The
largest headquarters project welcomed into Las Colinas recently was
that of Blackberry maker and wireless technology company Research In
Motion (RIM), which is expected to employ 1,000 people over the next
few years. However, the community also has attracted about 10,000 small
to mid-size businesses such as Omega Environmental Technologies, a
manufacturer of automobile air conditioning parts.
Raytheon
Company boasts a 13-year history in Texas as Raytheon Company and more
than 50 years with its Texas Instruments legacy. With two Raytheon
business headquarters in Texas - Intelligence and Information Systems
in Garland and Network Centric Systems in McKinney - the company has an
additional presence through its Space and Airborne Systems and
Financial Shared Services. In all, the firm employs 9,100 people across
seven locations in Dallas, Garland, McKinney, Plano, and Richardson,
with an annual regional payroll of more than $700 million, a base of
more than 2,700 suppliers, and $600 million in annual purchases. "Texas
offers a diverse, vast pool of top engineering and technical talent
necessary to build and sustain our innovative culture," says Fred
Finley, site executive at Raytheon's McKinney facility. "Living and
working in North Texas are made easy with an attractive quality of
life, access to excellent education, an appealing cost structure and a
patriotic spirit second to none in support of what we do for the brave
men and women serving our country."
Happenings in Houston
The
Houston region is comprised of 10 counties - Montgomery, Harris, San
Jacinto, Chambers, Fort Bend, Liberty, Austin, Waller, Galveston, and
Brazoria - and is home to more than 5 million people. The area boasts
the Port of Houston, the largest port in the United States, with a
central location on the Gulf Coast. The Houston region's five major
economic sectors are aviation and aerospace, energy and petrochemical,
medical and biotechnology, information technology, and nanotechnology.
In
March, the governor announced a $50 million grant from the state's
Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) for the National Center for Therapeutics
Manufacturing (NCTM), a flexible therapeutics manufacturing and
academic training facility at Texas A&M University in College
Station. The NCTM will become an international destination for research
and application of new technologies for the development of medications
to combat diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and influenza. It also
will serve as a model for future strategic national facilities to
protect the nation from bioterrorism threats and attacks. The NCTM is
planned as part of a "biomedical cluster" that also will include two
renowned research institutions - the Texas Institute for Genomic
Medicine, jointly operated by the Texas A&M Health Science Center
and Texas A&M, and the Texas Institute for Pre-Clinical Studies,
operated by Texas A&M.
In a statement to the Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturing Association, the governor noted that the
NCTM's manufacturing arrangements will allow it to contract with
academic, governmental and commercial entities, providing a strong
economic boost to the Texas economy by allowing the production of
therapeutic drugs in-state that otherwise would have been lost to
California, New Jersey, and other locations. The facility will offer
both large and small pharmaceutical companies the flexibility to
manufacture clinical grade commercial drugs in Texas. By collaborating
with academic researchers and commercial companies, the center will
create a new model for producing critical drugs by developing an
innovative "flexible-by-design" manufacturing system, which will allow
rapid production of drugs in precisely targeted quantities. By
comparison, conventional manufacturing plants only specialize in the
mega-production of one type of drug.
Also in March, the
governor's office announced it would provide $250,000 from the ETF to
Austin-based AnaLogix Development Corporation for the commercialization
of its 3-D movement-based game controller for the personal computer and
gaming markets. AnaLogix is working with the University of Texas and
the Austin Technology Incubator to commercialize this product. The ETF
award will allow AnaLogix to launch and sustain production and
marketing of the controllers.
A Silver Lining
While
business has waned somewhat in 2009, the state of Texas refuses to
simmer over it. "Texas has always depended on a combination of being
fiscally responsible, continually working on a business climate that is
favorable for investment and the diversification of our economy," says
Demerson. "These things plus the leadership of Governor Perry and our
legislative body, have contributed to Texas being recognized by many as
having the best business climate in the United States to run a
business."
