The Vision for Central Texas Is Clear

I’ve been meaning to make this post for a while.  My impetus for this post was the breakfast I attended on Wednesday sponsored by the Austin Business Jounal for their Advisory Board for the 50 Fast Growing Companies in Central Texas.  Pike Powers gave the headline talk and posted an editorial in the Austin American-Statesman earlier this week.

The origins of Austin’s high tech economy is the confluence of two things, the University of Texas Engineering Department and its abundance of research and those business people who saw what Austin could be (see MCC and Sematech).  Enter the chip manufacturing industry and job training programs supported by UT and Austin Community College.  It rallied for along time and then eventually the internet boom came to town.  Money and brains stayed and came Austin, only for the internet bust at the beginning of the century. 

The decline of chip manufacturing has been coming for a awhile, but Austin has an opportunity to revamp its tech industry and reinvent itself and save and enhance its culture, by supporting renewable energy technologies. 

Wind, solar, and new battery technology is not just the wave of the future.  It’s here now and if we are to lead then we need to start investing now in training, attracting and supporting business that support those new technologies.

A public-private partnership can’t merely be talk, but it must plan and act together as any business.  The current Mayor, Will Wynn has done well to start some of the initial discussion, but the next Mayor will surely have to hit the ground running.  Brewster McCraken, current City council member and candidate for Mayor, seem to be  of a similar mindset of those who are pushing for renewable energy economy, as per his leadership in the Pecan Street Project. 

This is a great first step, but it’s up to the people of Austin and it’s great legacy of entrepreneurship to step-up to the plate once again and start those small businesses.  That’s what sets Austin apart from other cities, its people.  Smart, creative and determined to make a change in their community.  I can name others cities that share a similar vibe, Cambridge, MA specifically where I lived and went to school, but Silicon Valley and San Francisco have appearance of progressiveness but none of the moxy of Austin.

For it’s size, Austin has the greatest resources available to it.  As for me, I’m trying to figure out what role I can play in Austin’s transformation.  Will I start that great new business?  Maybe?  But I have faith that regardless of where I’m at, Austin will do it’s best to keep on doing the right things.  And that’s not to say that there won’t be challenges, but when you go around town I know that you all have a sense that someting great is about to happen to an already awesome town.

Just don’t take this great town for granted.  Make it better by doing what you do best, whatever it is.