MORE INFORMATION

Business Retention & Expansion For more information about the Chamber's BR&E program, contact Susan Davenport, Vice President, Business Retention & Expansion, at 512.322.5657 or sdavenport@austinchamber.com.

“I can’t imagine running my business anywhere but Austin. The city is full of energetic, creative and talented folks—the kind that fuel my game studio. The quality of life couldn’t be better. Affordable housing, great climate, tightly knit communities, trendsetting music and films, swimming, biking, and delectable food—that’s why I’m an Austin lifer.”
— Rodney Gibbs, Executive Studio Director, Amaze Entertainment

What is it about Austin that draws businesses and talent to this Central Texas region?

• Austin is recognized across the globe for its great quality of life and dynamic high tech economy with over 3,300 technology companies and 100,000 technology workers calling it home.
• Overall, approximately 38,000 private business establishments have chosen Austin to grow their businesses.
• The region houses one of the fastest growing major job markets in the U.S. with a youthful, well educated workforce.
• College graduates make up over 40% of the adult population and nearly half the region’s population is between 18 and 44 years old.
• The median home price is 23% below the national average and Austin has the highest per capita income of Texas cities.

Overall, it’s a young, smart and successful city with un-bounding energy and creative ideas.

Retaining and growing this innovative and diverse business community is one of the Austin Chamber’s top priorities. Never resting on the success of the past, the Chamber’s Business Retention and Expansion (BR&E) team works diligently on behalf of Central Texas businesses to ensure the region remains a competitive environment that fosters growth and expansion in every sector.

Overall, approximately 80 percent of new jobs created in the Austin region will be created by employers that are already located here. The BR&E division of the Austin Chamber, as well as regional economic development partners from the five-county area, are committed to assisting present industries in every possible way.

Regional business retention visits to hundreds of business executives each year have uncovered barriers to growth and profitability which have helped focus regional Chamber efforts in the following areas:

• Legislation—Local, State and Federal
• Workforce
• Local Government Services
• Business Attraction

Overall, the Chamber wants to engage you, our regional businesses, in activities that foster the retention and growth of your company in Central Texas. We need you to call the Chamber and connect with us so we can connect your business to opportunities.

Portfolio Austin Portfolio

Austin is a five-county regional business executive visitation program. Through on site, one-on-one visits, the Chamber’s Business Retention & Expansion (BR&E) staff work with regional companies on programs and opportunities to promote their growth throughout the region. Executive visits are a key activity for the team and provide information on discerning issues which hinder growth for the company and our region. In 2007, BR&E surveyed 150 regional executives and worked with more than 200 regional companies to provide individual assistance and address widespread concerns.

Through numerous activities and initiatives, regional BR&E efforts strive to create opportunities for regional employers. Through activities targeted at start-ups to the largest employers in the region, BR&E initiatives have connected businesses and created opportunities for employers throughout the five-county region.

• Quarterly newsletters
• Executive roundtables
• Regional Business Retention SWAT teams
• Industry reports
• Individual company assistance requests
• University and community college coordination
• Texas Emerging Technology Fund coordination and facilitation
• Workforce development

“In Texas, we understand that high-tech companies don’t just happen overnight but are a product of forethought, sound vision and planning, and strategic investments by both the public and private sectors,” said Governor Rick Perry. “Through our Emerging Technology Fund, we are bringing the best scientists and researchers to Texas, attracting high-tech jobs and helping start-up companies get off the ground faster.”

Austin is well recognized as a hub of entrepreneurial activity. Author of The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida named Austin as one of the top creative cities, and patent activity in the region topped 2,300 new patents in 2006 alone. Recognizing the importance of new ideas and the commercialization of those ideas in Central Texas companies is integral for the Austin Chamber. The BR&E team focuses its entrepreneurial efforts on the State of Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) as well as related programs like the Central Texas Angel Network and the Chamber’s AusTech Alliance.

The Texas ETF program works through partnerships between the State, institutions of higher education and private industry to focus greater attention on the research, development, and commercialization of emerging technology. Seven Regional Centers of Innovation and Commercialization (RCIC) and one Texas Life Science Center serve as stakeholders throughout the state.

CenTex RCIC is a virtual center housed and managed by the Austin Chamber, bridging the gap between entrepreneurs and the Emerging Technology Fund and serving as a channel for emerging technology research, development, commercialization and start-up incubation in Central Texas. The CenTex RCIC is managed by the Austin Chamber of Commerce under arrangement with the Office of the Governor of Texas. The CenTex RCIC Advisory Council includes:

• Austin Technology Incubator
• Texas State University
• Haynes and Boone, LLP
• The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business
• The University of Texas at Austin, Office of Technology Commercialization
• SEMATECH
• Heart of Texas Defense Alliance
• Central Texas Angel Network
• Temple College
• Austin Technology Council

As part of Texas’ efforts to remain globally competitive, the CenTex RCIC is an enabler for coordinating the region’s research entities and technology firms in regards to the Emerging Technology Fund. Serving a 15-county region, the CenTex RCIC accepts applications of commercialization and research grants from Bastrop, Bell, Burnet, Caldwell, Coryell, Falls, Fayette, Hamilton, Hays, Lampasas, Lee, Milam, Mills, Travis and Williamson counties of Texas.

If you or your company has a disruptive technology and interest in commercializing that new idea contact the Austin Chamber and the CenTex RCIC for more information:

www.centexrcic.org • 512.322.5677

We invite your executives and your company to join our efforts by contacting the Chamber's BR&E team. For more information, please contact Susan Davenport, Vice President, Business Retention & Expansion, Greater Austin Chamber, 512.322.5657 or sdavenport@austinchamber.com.

Business in the Human Capital is a quarterly newsletter designed to keep you informed about Portfolio Austin, the business retention and expansion program well underway.

For copies of 2007 Portfolio Austin reports, please contact Susan Davenport at, 512.322.5657 or sdavenport@austinchamber.com.