LONE STAR STATE BLAZES A NEW TRAIL IN INNOVATION Texas is becoming the state of choice for investors in cutting-edge industries
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hen the administration of President Kennedy was searching for a base for its manned spaceflight program, it looked for a location that combined diverse industries, a qualified workforce, strong universities, a high quality of life and excellent transport links. Back then, it did not take long for the site selection team to choose Houston. Today, more than fifty years later, the state of Texas is building on these competitive advantages and becoming a world leader not only in aerospace but in a series of other industries dedicated to innovation, research and development.
“We are in the process of transforming the DNA of our economy,” Governor Greg Abbott says. “While we will always remain
What Texas does so well is education. Having such a well-educated workforce makes a huge difference to businesses.” Doug Parker, Chairman & CEO American Airlines
the number one state for energy, Texas is quickly becoming the home of innovation.” Texas is already the leading US state in terms of technology
exports and is a global powerhouse in healthcare, life sciences and biotechnology. Tech giants such as Apple, Amazon and Facebook are moving key operations to the state, while major multinational investors include the likes of Siemens, Novartis, Samsung and Toyota. For businesses whose future growth depends on innovation, it is the quality of the workforce and research facilities in Texas which are the main draw. At a time when other states have been unable to fund any expansion of university research, Texas has made it a priority to turn its universities into innovation leaders and attract the brightest scientists
and researchers in the country. The low tax, low regulation environment also helps bring businesses of all shapes and sizes to the state: Texas has no personal income tax, no corporate income tax, and has slashed its business franchise tax by 25%. “Thanks to the tax and regulatory policies, the overall environment is really conducive to investing and calling Texas home,” says Richard Templeton, the President and CEO of Dallas-based technology giant Texas Instruments. “The government here understands that growing and prospering businesses lead to growing and prospering states.”
From L to R: Governor Greg Abbott · Elizabeth Killinger, Executive Vice President, NRG Retail and Reliant · Scott Prochazka, CEO & President, CenterPoint Energy · Neal A Shear, Director, interim CEO & President, Cheniere Energy · Dr. Renu Khator, Chancellor & President, University of Houston · Robert L Duncan, Chancellor, Texas Tech University System · Maher Maso, Mayor of Frisco 2nd row: Julie Hall-Barrow, VP of Innovation and Virtual Health, Children’s HealthSM · Sean Donohue, CEO, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport · Mario Diaz, Executive Director, Houston Airport System · Roger Guenther, Executive Director, Port of Houston Authority · Richard Templeton, President & CEO, Texas Instruments · Christopher J Durovich, CEO, Children’s HealthSM Dallas · David W. Leebron, President of Rice University · Mike Rawlings, Mayor of Dallas · David Booth, Chairman & co-CEO, Dimensional Fund Advisors · Gregory L. Fenves, President, University of Texas · Doug Parker, Chairman & CEO, American Airlines Bottom row: Iain Vasey, President & CEO, Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation · James Gandy, President, Frisco Economic Development Corporation · Rodney Madsen, CEO, GermBlast · Joel Allison, CEO, Baylor Scott & White Health · John Osborne, President & CEO, Lubbock Economic Development Alliance · Manolo Sanchez, Chairman & CEO, BBVA Compass · Hugh Forrest, Director, SXSW Interactive Festival
Produced this Independent Feature
In collaboration with
FORWARD THINKING INVESTING. INNOVATING. IN PURSUIT OF THE FUTURE. At CenterPoint Energy, we know that preparing for the energy needs of tomorrow involves making significant investments today. The economy in Houston and Texas is vibrant and growing fast, and we’re proud to help plant the seeds that empower that growth. That’s why we’re investing in smarter natural gas distribution systems and a cutting-edge electric grid to safely bring energy to the homes that need it. And customers are taking notice – CogentTM Energy Reports surveys ranked our electric distribution utility #1 in Texas and named our natural gas utility as a Customer and Environmental Champion. Every day, we’re working hard to deliver the energy that makes our city and our state a better place to live, work, and play…after all, it’s what we do.
SETTING THE PACE IN TECHNOLOGY With its young workforce and pro-business administration, Texas is a magnet for technology investors
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hile Silicon Valley has historically been the world’s main driver of technological research and innovation, in recent years Texas has been running neck-and-neck with the golden state. The businessfriendly environment of Texas and its creative and entrepreneurial population make it an ideal platform for launching, growing and managing a technology company. It was at Austin’s legendary music and tech festival South by Southwest that the likes of Airbnb, Uber, Twitter and Foursquare were first propelled into the big time. Start-ups that grew into online leaders, such as HomeAway and Websense (now Forcepoint), have chosen to make Austin home. “When the world economy was going through turmoil in 2007 and 2008, we were seeing massive growth,” Hugh Forrest, the director of SXSW Interactive Festival says. “The fact that Twitter
Frisco is a great place to raise a family, which is a huge economic benefit.” Maher Maso, Mayor of Frisco
broke through here has made SXSW increasingly popular for start-ups and for venture capitalists looking for the next big thing in tech.” North of Austin in the DallasFort Worth megalopolis area, the technology sector is playing a key role in the rise of Frisco, which is one of the fastest growing cities anywhere in the US. Its recent boom-town effect is making ripples
Frisco is the Cowboys’ new HQ, on pace for August opening
in the region. Frisco’s population grew by 307% between 2000 and 2014. The size and quality of this workforce - some 60% of the adult population has a bachelor’s degree or higher – has drawn significant levels of multinational investment. Many of the city’s new residents work for the giant telecommunications, software and healthcare companies who have chosen to set up shop here, including Oracle, Genband and AT&T. Meanwhile, the city’s North Texas Enterprise Center (NTEC), a partnership with the City of Frisco and the Frisco Economic Development Corporation, provides high-potential start-ups from the region with the guidance and resources they need to succeed. Such has been the appeal of the NTEC business accelerator program that the facility has had to move into a new, larger building, where it currently serves around 25 fastgrowing start-ups. For the town’s Mayor, Maher Maso, managing Frisco’s expansion and making sure it remains a balanced community is the number one priority of his time in office. Innovation and technology are
playing a critical role in ensuring the city’s sustainable growth, he says. “We are trying to break the model of what a city is,” he says. “Almost everything that we do has innovation involved.”
Innovation on a city level makes Frisco attractive to high-tech companies.”
in the city have been designed to cope with the rapid population growth and to last for the long term. “There are no asphalt streets in Frisco,” says James Gandy, President of the Frisco Economic Development Corporation. “They are all concrete. They may be more expensive but they last a lot longer. We have been very careful to put standards in place that people will value and appreciate and which will enable our long-term sustainable development.” “Our innovative culture and leadership is one of the main attractions when people and companies think about moving to Frisco,” Gandy adds. “There is a genuine atmosphere of support for innovation here.” And as Frisco invests in forwardthinking infrastructure and public
James Gandy President, Frisco Economic Development Corporation
As examples of how Frisco is applying technology to rethinking city life, Mayor Maso points to the municipality’s innovative public safety system, especially for schools. The city developed an application called Situational Awareness For Emergency Response (SAFER), which provides fire, police, and emergency responders with access to maps and live data feeds while en route to a school incident. Frisco has also been a pioneer in adopting challenging energy efficiency standards for homes and new buildings and in implementing smart, hightechnology traffic control systems. Public infrastructure and buildings
Technology is key to Texas Instruments
services, the city is continuing to attract educated workers and the companies that employ them. “Our investments in education, public safety and quality of life are driving families to us, and that in turn is motivating a lot of company relocations from the US and around the world,” Maso says. “There is already a very international corporate community in Frisco and it is only going to grow more in the future.”
Our culture spans the globe but our values are rooted here in Texas.”
