Austin’s renowned business environment is nurturing a fast-growing wireless industry and the kind of innovative collaboration that has earned the region a reputation as “Number One in Creativity” according to the Harvard Business Review. The local factors driving this new growth sector are the same that enabled such homegrown success stories as Wayport, Silicon Labs, and Motion Computing. At the core is a skilled, creative and motivated workforce.

"It comes down to economics and people. Austin already has a strong base of engineering, marketing and services talent to allow any wireless venture to hit the ground running."
— Frank Hanzlik, Managing Director, Wi-Fi Alliance

"Austin is a high-tech city with an attractive quality of life. It is an appealing environment for the innovators we need at Freescale "
— Michel Mayer, CEO, Freescale

Austin: #1 Metro for Future Business Locations: "Site location decisions are made based largely upon data gathered in an effort to measure the likelihood of a company’s success in any given metro area. Businesses choose places like Austin because they are the ‘total package’."
— Expansion Management

AAustin is driving the build-out of a wireless future where voice, data and digital media converge on open wireless and computing platforms, enabling global connections using new devices, intelligent networks and rich media.

With vast experience and knowledge in the semi-conductor, software and wireless industries, as well as digital media, music and motion pictures, Austin provides unique advantages to help companies take the vision of a wireless future and make it a full fledged reality.

Austin is a world-renowned technology region developed from outstanding university-based research, an entrepreneurial culture, venture funding, a broad array of support services and a rich pool of intellectual talent and leadership. A metropolitan region of 1.5 million people, Austin thrives on a balance of technology, business services, education and government.

• Austin features a vibrant existing wireless cluster including over 100 firms and employing 4,000 people.
• Austin ranks third among the most “unwired cities” in the nation, based on the number of public and commercial wireless hotspots, local wireless networks, wireless e-mail devices and per capita Internet penetration.
• Austin ranks second in the nation in the number of free wireless hot spots. Austinites enjoy a free central city wireless network that is being expanded to other parts of the city.
• Austin is home to the annual South by Southwest Interactive Festival and the Wireless Networking & Communications Group Wireless Networking Symposium.
• Austin hosted the World Congress on Information Technology in 2006 and the global Mobility Roundtable in 2004.

The wireless industry in Austin has grown to include the entire value chain from research and development to materials and chips, hardware, software, systems and services. Industry leaders such as Motorola, Qualcomm, Freescale, Intel, Cisco Systems all call Austin home. The decision by the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2003 to locate their headquarters in Austin ensures that Austin will remain a major hub for the wireless industry well into the future.

Austin's wireless community includes:

Young. Creative. Productive.
Ask CEOs, entrepreneurs, educators and researchers why the Austin region has stayed hot through more than two decades of business trends and you’ll hear one common theme — workforce. It’s all about people, and Austin’s supply of unmatched employee talent is certainly no accident. As the business and government epicenter of Texas, Austin is a highly efficient workforce generator.

Educational Attainment of Persons 25 Years or Older, 2006

Employment in High Tech Industries

Employment in Computer & Engineering Occupations

Within a 100-mile radius of Austin, you'll find 39 colleges and universities (enrolling 330,300 students) anchored by The University of Texas at Austin, a world-class research institution and one of the nation’s largest universities.

Training and experience garnered by graduates of UT-Austin, which consistently ranks in the top 10 for science and engineering doctoral degrees awarded, puts the school among the industry’s most well regarded workforce pipelines in wireless networking and communications.

Colleges & Universities in the Greater Austin Area

Degrees Awarded in Select Science Fields, Austin Metro Area Institutions, Year Ending June 2006

From the University of Texas at Austin to a high profile as a focus of venture capital, Austin supplies businesses the framework for innovation and growth. Access to investment capital in Austin is well established with the region ranking among the top targets for venture capital investment in the country. Total VC investment in Austin companies was over $619.7 million in 2006.

Among Austin’s VC firms, three-quarters have invested in wireless or wireless-convergent companies such as Wayport, Silicon Labs, Motion Computing, PulseWave RF, SoloMio and Motive.

Wireless Initiatives
Austin's academic, business and government sectors are working together to develop, sustain and promote Austin as a global leader in business activity, technical innovation and community participation within the wireless industry.

