The Information provided below is so important to all concerned in the San Antonio, Temple and Austin Corridor that it is being repeated on this blog to refresh and renew our efforts to move forward with the Wave Of Development.
CATCHING THE NEXT WAVE IN THE CORRIDOR
The following major recommendations for the San Antonio, Temple and Austin Corridor (the Corridor) were a result of The Corridor NanoBio Tech Summit of March 20, 2003 at Southwest Texas State University. These recommendations have been shortened somewhat for the sake of brevity.
I. Improved national priority alignment
a. Award of a Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center at UT.
b. There is an untapped opportunity in applications of nanotechnology to achieving national energy independence. The state as a whole has obvious strengths in energy and nanotech, while the Corridor can bring some value and unique assets to such an effort. Nanotech application to energy production is among the great challenges of the National Nanotechnology Initiative.
c. There are opportunities to exploit the Corridor's collective assets in Homeland Security and Preparedness that are just beginning to be tapped. Further coordination within the Corridor could yield greater opportunities.
II. Regional and state funding of these industries was found to be seriously lacking in comparison to other regions. In spite of fund shortages, it is believed that funding for this type of economic development is crucial to the economic future of the state.
III. These industries tend to be capital-intensive, particularly in the early stages of product development. It is recommended that lab and developmental space be made available to these industries, utilizing existing technology incubators in the Corridor as the means to leverage currently under-utilized capital resources with a view toward developing new resources. The primary or initial recommendation would be to make lab space available for early start-up efforts.
IV. Two key networks are recommended, one at the executive level and one at the technical working level, to facilitate inter-institution collaboration and cross pollination of the best technical thinking. Presently, there is no forum to gather the potential participants in the convergence industries for networking purposes. It is also highly desirable to build a connection between San Antonio and the statewide nanotechnology community.
V. In education, there is both a need to be met and an opportunity that needs to be taken advantage of. The need to be met is the growing requirement for more college graduates with technical backgrounds. It is recommended that the process of meeting this need start at the secondary school level, where interest in technology among students needs to be raised. The opportunity to be taken advantage of lies in the sweeping societal implications of nanotechnology and convergence. Federal funding is available for performing research in this area of interest in the schools located in the Corridor Area.
Source: UT Austin (iC2 Institute-Smithson/Adams/Stacy/Evans)/Skye
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