Austin is an emerging city for the high technology industries.”
Our tolerant, relaxed atmosphere attracts talent and technology.”
We intend to expand our footprint close to Frisco’s downtown area.”
Brian Sharples CEO & Co-Founder HomeAway
John McCormack CEO Forcepoint
Mike Rollins President, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce
Adil Adi Chairman & CEO Worldlink
Connecting the World to Houston
Houston Airports connect the businesses, cultures and economies of the world to the most vibrant city in this nation. With George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport, Houston boasts two airports with international service that reach nearly 200 routes and cover six continents. Innovative thinking and pioneering technology provide safer and more direct routes, quicker and more efficient international travel processing, customer-focused service and commitment to providing a world-class traveling experience. • • • •
Ground-Based Augmentation System uses GPS technology for improved landings Optimized Profile Descent provides more efficient landings & reduces noise & fuel Free WiFi in both airports: one of top 10 fastest systems worldwide More than 50 Automated Passport Control & Global Entry kiosks
www.fly2houston.com
INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS SECURE ECONOMIC FUTURE The state is on the cutting edge of developments in aerospace and power
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People may not know if they are boarding an airplane or a spacecraft.” Mario Diaz, Executive Director Houston Airport System
same time, investments in quality of life, arts and education have helped the city attract bright people from all over the world and develop new, cutting-edge industries. Wherever they come from, for most people their first view of Houston will be one of the city’s three airports. Between them, in 2015 the airports served more than 55 million passengers, including 10.7 million international travelers. As well as the main gateway to the city, George Bush Intercontinental Airport, last year William P. Hobby Airport welcomed international flights for the first time in more than 40 years. That makes the city one of only two municipalities in the United States to offer passengers a choice between two international airports. In total, the airports welcomed five new foreign flag carriers in 2015 and expanded services to international destinations from existing carriers. “Our mission is to connect the
Houston Airport System is vital to the city
business, people, cultures and economies of the world to Houston,” Mario Diaz, the Executive Director of the Houston Airport System says. “We are bringing in new airlines and investing in new technologies and services to provide travelers with the best travel experience. We already have the second fastest WiFi signal of any airport in the US.” Over the coming years, the Houston Airport System plans to invest $4 billion in increasing capacity and improving the customer experience. After building a $250 million new concourse at Hobby, the focus now is on Bush Intercontinental and on developing a new $1.5$1.7 billion international terminal. The city’s airports are also making a key contribution to the
Q&A
f there’s one thing that Texas is used to, it’s fluctuations in the oil price. Over the years, successive governments have re-invested windfall profits from high commodity prices into strategic projects in infrastructure, education and other critical areas; projects which have diversified the Texan economy and created new drivers of growth for the lean years. Nowhere are the results of this policy more visible than in Houston. Whereas oil used to represent 80% of the city’s economy, that figure has fallen by half over the years to stand at less than 40%. Thanks to forwardlooking investments in infrastructure, Houston has emerged as one of the country’s leading hubs for trade, logistics and manufacturing. At the
development of one of Houston’s most strategic industries – aerospace. Houston has played a celebrated part in the history of US space exploration. The city is now looking to secure a leading role in the new era of space, as the private sector moves into the driving seat of the low orbit space industry. In 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration granted the city’s Ellington Airport a license for a commercial spaceport, making it a potential launch and landing site for suborbital, reusable launch vehicles. The airport has already begun developing a 53,000 square-foot innovation incubator campus, where start-ups and established companies will be able to work on advanced technologies and build prototypes. “Houston Spaceport will attract global aviation and aerospace companies and help Houston become a leader in the field,” Diaz says. “In the future we would like to see flights from here at Mach 5 speeds, which means the trip to Singapore would take less than four hours.” Back on earth, one of the state’s largest energy distributors is also investing giving Texas the state-ofthe-art infrastructure it needs to
DR. ELLEN OCHOA Director of the Johnson Space Center
Dr. Ellen Ochoa, a veteran astronaut, speaking at the SpaceCom event. “The International Space Station (ISS) Program is a great asset. There are opportunities for all kinds of companies and organizations to experiment on the ISS. For example, pharmaceutical companies can experiment with medicine and drug testing that can lead to future discoveries. Part of our job is to enhance and enable a commercial space industry in the Lower
Earth Orbit. Naturally, NASA wants to move on and explore beyond Lower Earth Orbit and eventually get humans to Mars. We are also interested in partnerships that help us with the technologies we need for the exploration program. A lot of the technology we do at Johnson Space Center is associated with exploration – life support systems, advanced spacesuits, humanoid robotics, and there is a lot of work being done on human health and performance in space.”
power a new era of technological and economic development. “Our customer growth rate in Houston is at 2% or higher, which is enormous when compared to other cities in the US,” says Scott Prochazka, President and CEO of CenterPoint Energy, which is planning to build a new transmission line into the city to increase the power supply. At the lower voltage end of the network, towards the domestic household, CenterPoint Energy is deploying automated technologies for managing the grid more efficiently and is rolling out smart meters which
Grid efficiency is a priority
can show consumers exactly how much power they are consuming, almost in real time. “With today’s smart technologies, we know before our customers do when power is out and where,” Prochazka says. “Likewise, in our gas business, we now have leak detection technology that is 1,000 times more sensitive than the traditional gas detection
“Our job is to ensure we have safe, reliable and resilient delivery systems.” Scott Prochazka, President & CEO CenterPoint Energy
methods used after storms or tornadoes.” “Texas has a real competitive edge in energy, with cheap power rates and solid transmission and distribution networks for electricity and gas,” Prochazka adds. “The legislature, regulators and the utilities all understand the value of having reliable infrastructure in place.”
HEALTHCARE FOR THE NEW GENERATION Children’s HealthSM is bringing innovative medical care to today’s young Texans
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s the population of Texas grows at an ever increasing rate, the state’s healthcare sector is investing in developing the innovative services needed to keep up with the rise in patient numbers. Nowhere is this more critical than in the pedriatic sector; it is estimated that around one in nine of all American children now live in Texas.
We are using technology in innovative ways to bring our expertise to more children and their families.” Christopher J Durovich CEO, Children’s HealthSM
“We are seeing explosive growth in the pediatric population of the state of Texas, and an incredible diversity of languages and cultures,” says Christopher J Durovich, CEO, Children’s Health Dallas, which is the sixth-largest and second-busiest pediatric health care system in the
US. “Our mandate is to identify new ways to serve increasing numbers of children closer to where they live.” Dallas-based Children’s Health has been operating for over 100 years and was the first certified level-one trauma center for children anywhere in Texas. The organization grew out of its original single hospital site long ago. It currently encompasses two full service hospitals, 40 different sites where over 50 specialties are practiced, and 20 primary care locations. All told, Children’s Health now serves more than 200,000 children each year. To extend its reach even further, Children’s Health is investing heavily in telemedicine technologies. In a groundbreaking school nurse program, the institution has partnered with some 60 Texas schools to provide basic primary care services such as ear, nose and throat treatment to children while they are at school. The organization is also
Empowering children through technology
rolling out kiosk-based telemedicine services, enabling Children’s Health virtual visits. “We will continue to find the most unique and productive combination of our assets and resources so that we can serve more people, more kids, and more families in new ways,” Durovich says. “We are going to continue to be innovative about how we reach kids.” Julie Hall-Barrow, the institution’s VP of Innovation and Virtual Health, says that Children’s Health is focused above all on using information
technology to bring healthcare into the home, to help fight the daunting health challenges faced by Texan children today. For example, in Dallas around 155,000 children suffer from asthma and upper respiratory illness and is the main reason that children come to the organization. In response, Children’s Health has developed a unique asthma app, My Asthma Pal, to help children and their parents track their condition, empowering them to take charge of their asthma management. The organization is now working with physicians and families to develop a similar mobile app for diabetes, which would reduce the need for in-patient hospitalization. “We are constantly looking at opportunities for virtual health and telemedicine and for partnering with schools and families for healthcare education,” Hall-Barrow says. “We want to extend as much as we can into the community.”
