Business Facilities - October 2008 - (Page 42)

45,800 jobs in 2007, also up for the fourth year in a row, putting it at an all-time high. On the downside, high-tech manufacturing lost 29,800 net jobs in 2007. Seven of the nine tech manufacturing sectors lost jobs in 2007. “AeA is concerned that future growth is being jeopardized unless the U.S. prepares itself for a vastly more competitive global marketplace,” says Hansen. “The tech industry and the country risk an impending slide in U.S. global competitiveness, caused by negligence on the part of our political leaders to adequately invest in scientific research, improve our education system, and allow the best and brightest from around the world to work in the U.S.” Here are some of the cities and regions that are creating the right conditions for information technology growth. ideas. It’s no accident that Austin inventors have been assigned patents at a rate that has outstripped other metropolitan areas during the past five years—a fact that led The Wall Street Journal to rank Austin one of the most inventive cities in the U.S. in 2006. A workforce this educated and productive doesn’t happen by chance. Austin’s business friendly and entrepreneurial environment was fueled by visionary leaders who recognized decades ago that Austin could be a hub for innovation at the dawn of the 21st century. They took When IT Needs Talent, IT Needs Austin, TX Technology runs on talent, and nothing is more valuable to a technology company than a deep and renewable reservoir of experience. It’s that depth of talent that sets Austin, Texas apart as a center for IT innovation. According to a 2008 study by American City Business Journals, Austin was ranked the 12th strongest metro area in the U.S. for brainpower, based on residents’ educational attainment. Within the 100 miles surrounding Austin are 38 colleges and universities working closely with local employers to produce world-class research and an educated, motivated workforce. Key among these is the University of Texas at Austin, a leading research university that every year graduates a new crop of talented engineers and innovators. This provides an almost endless pool of young, well-educated talent and a fertile source of new 42 action to turn Austin into a “technopolis” through a unique partnership of business, community and government leadership. As a result, Austin has become a hub of technology development and manufacturing, with its roots in semiconductor manufacture. The expansion of software technology in the 1990s accelerated Austin’s focus on IT, and Austin businesses are now playing a leading role in the next generation of IT innovation. One important tool for helping continue this is “Opportunity Austin,” a regional strategy designed by the Austin Chamber of Commerce to create jobs and drive economic prosperity for the 1.5 million residents of the five-county metropolitan area. Opportunity Austin focuses on capitalizing on existing strengths, recruiting and targeting diverse sectors, stimulating entrepre- neurship and new enterprises, marketing Austin effectively and improving regional competitiveness. Austin’s talent advantage is why leading IT companies like Perficient, a consulting firm that serves Global 2000 clients throughout the U.S., are based in Austin. As Perficient’s chairman and CEO, Jack MacDonald, who serves as the vice chairman of technology on the Board of Directors at the Austin Chamber, explains, “Austin has one of the best educated and more entrepreneurial workforces in the nation, and maybe the world—and that’s what you need if you’re building a highgrowth high-tech company.” MacDonald and other CEOs like him appreciate the Austin area’s affordability, which makes labor costs lower and makes it easier to attract and retain talent, especially the young, educated “creative class.” Austin offers considerably more affordable living than other major tech centers, with a median home price 16% less than the national average, and one of the lowest state and local tax burdens in the nation. Austin is one of the top regions in the country for venture capital investment: venture capitalists poured more than $650 million into Austin during 2007, and on a per capita basis, only Boston, San Francisco, and San Jose take in more venture capital investment than Austin. Perficient is hardly alone in seeing the advantages of an Austin headquarters. Many IT companies, among them ACS Dateline, Austin Logistics, Bazaarvoice, Borland Software, BreakingPoint Systems, Motive, National Instruments, nGenera, Postilion, Support.com and Troux Technologies, call Austin home. Other leading companies have a significant presence in the Austin metro area, including CA, A S P E C I A L A D V E RT I S I N G S E C T I O N O F B U S I N E S S FA C I L I T I E S PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE AUSTIN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE http://www.Support.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Business Facilities - October 2008

Business Facilities - October 2008 Contents First Word Snapshots Metro Spotlight: Phoenix, AZ Essential Relocation Tips Metro Spotlight: Fayette County, GA Corporate Moves: Kentucky Austria: Hungry for International Trade Foreign Trade Zones: Global Expansion at Reduced Cost New York is Banking on High-Tech Growth Metro Spotlight: Cuba, MO The Garden State is Growing it's City Centers Information Technology: No Signs of a Slowdown Advertiser Index Inside LiveExchange

Business Facilities - October 2008

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