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Austin's Opportunity
Economy: A Model for Collaborative Technology
At
a time when the technological lead of the United
States is being challenged around
the
globe, a handful of American cities are centers for
intensive technology research and innovation. Those
cities, while competing among themselves for technology
industry "plums", are also playing a critical
role in our nations economic competitiveness by encouraging
and supporting advances in science and technology.
Austin is one of the most successful
of these cities. For the past decade, city leadership
in business, government, and academia have collaborated
on realizing a vision of Austin's future that embraces
science and technology advances. To a great extent,
the city has staked its future on success in technology.
Government and local business officials have spearheaded
efforts, while the University of Texas has provided
significant financial incentives, accelerated certain
research programs, and
joined enthusiastically in Austin's marketing efforts.
Austin has landed an impressive array
of diverse technology operations, with a major new
announcement coming about every two to three years.
This brief list of companies and consortia with a
significant presence in Austin illustrates the impact of this
program:
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Entrepreneurial success Dell Computer,
began in Austin in 1983, had fiscal year sales
of over $3.475 billion.
IBM now employs 8,000 people in Austin in research, manufacturing, and
support.
Motorola located its first facility in Austin in 1974. Its microprocessor
and memory technologies divisions are headquartered in Austin, employing
more than 9,000 people, and the company is planning a new corporate research
facility in Austin as well.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) now employs nearly 4,000 at its Austin site,
more than at its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California.
In 1995, both Motorola and AMD completed wafer fabrication facilities,
which are among the most capital intensive facilities in any industry,
with each investment totalling over $1 billion.
3M Company now has six divisions headquartered in Austin, with 1,600 scientists
and research technicians employed.
Applied Materials, the world's largest supplier of equipment to the semiconductor
industry, began its first Austin facility in 1990. Applied Materials is
now planning a new facility and purchased $750 million in goods and services
in Austin in 1995.
Technology Research, the research and development subsidiary of Southwestern
Bell, is now moving its operations to Austin.
Two research consortia dedicated to U.S. technological leadership in computers
and microelectronics, the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation
(MCC) and Sematech, are headquartered in Austin. |
Austin's workforce is also among the most educated
in the country:
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32 percent of adults have sixteen
or more years of school (the equivalent of a bachelor's
degree).
Per capita bookstore sales in Austin are over $200 in 1993, among the highest
in the U.S.
Approximately 100,000 adults (one in ten), are enrolled in higher education
courses at the University of Texas or one of six other colleges and universities
in the area.
Forty eight thousand students are enrolled at the University of Texas at
Austin. This is the third largest campus enrollment in the U.S., and the
program is especially accessible since annual in-state tuition is approximately
$1,800.
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High Quality of Life
Quality of life in Austin has become
a key economic issue. To satisfy the aspirations of its
residents to attract and retain leading edge companies,
Austin must develop a rich artistic and cultural diversity,
while retaining enjoyable parks, uncontaminated water,
an easy commute, and top-quality schools. The issue of
growth that divides most communities can be an overarching
concept that unites Austin.
Climate for Entrepreneurs and Innovation
Entrepreneurial successes are legendary
in Austin. Michael Dell began Dell Computer Corporation,
now a Fortune 500 company, in 1982 while he was a freshman
at the University of Texas. University engineering graduate
Frank McBee founded Tracor in the 1950s, which eventually
spawne Montopolis Research Park--a cluster of technology
companies totalling twenty five spinoffs and more than
6,000 jobs to date.
The University of Texas favorable stance on allowing
faculty to reap financial rewards by retaining ownership
in their inventions further encourages new research startups.
Altogether, more than in most cities, Austin business
and university leaders treasure, support, and encourage
young companies because of the awareness that they may
not only succeed phenomenally, they could also spin off
the science and technology successes of the future.
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