By your side, as leaders in pediatric innovation. After 100 years, Children’s HealthSM is proud to continue a legacy of making life better for children. We make award-winning pediatric care more accessible than ever through programs such as Remote Patient Monitoring, the My Asthma Pal App and a broad Telemedicine Network. With cutting-edge research, innovative medical science and nationally recognized services, including nine U.S. News & World Report ranked pediatric specialties, we’re committed to building a brighter, better future for children.
Learn more at childrens.com/excellence.
IN THE VANGUARD OF THE HEALTHCARE REVOLUTION Texas medical institutions are transforming the delivery of healthcare services
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ome to the largest medical complex in the world, the Texas Medical Center, and the birthplace of innovations such as the artificial heart, the coronary artery bypass and the first private hospital air ambulance service, Texas is to healthcare what New York is to finance and California to films. To increase Houston’s role as a global hub for life science start-ups and entrepreneurs, the Texas Medical Center (TMC) is currently developing the TMC Innovation Institute and the TMCx accelerator program. Dr Robert C. Robbins, President and CEO of the TMC describes the program, “We are also trying to develop a $50 to 100 million fund to support start-up companies in the TMC”. In recent years, the growth of the state’s healthcare sector has taken the industry well outside its historic heartland of Houston. The cities of Dallas, Austin and San Antonio are all now home to a series of worldclass institutions. “Our healthcare story isn’t just about Houston and the TMC,” Governor Abbott says. “We are building massive medical facilities in other cities in Texas that are transforming the healthcare industry.”
Dallas is home to world-class hospitals and medical facilities
Contrary to popular ideas about the culture of Texas, size isn’t everything in the state’s latest revolution in life sciences. Giant though they may be, for institutions like the TMC in Houston, Dallasbased Baylor Scott & White Health, and the upcoming Dell Medical School in Austin, the key to adding value to the community is to invest in cross-disciplinary research, rethink delivery systems, and support innovative healthcare start-ups. “The taxpayers voted to raise their taxes here for a medical school for a couple of reasons. Top of the list was a belief that this would improve health and that the medical school would be a catalyst in Austin’s
economy. To make large-scale change and become a model for the nation we need to have a more robust
As patients behave more like consumers, communications technologies are increasingly important.” Joel T. Allison, CEO Baylor Scott & White Health
health economy in general, but more specifically a more robust health innovation economy” explained Maninder Kahlon, the Vice Dean of the Dell Medical School. Support for innovation is a core value at Baylor Scott & White
Health, the largest non-for-profit health care system in Texas, and its component institutions. Just this year, the Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas announced the first clinical trial in the US for a uterus transplant. Expansion of the study could benefit thousands of women who hope to carry their own biological children. Baylor Scott & White is a world leader in organ transplants, performing about 100 heart transplants a year, as well as carrying out frequent liver, kidney and lung transplants. As the second largest provider of cancer treatments in Texas, the company regularly performs bone marrow transplants. It is also intensively researching precision medicine as part of its never-ending battle against cancer and heart disease. “We have over 1,000 clinical trials across our system at any given time,” Joel T. Allison, CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health says. “We believe that part of our responsibility to the communities we serve is to continuously look at how we can improve clinical care by bringing research to the bedside. We do clinical research so we can quickly deliver our innovations and our new ways of treating certain diagnoses to the patient’s bedside.”
Rooted in history. Invested in innovation. At Baylor Scott & White Health, we’ve been innovating the way health care is delivered for more than a century. Today, we’re the largest not-for-profit health care system in Texas, and we’re investing in new ways to care for the health of our state, and our nation, every day. From our focus on prevention to telemedicine technology, our goal is to make individualized health care accessible when and where you need it. It’s just one more way we’re Changing Health Care. For Life.®
To learn more about Baylor Scott & White, visit BaylorScottandWhite.com. Physicians provide clinical services as members of the medical staff at one of Baylor Scott & White Health’s subsidiary, community or affiliated medical centers and do not provide clinical services as employees or agents of those medical centers, Baylor Health Care System, Scott & White Healthcare or Baylor Scott & White Health. ©2016 Baylor Scott & White Health. BSWH_464_ 2016 KS.
GermBlast: Taking the fight to the invisible enemy
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t is seemingly every month that a new epidemic breaks out in some distant corner of the world and then travels across the globe. From chicken flu and swine flu to zika and diseases like ebola, the global healthcare community is urgently looking for innovative ways to respond to this new threat. A Lubbock-based company, GermBlast, is at the forefront of this effort. GermBlast’s main strategy is to keep the fight against germs outside the body.
Healthcare providers are using new technologies to respond to customers’ demands and lower the cost of care The medical device sector in Texas is also benefiting from the amount of research and development elsewhere in the local economy, especially in the energy industry. “Oil and gas engineers have remarkable talents and capabilities and visualization capabilities that we can use,” says Dr Alan Lumsden, the medical director of the world-leading Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center at the Houston Methodist Hospital. Each year, a Pumps & Pipes Conference in Houston brings
Chief Executive Officer Rodney Madsen says that every year around 1.7 million hospital patients in the US acquire an infection. Nearly 100,000 of those will die from those infections. “The protocols we utilize in healthcare today are antiquated because we’re dealing with bacteria that are resistant to drugs,” Madsen says. “If we keep it outside the body, we can kill it before it’s too late.” The company runs comprehensive disinfection programs in hospitals and in other high-risk institutions such as schools. The GermBlast
service kills virtually all dangerous microorganisms, using innovative technologies such as atomized alcohol vapors and high-powered ultraviolet light. As a result, it significantly lowers the number of illnesses and infections in any given institution. In addition to its disinfection services, the company runs education and awareness programs to train a customer’s staff and stakeholders in infection control protocols. “GermBlast is similar to both an antibiotic for the environment and a vaccination for
together leaders and researchers from Texas’ world-leading healthcare, energy and aerospace sectors to share their technology knowhow and transfer their knowledge. “The grouping of these three industries is an advantage that is unique to Houston,” says Dr Lumsden, a co-founder of the event. Institutions in Texas are also leading the industry in responding to the changing expectations of patients and families and in developing innovative new ways of delivering care. Allison says that Baylor Scott & White Health is working hard to move care out of the inpatient setting and to an outpatient setting, to the physician’s office, to the patient’s
home. “Through medical science and technology, we are now able to care for patients in a very different way than we did 43 years ago when I started in healthcare,” Allison says. “Back then, it was predominantly an inpatient model, because that’s how we were paid. It was the reverse of what it should be. Now we want to be paid for keeping patients healthy and well.” The company has been at the forefront in communications technologies to meet the demands of patients today. Recently, it live-Tweeted a heart transplant from inside an operating room, to an audience of more than one million people. Same-day appointments
The battle begins in the laboratory
the environment,” Madsen says. “We are relevant anywhere that bacteria and virus transmission is an issue.”
and video visits are now a matter of course. “The consumer will demand this kind of technologically-enabled
We feel that we are extremely well positioned to compete on a global basis.” Bill McKeon CEO, Texas Medical Center
care,” Allison says. “Our apps already help patients do everything from scheduling appointments, to choosing access points, to video visiting with doctors. We just need to see that health care keeps up with the innovation and the technology that is available.”
