ABSTRACT
The University of Texas at Austin has been the key institution in the transformation of Austin, Texas, from a state government and university town of about 400,000 to a fast growing, globally competitive technology innovative region. Up until the mid-1980s the city of Austin did not have the knowledge and talent assets to launch or grow technology-based entrepreneurial ventures and university graduates left Austin for the east and west coasts to find work and to pursue careers. National economic development experts believed that it was not possible for Austin to successfully compete with Silicon Valley or Boston in recruiting the “creative class”. They were wrong. By the mid-1900s Austin had become a “talent magnet” and one of the fastest growing mid-sized cities in the United States. Delegations from across the United States and worldwide continually visit Austin to understand how the university and surrounding region were transformed.
