AMRC's Economic Impact
Although the AMRC is relatively new, it has already received national recognition for its positive impact on the state's economy. In 2004, Site Selection Magazine, a publication that provides guidance about business locations in America, named Texas the top state to do business in and awarded Texas the 2004 Governor's Cup. The award was based on a survey of corporate executives who cited such factors as state funding for the AMRC, capital investments, business expansions, and new jobs created. Some examples of the ways the AMRC has impacted the economy include:
Impact on existing companies. Millions of dollars in SEMATECH matching funds were spent in the state on equipment purchases, increasing revenues for Texas semiconductor suppliers. Improvements in semiconductor materials, processes, and equipment furthered the development of the products of SEMATECH members with locations in Texas and collaborations with established suppliers resulted in improvements of critical, leading edge products manufactured in the state.
Nurturing new companies. Collaborations with start-ups led to the development of innovative new products for companies such as: Molecular Imprints, Innovalight, Organic ID, Omega Optics, Wireless Valley, and Xidex. Several of these companies have the potential to revolutionize their market sectors and form new industry clusters in advanced technologies.
Acceleration of Innovation. AMRC programs have helped increase Texas' innovative capacity as explained in the section on Commercialization. Innovative activity is one of the key drivers of economic growth. Regions that create and adopt new technologies have been shown to grow faster than those that do not. Leading indicators in 2004 were:
- The Times Higher Education Supplement ranked the University of Texas at Austin 15th of all universities in the world
- The World Knowledge Competitiveness Index ranked the Austin area ninth among 125 of the world's most "knowledge competitive" regions. Benchmarked data included jobs, patents, R&D infrastructure, and educational expenditures.