UNIVERSITY RESEARCH DRIVE POWERS GROWTH Emerging research universities in Texas have joined the national elite
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t the beginning of 2016, years of rising investment by Texas universities in research, development and innovation won official recognition from the authoritative Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education; no fewer than four universities from Texas earned the elite Tier One status for research, doubling the state’s total to eight. “Carnegie Tier One recognizes that we are nationally competitive,” says Robert L. Duncan, Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, based in Lubbock. Texas Tech University, one of the system’s four component institutions,
“It is important to have a business climate favorable to innovation. Texas does a very good job of that.” Dr John Opperman, Interim President Texas Tech University
was one of those universities that achieved the designation. “The Texas legislature has been very aggressive in seeking to make emerging research universities more competitive nationally for research, and we’ve invested significantly over a long period of time to achieve that.”
Campus of Texas Tech in Lubbock
Altogether, universities in Texas are responsible for around $4 billion in research and development expenditures every year. The returns on that investment have been spectacular for the state; high quality students and faculty now regularly choose Texas over its competitors, providing corporations who come here with access to a workforce and research facilities without rival anywhere in the central US. Twenty years after the Texas Tech University System was formed in 1996, its member institutions now operate at multiple campuses and academic sites across Texas. The research budget of Texas Tech has grown to in excess of $150 million, and the university has increased the number of doctoral degrees awarded in each of the last five years, including 332 in 2015, up from 243 doctoral degrees in 2010. The university is careful to prioritize research into areas where it has comparative advantage, such
as wind, agriculture and veterinary medicine. For example, making good use of Lubbock’s location in the Great Plains “wind corridor,” Texas Tech is home to the National Wind Institute. The university offers a oneof-a-kind multidisciplinary degree in wind energy, training young people in the skills and knowledge they need for a sector that is growing rapidly not only in West Texas but around the world. “Our research is increasingly focused on global issues and issues of importance to people and to the human condition, while benefiting the local community as well,” Dr John Opperman, the interim President of Texas Tech University, says. One of the next ambitions for Texas Tech is to earn membership of the American Association of Universities (AAU), joining the state’s two older public schools, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M, as well as Rice University, the leading private research university in Texas. All three have long been Carnegie Tier One institutions, and have played a massive part in the economic success of the state. “Businesses go where the natural resources are. Increasingly, the resource that matters most is our young people,” Michael K. Young, President of Texas A&M says. “Having these
great universities to attract terrific students and give them opportunities for transformative intellectual expe-
Texas universities are dedicated to innovation in the service of the community.” Michael K. Young President, Texas A&M
riences is as valuable a thing as you could possibly provide a company. It is not accidental that so many Fortune 500 companies have their headquarters in Texas and that you see so many companies moving here.” Young says that one of the unique characteristics of the research values of Texas A&M is the sense of service to the community. For instance, following the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Texas A&M scientists have played a major role in researching the impact of the spill and in developing new techniques for dissipating the oil. Later this year at the University of Texas in Austin, a state-of-theart educational institution will open its doors to its first students and set new standards for the links between a research university and its community. The Dell Medical School,
GAS REVOLUTION TRANSFORMS CORPUS CHRISTI
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hen the “Theo T” sailed out of Port Corpus Christi on New Year’s Eve 2015, there was more to celebrate than the beginning of a new year. The ship carried the first shipment of crude oil to leave the United States in 40 years, signalling a dramatic change in the energy industry in America as well as a great opportunity for the port city of Corpus Christi. “The energy export market has changed dramatically and quickly, and the pace is projected
to quicken. We are positioned to take advantage of both this new oil exporting opportunity as well as the vast international demand for Liquified Natural Gas,” says Iain Vasey, CEO of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation. Thanks to a massive new liquefaction plant that Cheniere is building in Corpus Christi area, it is now possible to deliver Texas shale gas to foreign countries that are thirsting for cheap, clean energy. “The availability of natural gas,
used as a feedstock or power source, is one of the key factors that is driving the Corpus Christi economy. “As well as the port, we have excellent rail, road and pipeline infrastructure,” Vasey says. The city’s combination of access to plentiful gas with a deep water port has lured industrial investors of all types from across the world, from Italian plastics producer M&G to Austrian steel company voestalpine and Chinese pipe manufacturer TPCO America.
Port of Corpus Christi
With approximately $40 billion in new announced projects and more in the pipeline, the Corpus Christi region is looking at a bright future.
the first medical school in nearly 50 years to be built from the ground up at an AAU research university, aims to develop a new model for medical education based on partnership with the community. As an integrated part of the University, the Dell Medical School will benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration across different research departments, and will form the heart of a new medical district and innovation zone that is taking shape in downtown Austin. Local taxpayers voted to fund part of the costs of the new facility, and UT Austin President Gregory L. Fenves says that this gives the University a major responsibility to improve the community’s health. “We will be going not just on diagnosing and treating disease but also on keeping the local population healthy, which is how we are going to reduce the cost and increase the value of medical care.”
We have been careful to grow in areas where there are significant needs.” Robert L. Duncan Chancellor, Texas Tech University System
Our faculty and students are eager to tackle society’s greatest challenges.” Michael K. Young President, Texas A&M
The key word for much of what we do in innovation is interdisciplinary.” R. Gerald Turner, President Southern Methodist University
Our research mission is at the core of our notion of service.” David Leebron President, Rice University
Innovation Hub at Research Park A major center for innovation and entrepreneurialism, the 40,000 square foot facility is a resource for the faculty and students of both Texas Tech University and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, as well as community members interested in launching new ventures. The collaborative space for researchers, academic programs that promote entrepreneurship and innovation, public or private partnerships, and new startup businesses is a critical step in building the knowledge-based economy of West Texas.
DALLAS AND LUBBOCK REAP THE R&D DIVIDENDS From Dallas in the North to Lubbock in the West, innovation is driving growth
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hile southern Texas is geared towards energy, oil and chemicals, and central Texas around Austin is a land of start-ups and creatives, the business landscape of northern Texas is more diversified. Telecom and information technology multinationals sit side by side with banks, healthcare and defense companies, while the world’s largest airline and the largest car manufacturer have both chosen the region for their global or regional Lubbock is attracting new industry headquarters. The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) number one auto-maker, is currently metroplex, the fourth largest market moving its entire US headquarters to in the US, dominates the economy the metroplex. of North Texas. It is here that semiJust an hour’s flight west of Dallas-Fort Worth, the city of Whatever Lubbock is punching way above its industry you are in, in weight across a range of technologyDallas you can quickly intensive industries. Originally a make a big impact.” town based almost entirely on cotton Mike Rawlings, Mayor of Dallas and agriculture, Lubbock’s economy is now increasingly diversified, conductor giant Texas Instruments thanks above all to two fast growing first started life; TI’s growth over the universities – Texas Tech University decades has helped transform the and the Texas Tech University metroplex into a hotbed of research Health Sciences Center. The two and development. “Technology has institutions are major investors in its roots in Dallas because of Texas research into such critical areas Instruments and that has attracted a as energy, water, agriculture and lot of technology investors,” Dallas cancer; both TTU and the Texas Mayor Mike Rawlings says. “TI cre- Tech Health Sciences Center have ated the modern-day Dallas.” more than doubled their annual Outside the technology sector, R&D investments since 2008. DFW’s central location, qualified Lubbock’s strength in research is workforce and low costs has made now attracting unprecedented levels the region a magnet for logistics of private sector interest. powerhouses such as FedEx, UPS “The technologies that are and Amazon, as well as the natural coming out of our universities, and global headquarters for the world’s the ability to contract for research, largest airline, American Airlines. present great opportunities for Meanwhile, Toyota, the world’s companies,” says John Osborne,
President of the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance (LEDA). “We have been very successful in bringing new industries into Lubbock, based above all on the huge partnership between the city and Texas Tech University,” Jeff Griffith of Lubbock City Council says. “Lubbock was founded by entrepreneurs and innovators looking for opportunities in the West. The people of our community share those same values today.” Other educational institutions with campuses in the Lubbock area include Lubbock Christian University, South Plains College and Wayland Baptist University. In total, more than 50,000 college students attend classes here, and almost one third of the region’s adults have a college degree or higher. Lubbock’s research facilities and its pool of young, educated talent have attracted major multinational investors to the city. German semiconductor maker X-Fab has
Our universities allow us to be much more innovative than many other areas.” John Osborne President, Lubbock Economic Development Alliance (LEDA)
chosen Lubbock for its only foundry in the US. In the crop sciences sector, Monsanto is investing $140 million in building a hightechnology cottonseed processing facility here. The site will become Monsanto’s primary US hub for all its cottonseed processing operations.
