"The business of economic development is keenly competitive on a global basis. Opportunity Austin articulates a game plan for regional success,"
— Gary Farmer, Chair, Greater Austin Economic Development Corporation

2009 Opportunity Austin Officers
Chairman: Gary Farmer, Heritage Title Company
Vice Chair: Kerry Hall, Texas Capital Bank
Treasurer: Tim Hendricks, Cousins Properties
General Counsel/Assistant Secretary: Tim Taylor, Jackson Walker
President/Secretary: Mike Rollins, Austin Chamber of Commerce
Austin Chamber Chair: Paul Bury, Bury+Partners
Immediate Past Chair: Joe Holt, JPMorgan Chase & Co

Background

In the years 2001–2003, metro Austin experienced massive job losses, unemployment rates rising to record levels, plunging regional population growth and almost no net in-migration. Income dropped for the first time since 1987.

To turn things around, the Austin Chamber of Commerce launched Opportunity Austin. This ambitious, five-year regional economic development strategy aimed to create 72,000 regional jobs and increase regional payroll by $2.9 billion. To implement the strategy, the regional business community committed to invest $14.4 million.

Since it was launched in January 2004, Opportunity Austin has registered solid success. Regional employment growth has surpassed even the most optimistic scenarios. Since 2004, an estimated 123,400 new jobs have been added to Austin’s regional economy. Regional payroll increased by $5.6 billion. Per capita income and average annual wages increased, too.

Furthermore, the regional economy has continued to diversify and grow in different ways. Significant employment increases in high-wage job sectors like wholesale trade, professional and technical services, finance, insurance and healthcare show that the overreliance on high-tech that caused Austin’s economy to suffer is being supplemented by a more diversified economy.

Notable successes include The Home Depot and Hewlett-Packard data centers and Freescale Semiconductor, Borland Software and Dimensional Fund Advisors all locating corporate headquarters in Austin, as well as Samsung’s expansion of its semiconductor manufacturing operations.

Job and wage increases projected in the next five-year implementation cycle of Opportunity Austin show a net gain of over 117,000 jobs and a $10.8 billion increase in greater Austin’s total payroll.

There is no finish line: taking it to the next level.

Austin is in a different place now than it was in 2003. Our successes to date are many, but resting on laurels risks a return to the dark days of early 2000.

Opportunity Austin 2.0 is not about getting back in the game, but rather staying ahead of competitor communities, both in the U.S. and abroad. This means thinking differently about economic development.

The most competitive communities are those with a steadfast commitment to improving their work force, quality of life and business climate through aggressive, proactive programming. Now more than ever, it is time to take Austin’s efforts to the next level to meet new challenges.

Opportunity Austin 2.0 has a three-part action plan.

Back to business: economic diversification

Boosting the greater Austin economy is our number one priority; thus, this agenda is our most ambitious.

Given our area’s deep resource of leadership, we plan to fully leverage Austin’s key public and private leaders and their networks of relationships. Two examples are the Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN), connecting Central Texas entrepreneurs who need capital with individual investors, and the Central Texas Regional Center of Innovation & Commercialization (CenTexRCIC), whose goal is to serve as a catalyst for emerging technology research, development, commercialization and start-up incubation. We recognize it is important to improve the coordination between small business, entrepreneur and technology commercialization services.

Realizing that 80% of new jobs will be created by existing businesses, retaining current companies and fostering their growth are essential to the economic vitality of the region. We are working to fine-tune existing processes with local companies, as well as to engage the support of regional partners, colleges and universities in business-retention and expansion activities.

Among the target-related infrastructure developments we are actively supporting: prioritizing the funding, development and construction of a top-tier medical school in Austin and securing the development of the TxAN research lab in Central Texas.

To increase the region’s competitiveness for new and existing businesses, we will market our relatively low cost of living, low energy costs, reasonable wages and unique lifestyle. We plan to strategically market to specific industries through targeted media, direct mail, trade shows and recruiting trips.

We can’t afford to ignore international opportunities. We plan to fund and staff a comprehensive international development program at the Austin Chamber of Commerce. We will target companies with presence around the world, as we did successfully in Korea with Samsung.

Working with Market Street, an independent firm focusing solely on community and economic development issues, we are specifically targeting five industries for growth: convergence technologies, creative media, green industries, corporate/professional headquarters/offices, healthcare and life sciences.

Brainpower is our greatest resource

Our talent pool has been a longstanding competitive advantage. In order to keep fueling our business growth while building talent longterm, we created a website specifically to attract talent to Austin, austinhumancapital.com. We will continue to expand our presence on the web to increase Austin’s talent pool while looking at other proactive marketing avenues to attract the best people to the area.

In terms of education, Austin’s brain pool is more college-ready; we have more students enrolled in postsecondary schools. But we have to work together as a business community to produce the quality of work force we need for Central Texas.

To that end, we have worked to increase the secondary school math and science requirements in order to qualify more students to go on to college. Also, a growing number of school districts now require seniors to apply for college.

As college enrollment continues to increase year after year, we are working to leverage Austin’s two- and four-year colleges for optimal regional talent benefit. The goal of our 20,010 by 2010 program, started in 2006, is to increase the number of college-ready graduates by 30%. More college graduates strengthens Austin’s human capital and gives employers a broader choice of homegrown talent.

Keeping greater Austin “great”

As much as we all love Austin, there’s no denying there are serious issues we must address. One increasing problem is transportation. We are suggesting several ways of addressing Central Texas’s transportation crisis. We must expand the Chamber’s “Take on Traffic” initiative to lobby for improved regional mobility and upgrade regional road, air, rail and transit infrastructure. While keeping the public informed about transportation issues, we must lobby officials for funding options and multimodal project development. We must make Austin a best-practice model of “smart growth” development through proactive planning and collaborative regionalism. This includes efforts to attract clean-energy research and major diversified energy-related corporations to support continued growth of the clean tech industry and technology. Finally, on the issue of Austin’s unique character, sense of place and commitment to environmental integrity, we must support policies that sustain and protect our air, land and water through smart development of our community.

Helping Austin helps you. Here’s how.

Whether you choose to give your time, money or both, Opportunity Austin 2.0 is a proven way for you to invest in the future of our entire community. On the theory that a rising tide lifts all boats, greater economic stability will benefit your business as well as others. Diversification will lead to new growth, attract and keep the best talent in our area and allow greater Austin to maintain and enhance its competitive edge.

So that you and other investors can have an active voice in shaping our future, we’ve created several options designed to keep you involved and up-to-date, as well as to show others in the community that you are working for the future of Central Texas:

• An invitation to quarterly Opportunity Austin Investors meetings
Lead investors receive first opportunities to participate in economic development recruiting trips, trade shows and special events, including the Opportunity Austin annual meeting and New York Marketing Mission
• Inclusion in the Opportunity Austin annual report and other marketing materials
• Inclusion in profiles of investor companies by investment category on the economic development website with a link to your own website
• Opportunities for a member of your firm to be involved in an economic development committee or task force
• Opportunity Austin newsletters distributed three times a year, as well as periodic “breaking news” email alerts prior to major relocation announcements, mailings of new demographic research, publications and more