Originally Published MX November/December
2001
BUSINESS PLANNING & TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
Austin's Computer Gambit
|
Return
to Article: |
To say that Austin,
TX, has a significant talent pool in the computer industry is an understatement.
Few regions can match the concentration of high-tech employment in this industry;
indeed, the economic activity of Central Texas that is related to computer technology
is more than 10 times the national average, according to studies done for the
Austin Chamber of Commerce by ICF Kaiser Engineers (San Francisco). Unlike older
high-tech regions, however, Austin’s growth in the sector remains strong,
averaging 6% compound annual growth through most of the 1990s.
Virtually every major manufacturer of computers and related equipment has established
facilities in the Austin area. These firms are supported by an extensive network
of suppliers. Moreover, as in Silicon Valley, the semiconductor industry has
developed important synergies with other industries, further leveraging the
computer sector’s strength, says Susan Davenport, director of marketing
for the Austin Chamber of Commerce.
The region’s highly skilled researchers, technicians, and engineers are
shared across clusters and among industry segments—including the medtech
sector. Synergies include technology sharing in instrument manufacturing, tool
and die machinery, telecommunications equipment, and plastics fabrication. With
such synergies comes a more-efficient use of the available talent pool in Central
Texas.
These features of the Central Texas economy have already borne fruit in the
medtech sector. Currently, Austin is home to approximately 85 bioscience companies,
encompassing pharmaceuticals, preventive medicines, medical devices, laboratory
tools and analysis, gene-based cancer therapies, and genomics equipment and
services.
Austin is continuing to exploit its edge in computer technology. The University
of Texas has created two interdisciplinary centers of academic study and research
designed to ensure Central Texas’s lead in emerging industries of the twenty-first
century. The private sector is also very much involved, says Davenport—another
example of Greater Austin’s knack for exploiting synergies.
Copyright ©2001 MX