Lubbock is also the nerve center for the global cottonseed business for Germany’s Bayer CropScience. Last year saw the opening of the Bayer CropScience Lubbock Seeds Innovation Center, a result of the company’s partnership with Texas Tech University. The $16 million complex is designed to boost seed research and innovation not only for cotton, but for Bayer’s soybean and canola research as well. “Bayer CropScience has a tremendous level of collaboration with the university,”
DFW is a booming metroplex
LEDA’s Osborne says. “As a result of their partnership, other investments in agricultural research have come to Lubbock. For example, Chromatin [a specialist in sorghum] has moved its R&D team into the Texas Tech Innovation Hub and Research Park.” “While the research resources of many universities elsewhere in the country are shrinking, in Texas we have continued to invest in higher education and in our research universities,” Dr Lance Nail, board member of Lubbock Economic Development Alliance adds. “Having a thriving research university has attracted people here and is helping to drive the economy of Lubbock forward.”
Our most advanced wafer fabs are based right here in the Dallas area.”
We have more high-tech jobs here than Houston and Austin combined.”
Our higher education facilities and talent pool are a major pull.”
We have the highest hotel capacity in the state of Texas.”
Richard Templeton President & CEO Texas Instruments
Sean Donohue CEO, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
Jeff Griffith Lubbock City Council
Phillip Jones CEO, Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau
Texas is in the Process of Transforming Its GDP DNA Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas ing $300m a year. Thirdly, we are refocusing our higher education institutions to be the innovation leaders. We are providing special grants and funding that attract Nobel laureates and National Academy members to our universities. Another important factor is that we are investing in transportation infrastructure. In the last legislative session, we dedicated about $4bn a year for at least 10 years to build our transportation infrastructure. Altogether over a decade, it will add up to at least $40bn.
How important is innova- largest campus worldwide in tion as a driver of Texas’s Austin. We have Google and strong economic growth? Facebook, all kinds of wellTexas is in the known and process of transwell-branded “Large forming its GDP tech companies. national and DNA. We are hisHigh-tech comtorically an enerinternational panies are comgy-based State ing to Texas bebusinesses and we remain cause of the low the number one tax environment are building State for energy. and the high But Texas is also manufacturing quality workforce becoming the plants up and for technology. home of innovaF u r t h e r m o re , down the Gulf we are working to tion. We are very quickly advancbe the number Coast.” ing in the highone State for life tech arena. Apple is in the pro- sciences technology – just on cess of opening up the second cancer research we are provid-
Greagg Abbott Texas Governer.indd 1
Where do the funds come from? We are doing this without raising a single penny in taxes, fees, tolls or debt. We are running our State like any good business, and we live within our means while dedicating money upfront on roads, education and innovation. Obviously, Texas benefits from oil and gas revenues. We have about $10bn in our “rainy day fund” from the proceeds of oil and gas, and we have about another $4 billion unspent in our bank account. Today, the State of Texas has the best balance sheet of the nation. Texas was ranked number one State for doing business by CEOs, for the 11th consecutive year... A key factor for this good result is that we allow entrepreneurs, innovators, job creators to keep more of their money and plough that extra money right back into growing their businesses. Texas has no personal income tax, and we have no corporate income tax. We
$10bn
is the amount of Texas’s “rainy day fund” from the proceeds of oil & gas
$40bn or more over ten years in new transportation spending will result from recent legislative action
do have a business franchise tax that we have just slashed by 25%. Texas is already a leading exporter. How much interest are you seeing from innovative foreign companies in investing here? Their interest is immense. They like the Texas model for doing business, and also, we have access to so many worldclass opportunities, in particular in healthcare. Another important aspect is that here, manufacturing industries have low input costs, particularly as far as natural gas is concerned. Up and down the Gulf Coast, large national and international businesses are building manufacturing facilities because the low input cost allows them to manufacture more cheaply.
15/04/2016 19:43
A pro-business climate makes Texas the 12th largest economy in the world Tracye McDaniel, President & CEO, Texas Economic Development Corporation Texas is driving innovation across a multitude of sectors. Our goal and this Governor’s goal, is to create a business climate that is world class. To do that, R&D and innovation must play a part. One of the things that keeps Texas in the best rankings across the country is its diversification. Texas has become the second largest cyber state based on technology employment and we have a robust biotechnology and life science sector. Some of our top sectors include aerospace, aviation, defense, biotechnology, and energy. What are the state’s main competitive advantages for business? We are the number one job creator in the nation. Since the recession hit, Texas has created more than 1.2 million jobs, where the rest of the 49 states created 700,000 net jobs. We have a fair legal system, great infrastructure, and a skilled workforce with more than 13 million available Texans ready to which is about a $282 million capital investment with almost work. Texas is already a state that has 7,000 employees that will open in 2016. Amazon will open their fifth Texas is driving innovation a very pro-business climate, but one Texas fulfillment center in San Marcos. Facebook, in Fort Worth, is across a multitude of the things our Governor did in this looking at a data center that is powered by 100% renewable energy last legislative session was to pass a and they are looking to create more than over $500 billion in capital of sectors.” 25% reduction in the franchise tax. investment within five years. We are also very excited about being For companies that are here, it allows named the North American HQ for Toyota. them to have more money to invest not What is Texas doing to strengthen its only in their companies, but in the communities international economic links? in our state. One of the most exciting things that It is important to recognize that Texas has been promotes innovation and R&D is the University named, for 13 consecutive years, the top exporter Research Initiative, which is putting $40 million in the nation. We are also the 12th largest towards attracting world-class researchers to Texas skilled workforce economy in the world. There are 164 languages public universities. spoken in Texas and 99 consulates are located in our state. We rank 3rd when it comes to total new How important are the state’s universities to FDI projects. investors and businesses? We have 36 public universities, 50 community What trends are you seeing in investment in colleges and districts. We look at those as a top exporter 2015 and what should we look for in 2016? pipeline for talent in our state—helping us attract in the nation When we look at where we are in terms of foreign companies. Just to brag a little bit, four Texas direct and domestic investment, we want to grow business schools, Rice, The University of Texas and maintain our spot as one of the top states in at Austin, Texas A&M and Southern Methodist the US. If you look at some of the trends that are University were recently ranked the best in the happening, technology is definitely a sector where world according to the Financial Times. we expect tremendous growth. We are also seeing growth in our biotechnology and life sciences area What new companies have come to Texas in reduction in the because there is a lot of activity and emerging sub2015 with high technology investments? franchise tax sectors in those areas. We definitely have our eyes I will start with Apple. They are planning to locate on these industries. their second-largest global campus in Austin,
13m
13 years 25%
Dallas: The Fourth Largest Market in the U.S. Mike Rawlings, Mayor of Dallas What makes Dallas an interesting and successful city? Our first asset is location. We are perfectly centered in the business epicenter of the Western hemisphere, and our airport is the fourth busiest in the world. This is a major draw for businesses. Toyota just moved all of its North America operations and headquarters here. The second is that our economy is very diversified; we are a cosmopolitan, multi-industry market based on retail and technology. The third is psychological: Dallas is truly a city of opportunities; it is young, new, and whatever industry you are in, you can quickly make an impact from a business standpoint. Our business environment is a catalytic mechanism for higher returns, thanks to the opportunities we offer, our track record of proven results, and the amount of headroom we have. Already, the Dal- coalition of stakeholders from las-Fort Worth area is the the City of Dallas, corporafourth largest market in the tions, civic and NGO organiU.S., and the trends indicate zations, academia – notably that we should Dallas Southbe third by ern Methodist “Investing in 2030. University (SMU) and the education is What is the University of more important impact of inTexas at Dallas novation and than anything to (UTD) –, and R&D in Dalprivate indiensure long-term viduals who las’ economy? are committed prosperity.” Technology to Dallas’ conis deeply roottinued evolued in Dallas, among other tion as a forward-thinking, inthings because it is the histori- novative, ‘smart’ global city. In cal seat of Texas Instruments. particular, we have consulted One example is that we have big, technological companies recently created the Dallas In- such as AT&T, IBM and Micnovation Alliance, which is a rosoft, who told us that Dallas
Dallas Mayor.indd 1
1.2m are the number of inhabitants
9th largest city in the U.S.