• The Wi-Fi Alliance, an international association that certifies interoperability of wireless products, relocated its headquarters to Austin in 2004.
• The Austin Wireless Alliance includes academia, business and government working together to develop, sustain and promote Austin as a global leader in technical innovation within the wireless industry.
• The Austin Technology Council is comprised of CEO’s and leaders of technology and technology service companies. Its mission is to ensure Austin’s position as a world-renowned technology community based on outstanding university-based research, an entrepreneurial culture, venture funding, a broad array of support services and a rich pool of intellectual talent and leadership.
• The Austin Technology Incubator is one of the most successful technical business incubators in the country and has taken an active role in accelerating the development of wireless companies in Austin.
• The Austin Wireless Group is experimenting with wireless protocols and promoting the expansion of wireless internet gateways.
• The City of Austin supports wireless by deploying hotspots in public spaces and takes a proactive approach with wireless stakeholders to plan the course of future wireless infrastructure.

The University of Texas
As a world-class research institution, the University of Texas at Austin has annual research expenditures of more than $300 million, with engineering research dollars exceeding $15 million. UT Austin’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department has ranked as one of the top 10 in the country for more than a decade.

• UT Austin's Digital Media Collaboratory focuses on applied research projects, new interactive technologies and digital content.
• IC² is an international, transdisciplinary "Think and Do" tank devoted to solving unstructured problems to accelerate wealth & job creation and shared prosperity at home and abroad. Their aim is to establish Austin’s global wireless presence and create opportunities for inter regional networking for researchers, policy makers and business professionals.
• UT Austin's Office of Technology Commercialization is working to establish the University as a leader in the arena of commercialization resulting in a significant impact on the Austin and Texas economies.
• The Wireless Networking & Communications Group at UT Austin is the largest wireless research center in the country with corporate-sponsored research programs for public-private R&D.

Austin boasts proven telecom, transportation, electric and water capacities to satisfy diverse kinds of operations ranging from sensitive data center operations to semiconductor manufacturing, as well as Fortune 500 firms and international businesses, including a world-class network of fiber connection. As the state capital, Austin businesses also enjoy world-class business services in legal, accounting and public relations.

Austin is strategically located between the east and west coasts and is centrally located relative to the major Texas metros of Houston, San Antonio — with its focus on security networks — and the Dallas/Ft. Worth telecom corridor. The Austin region sits on Interstate 35, the primary trade route between Mexico and Canada. The region's hilly terrain provides a diverse wireless test environment with willing and knowledgeable testers.

Austin Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) is a modern international airport served by 11 major airlines, ABIA offers over 300 daily arrivals and departures with direct flights to 99 destinations including six foreign cities. ABIA also features a nearly 300,000 square foot cargo port that is one of the most sophisticated in the nation.

Non-stop Jet Destinations 2008

Texas consistently ranks as one of the nation’s most favorable business climates based on its low tax burden and competitive regulatory environment. In Texas, aggregate costs for real estate, energy, wages and taxes are below most states in the country.

Cost of Living
Compared to other major business centers, Austin is well known for offering affordable living. The National Association of Realtors reports that the median home price in Austin was $163,800 in 2005 while the national median was $219,000.

Cost of Living Index, 1st Quarter 2006

Competitive Labor Costs
Austin salaries in key categories are very competitive, particularly compared with major east and west coast technology centers. While computing and engineering salaries in Austin are 1%-2% above the national mean, the same occupations in major east and west coast IT job markets range from 6%-18% above the national mean.

Average Annual Salaries, May 2006

What better balance can a city offer than being both the 'Best Place for Business and Careers' and the 'Live Music Capital of the World'? Austin pleases all in rankings ranging from 'Best City for Relocating Families' to 'Best Cities for Singles'. Other assessments consistently recognize the region as among the most inventive, creative, wired, rockin', educated, fit and loved.

• Affordable and diverse neighborhoods, from urban lofts to hill country estates
• A climate made for outdoor enjoyment and recreation nearly year round
• Many professional and amateur sports venues and events
• More fine restaurants and clubs per capita than any other U.S. city
• A lush environment highlighted by parks, lakes and trails
• A creative culture that supports the arts, music and the theater
• Year-round festivals and celebrations for people of all ages