appropriation that would increase the salary of starting math and science teachers by $20,000, making the profession more attractive. Schumer also spoke of incentives to make it easier for immigrants to quickly get into the field of technology with a program that would speed the issuance of a green card upon graduation.

Senator Schumer has 12,000 followers on Twitter. While he’s quite proud of that number, he revealed that, sadly, he has an aid that tweets for him.