4th largest U.S. market including Fort Worth
needs more start-ups and small tech companies. I thought they would see these newcomers as competitors but on the contrary, they see them as part of the ecosystem. You are the former CEO of Pizza Hut. How do you bring your private sector expertise into your political role as Mayor? I believe that the skills I have learned my whole life in solving problems, goal-setting, creating strategies and having metrics to back them up should be applied to improve our city. My main preoccupation is the gap between the haves and have-nots. One of my initiatives is called Grow
South: south of Dallas, we have a huge, beautiful area that represents 55% of the land mass but only 15% of the tax base. Grow South is a tenpoint business plan to grow this area, which is already bearing fruits: we have increased our assets there by a billion dollars. The other strategy is education. I believe America and Dallas have not invested enough in this all-important field, to ensure that all children have the right level of education as early as in kindergarten, and updating technology. Investing in education is in my view the most important thing to do to ensure our prosperity in the long term.
19/04/2016 11:08
David Booth on Austin, Research and Investment Strategies David Booth, Chairman of Dimensional Fund Advisors What are the advantages of being in Austin for you and for Dimensional Fund Advisors?
1981
The year Dimensional was founded
One of the advantages of Austin is it is a very liveable city. I grew up in a smaller city and have lived in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. They are all great cities and Austin is right up there with them for many different reasons. The city offers a lot of advantages – it is a good environment for businesses, and it’s a highly liveable city for employees, with a great mix of cultural, educational and entertainment options. We’ve only been in Austin seven years and it’s felt like home from the very beginning.
What part does innovation, academic research and creative thinking play in Dimensional Fund Advisors’ success?
were first developed in the 1970s, Academic research and innova- it was to address the needs of intion are the cornerstones of our vestors who realized they did not need to pay high business; the “We believe fees for less than ideas upon which fully diversified we have built investing isn’t Dimensional are about developing portfolios. Since then, enhancemuch bigger than the most complex ments in the unthe firm itself. The model. It’s about derstanding of field of finance has advanced doing the best job asset prices have with research on with the simplest uncovered why securities have what drives inmodel.” differences in exvestment returns. pected returns This research was dramatically enhanced in the and how to identify those differmid-1960s, when financial econ- ences in systematic ways. omists began to use computers When Dimensional was founded to process vast amounts of data. in 1981, we were inspired by the Since then, research has repeat- same empirical and theoretical edly shown that security prices work that led to the creation of contain information about the index funds, but we chose to imdifferences in expected returns plement our investment products between securities—and these in a more flexible, less mechaniexpectations represent the col- cal way. Our systematic approach lective view of millions of market has enabled us to develop soluparticipants. When index funds tions driven by client needs and
$409
billion
Global assets under management
12 offices In 8 countries
make decisions informed by data and research insights.
It has been said that DFA sets the standard for investor stewardship, innovation and application that other firms should live up to… It all goes back to financial science and the way we have implemented academic research. Years ago, when people thought of research and investing, they thought of Wall Street research. This research tries to determine if a company is undervalued or overvalued, which we believe is a waste of time. At Dimensional, we have focused on the academic research – research that seeks to tease out things that make a difference in people’s lives. It has taken decades for this innovation to take root in this industry, and we continue to look at how we can innovate to deliver investment solutions that solve problems for our clients.
Why do you think that Smart Beta is becoming a more popular investment strategy and what is your opinion of it? We call our investment style “dimensional investing” and see smart beta as an outgrowth of what we do, picking up on many of the same ideas and validating the approach we’ve taken for 34 years. We believe the best implementation of a systematic approach uses prices and characteristics to assess the expected returns of securities every day—and seeks to control turnover by comparing the benefits of buying and selling securities with the costs of executing trades. Our strategies focus on a set of reliable dimensions of expected returns instead of a multitude of factors. We believe investing isn’t about developing the most complex model. It’s about doing the best job with the simplest model.
Frisco: Growing and Innovating at Breakneck Speed Maher Maso, Mayor of Frisco Frisco is one of the fastest-growing cities in America. Why? According to the last, 2010 census, Frisco was indeed the fastest-growing city in the country with an annual rate of 6%. It started in the 1990s. When I moved here in 1992, it was a farming community of a little over 6,000 inhabitants. There was one blinking yellow light in town and you couldn’t buy a pair of socks! The three main reasons for our growth are firstly, that we are part of the Dallas-Fort-Worth Metroplex, which now totals 6.8 million people; secondly, that we are situated along the the Platinum Corridor, a hotbed of the Dallas metro’s commercial real estate activity; and thirdly, that we are particularly attractive for families because we have one of the country’s best education systems. Over the past 20 years, the Frisco Independent School District (ISD) has opened three schools a year on average. As far as I know, no other city has experienced such a level of growth: from fewer than five schools 20 years ago to 65 today. We now have 55,000 students in our school district, more than in Portland or Seattle. How do you manage such an impressive growth and all the needs that come with it in terms of public services, at the local government level? Many mayors around the country ask us this question and we answer that our strength resides in our master plan, which we update every few years. Building the master
Mayor Maher Maso.indd 1
155,000+ inhabitants vs. 117,000 in 2010
6% average annual population growth
33% of the population is under 18
plan is a year-long effort in How important is innovawhich everybody is involved: tion in your growth stratenot only the city council but gy? also the public and local busiIt is critical. Almost everynesses. It gives us a clear overthing about Frisco has to do view of where our city is headwith innovation because we ing in terms of real estate are trying to redefine the mod(retail, residential and comel of what a city is. A case in mercial) as well as public infrapoint is our Frisco Fire Safety structures – roads, sewage, waTown which is an actual miniter, etc. – that are needed in the town built next to the city’s short and medium term. Even central fire station, where chilthough we have one of the lowdren come to learn about safeest tax rates in ty. Another examNorth Texas, we “We are trying ple is energy are adding the efficiency: in most infrastruc- to redefine the 2001, we became ture: roads, water model of what the first city in the and sewer, public U.S. to mandate a city is and safety infrastrucEnergy Star stantures, etc. For exdards for all new should be.” ample we are avresidential builderaging a new fire station every ings. Another differentiator for 2.5 years. The one word I Frisco is the city’s year-round would use to describe how we water management plan, part manage Frisco’s growth is balof which includes weekly outance: we make sure we have a door watering recommendabalanced community, as options. Based on rainfall data posed to other cities that aim at from the city’s own weather being best in one field. station, residents are advised
on how much water Frisco lawns really need, if any at all. Most weeks the advice is to ‘turn off’ your automatic sprinkler system, conserving water. Another example of innovation is an award-winning collaboration of Frisco’s IT, Police and Fire Departments with Frisco ISD. The S.A.F.E.R program utilizes GIS technology and cameras in public schools to give first responders a real-time view of what’s happening in an emergency situation. Before arriving ‘on scene’, they begin to assess and activate a plan to save lives and property. Teachers do not need to roll a cart around: they pull the information they need from the video system. Private companies do research and development to come up with new products and services. We believe cities can do the same, constantly researching new ways of delivering services to citizens in an innovative, efficient and cost-effective manner.
19/04/2016 21:43
The Port that Built the City of Houston Roger Guenther, Executive Director of the Port of Houston Authority jor refineries, chemical manufacturers petrochemical-related businesses and other general cargo-related businesses. As the Port of Houston Authority, we manage the eight public terminals of those 150+ facilities. We also operate the largest break-bulk terminal in the nation. We have container terminals, grain elevator terminals, and other facilities which we lease for general cargo and break-bulk type operations. We also have a bulk terminal for the export of coal and petroleum. About 67% of the containerized cargo that comes into the Gulf of Mexico moves through the Port of Houston container terminals. We expect the pie to get larger and are expanding our capabilities to handle an increased share.
There is a saying, “Houston is the town that built the port that built the city.” Do you agree? Indeed, a hundred years ago, Houston was a little town. The business people here had a lot of agricultural products for trade but they had to use small boats to go down the bayou to Galveston, which was the major port. They wanted to have a deep water channel further up into Houston. Then in 1900, a young congressman named Tom Ball convinced Congress to have what was actually the first federal, public-private cost share of a federal channel. The businessmen and citizens of Houston put up $1 million and the government put up another mil-
Port Houston.indd 1
In December 2015, the Port Authority reached a historic milestone of handling its 2 millionth TEU at its Bayport Container Terminal. What are the main reasons for this performance? The Port of Houston is a foundation for What is the role the city’s position of the Port of “The Port of as a premier globHouston AuHouston is a al trade hub, thority? ranked the first in The 52-mile foundation U.S. export tonHouston Ship for the city’s nage with more Channel starts than 200 million here and reaches position as a tons of cargo each the Gulf of Mexico. The upper 25 premier global year. It is responsible for linking miles is what we trade hub.” the region to call the Greater more than 1000 ports around Port of Houston. There are the world. We have a steady 150+ facilities along the chanand strong population growth. nel, most of them private: malion and for $2 million they authorized the deepening of the channel. Then the discovery of oil accelerated things and Houston became what it is today. It’s a great story.
200
million tons of cargo passes through the Houston port each year
67%
of U.S. Gulf Coast container traffic goes through Houston
10th
is the ranking of the Port of Houston worldwide
Both the state of Texas and the city of Houston offer a business-friendly environment. The Port Authority provides an exemplary, reliable service to the industry, which makes it attractive – especially for the business of import cargo. Now, over $50 billion of investment is ongoing and will be completed in the form of new manufacturing facilities in 2017 and 2018. We are ready for the larger ships. We are rapidly expanding our facilities to increase our capacity to handle the volume that we know is coming. By 2020, we are expecting around 300,000500,000 additional TEUs. We are absolutely ready for bigger things to come.
15/04/2016 19:50
Providing Patients with Cost-Effective, Full Continuum of Care Joel Allison, CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health The company is the result of the merger, in 2013, of Dallas-based Baylor Health Care System and Temple-based Scott & White Healthcare. The merger created the largest non-profit healthcare system in Texas. What is the result two and a half years down the line? The merger has had a very positive impact on the system. We were the only two health systems in Texas that were in the High Value Healthcare Collaborative, a national consortium of U.S. systems striving to improve quality and outcomes. We were both very much focused on improving quality, and we both believe that cost- So population health maneffective care is quality care. agement is the new apWe also both saw a need to proach. What does it mean change the health care pay- exactly? ment model from fee-for-serWe put more emphasis on vice to getting paid for value prevention and keeping people and keeping people healthy. well. This means you have to We also believe be able to provide the merger furthe full continuthered our evolu- “We want to be um of care for tion as an inte- able to provide each patient, degrated delivery livering care at the right care, home, at the docnetwork, meaning a system that tor’s office, as an at the right has the facilities, outpatient or intime, in the clinical staff, phypatient, at the sicians, locations nursing home, right way, at and health plan etc., and be acto effectively the right place, countable for it. manage patient Our accountable in the right care. With the care organization merger, we saw amount, at the is called the Baythat we could crelor Scott & White right price.” ate a model of Quality Alliance. population health manage- All the physicians agree to ment on a larger scale. We esti- share their outcomes and remated that within five years, sults and we use different data we could realize nearly $700 and analytical platforms to million of savings through our provide that care. We stratify synergies. our patients based on their
Baylor Allison.indd 1
No. 1 non profit healthcare system in Texas
No. 2 in heart transplants in the U.S.
$658m annually in combined community benefits condition and use predictive modeling. For example about 5% of patients in any group or population will have four or more chronic diseases such as Type II Diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure, cancer, asthma, or Alzheimer’s. This accounts for 50% of the healthcare costs. To put it simply, through our Quality Alliance initiative, we want to be able to provide the right care, at the right time, in the right way, at the right place, in the right amount, at the right price, and be able to prove it. How important are communication technologies in your relations with patients? They are increasingly important because patients are behaving more like consumers. We are now getting into retail medicine, based on what the consumers want. They do not want to wait very long. They want medicine when, where and
how it suits them, and they have all that technology that they can use. For example, we have a program called On-demand and Same-Day Appointments. You can do it through a video. You can just type and here comes a doctor. Another example of where technology in healthcare is headed is that we live-Tweeted a heart transplant from inside an operating room last year. More than one million people viewed it. Do you believe the industry will further consolidate? Yes, we believe consolidation will continue. We see it in all aspects of healthcare: in the major payers, in the physicians, in the pharmaceutical companies, as well as in device manufacturers. As for us, we will continue to grow because the area we serve is growing. We have a vision of being a state-wide network, and we have a lot of opportunities in Texas to grow.
19/04/2016 11:12
Using Innovation and Technology to Reach More Children Christopher Durovich, CEO of Children’s HealthSM in Dallas In 2014, Children’s Medical Center was rebranded as Children’s HealthSM in Dallas. Why this move and what changes does it reflect? Children’s Medical Center was an iconic brand in the DFW community. It has been with us for more than 103 years. We believed that children and their parents needed a partner for their health and healthcare needs, so we re-branded our organization so that it would express our drive to reach more kids and families in more places. We aim at being the partners of parents as they seek to raise healthy kids, through both face-to-face contact and technology that enables us to work more efficiently and effectively. We migrated from being Children’s Medical Center, a single site, to Children’s Health as a system providing healthcare to children and families. As a system, we fulfill three missions. Firstly, clinical care of course. Secondly, research by pushing back the edge of what we know and reducing the distance between what we know and what we do in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness and injury. Thirdly, education; we have affiliations with 65 colleges and universities. Those two aspects – the migration from a single hospital to a system, and the tripartite mission of education, research and clinical care – are what we are known for and known as. In a sense, there was an additive effect moving from Children’s Medical Center to Children’s Health because of the various ways in which we
Durovich Childrens Health.indd 1
$2.9bn in gross revenue
No. 1
most wired hospital and health network in the U.S.
2nd
busiest pediatric emergency department in the U.S. engage those three missions great ways to reach more chiland the ways in which we endren farther away from tertiagage the community. It not ry-quaternary access, such as only increased brand awareour six telemedicine sites. We ness but also posiare also doing it tive association t h r o u g h “We want to with the brand. tele-emergency be partners of m e d i c i n e , where we have How does technology enable parents as they e m e r g e n c y rooms and you to work more seek to raise free-standing efficiently and efhealthy kids, emergency cenfectively? Apart from rethrough both ters where people can go into search and technolface-to-face the system and ogy in medicine itengage us. We self, as a system we contact and do that with are moving away technology.” tele-mental from the once health and with monolithic tertiaour tele-nurse program. Furry-quaternary medical center. thermore, we are engaging orWe have two full service hospiganizations like Mend, to protals; 40 different sites with vide house calls to kids and more than 50 specialties; 20 families where they live, so primary care medical home moms and dads can go in and sites; a sub-acute rehabilitation request a house call. We are hospital, and an outpatient also doing this with nurse adnetwork of associated sites. vice lines for the 300 members We are using technology in
of our clinically integrated network. How are the changing demographics in Texas shaping what you do and how you do it? Texas is an incredible state in terms of its economy and its cultural, racial and ethnic diversity. There are more than 100 languages spoken in our facilities each day, so it is an incredible melting pot. There is an explosive pediatric population growth: seven million children live in Texas and yet almost one out of four does not have health insurance, the greatest percentage in the nation. This year, we will reach in excess of 250,000 families. At the same time, we have to equip kids and families to live healthy lifestyles and when they get sick or injured, get them back to normal as soon as possible. Our ambition is to continue to be innovative about how we reach kids.
20/04/2016 11:53
Technology Brings Paradigm Shift from Traditional Healthcare Julie Hall-Barrow, Vice President of Innovation and Virtual Health at Children’s HealthSM How is Children’s HealthSM investing in new medical technologies to improve the healthcare of children in Texas? As Children’s Health is moving towards population health, i.e. taking care of millions of children in Texas and keeping them well, I was brought in to figure out how to do it efficiently and through the use of technology. We thus looked at what we could develop inhouse and who we needed to partner with. We have just completed the realignment of the entire organization, and my department opened a new division called Children’s Health Ventures, which allows us to invest in opportunities in technologies we might want to use or co-develop. The first official one is Mend, a mobile, on-demand health care service for both children and adults, allowing patients to schedule ‘house calls’ through the Mend app or website. So apart from all the technological advances in medicine itself, technology is also changing the relationship between patients and doctors? Indeed, the relationship between patients and doctors is an important way in which technology is changing the game. In pediatrics, we are dealing with parents who are millennials. For them, convenience and accessibility is not a choice; it is a demand. We need to rise to that demand while ensuring quality and effective care. We examine how we can serve those patients, where they live, work and
Childrens Health.indd 1
2,645 Telemedicine visits to date in School-Based Telehealth & Remote Patient Monitoring
850,000 patient visits per year
$230m community benefits, including charity care Are analytics and IT takplay. We are not only providing the forefront? ing them with care but also Definitely. We are looking at with health education and how to harness analytics in orprevention across our entire der to have better predictabiliplatform. A good example is ty for the pediatrics populaour school telehealth program: tion. For example C h i l d r e n ’s we are developing Health is pro“In pediatrics, a diabetes app viding acute care services in we are dealing with two of our top endocrinolo57 schools in the Dallas Fort with parents who gists. We have Worth area. are millennials. found that children do fairly well We provide For them, in managing their services in priwhen mary care in convenience and diabetes they are healthy, Ear, Nose and accessibility is but when they get Throat (ENT) and are mov- not a choice; it is sick, their insulin goes haywire. We ing in health a demand.” are working to figeducation too, ure out how we tackling asthcan help them managing that ma and obesity in particular. through the use of a mobile Our newest venture launched app. Using algorithms, we will in January is the Children’s be able to help patients and Health Virtual Visit, which alfamilies manage their disease lows our team members to acwhen they are sick, based on cess a health care provider simple cues and questions and through mobile devices and whether they are on an insulin HIPAA-secure internet-driven pump or not. Through the telehealth.
app, we are hoping to reduce the number of calls and hospitalizations. We are inviting families who are currently calling our clinic to be part of a focus group in design thinking, so they can fully participate in how this will look and feel in terms of usability. This type of app and technology represents a paradigm shift from traditional healthcare, and it will bring patients greater peace of mind. So the whole Children’s Health is being adapted to these new technologies? Indeed. As a system, through our clinically integrated network, our Accountable Care Organization (ACO), our health plan, hospitals, pediatrics offices, we are looking at all the access points. My job is to figure out how to do it using technology and creating easier access in all levels of the organization.
20/04/2016 11:52
Connecting the World to Houston Mario Diaz, Director of Aviation and Director of the Houston Airport System
What role does the Houston Airport System play in the Texan economy? The Houston Airport System manages three airports: George Bush Intercontinental (IAH), William P. Hobby (HOU) and Ellington (EFD) airports. The first two are international airports. Ellington is a general aviation and military airport that we are converting into the tenth spaceport in the United States. Our mission is to connect the business, people and economies of the world to Houston. The second part of this mission is transportation integration. We play the role of an economic development force multiplier; we work very closely with
the Greater Houston Partnership and Houston First to attract corporations and companies for direct investment. Can you tell us about the spaceport and the investment that is going into that? There is an opportunity for Houston to continue as a leading force in the development of aerospace technology in the United States. In 2010, when the federal government decided to hand over the helm to the private sector, we saw that there were many emerging companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, and saw this as an opportunity. Just as we provide infra-
structure and services for the major airlines around the nation, we can also provide something for these companies. We have NASA, the Johnson Space Center and the Buoyancy Laboratory as well as a number of aerospace companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin. We also have some of the best universities such as Rice University, Texas A&M, Texas Southern and University of Texas. The ability of the Houston Airport system will come into play with the financial capital and the facility. How much investment are you looking at? We are looking for an initial minimum infrastructure investment of about $25 million. Then we are talking about one million square feet of which about 300,000 would be highbay hangers that we would manage, while the other 700,000 would be leased out and managed by the private sector. These will be priced at about $200 per square foot, which is about the average office space price in Houston. The total investment cost is likely to be between $160 and $180 million.
“We will provide space travel companies with infrastructure and services just as we do for major airlines.� A rendering of the future Houston spaceport
Texas Airport Authority.indd 1
$160 180m is the forecast total investment for the spaceport
41.3m is the number of passengers that used George Bush Intercontinental in 2014
Houston has a great number of advantages. Number one, we have a deepwater port that is responsible for the highest number of exports in the U.S. We are also building locks and channels that will coincide with the opening of the Panama Canal in approximately one year. Number two, we have a railway system that connects the port to the entire heartland of the U.S. Number three, we have a state-of-theart road network that is second to none in the U.S. Finally, we have two international airports. Houston is the only city in all of the Americas that has connections to all five continents.
15/04/2016 19:51
CenterPoint Energy to Invest $7 Billion Over the Next Five Years Scott Prochazka, President and CEO of CenterPoint Energy, on innovation Where does CenterPoint Energy operate and how many customers do you serve in Texas? CenterPoint Energy’s primary businesses include electric transmission and distribution, natural gas distribution, and natural gas sales and services. We do not make money on the sale of gas. We buy it and then move it on through to our end customers. We operate in six states – Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas – and in Texas, we serve nearly 1.7 million natural gas customers and about 2.3 million electricity customers. By count, the vast majority of our customers are residential. By load, it is split approximately into thirds, with the segments being residential, commercial (strip malls, Wal-Marts, grocery stores), and industrial. As gas prices go down, customers realize the benefit of that almost immediately.
them in real time on when the repair will be completed.
In 2013 you had excess revenue of 47 million, which some say is too much... We were in a situation in 2013 where our utilities were performing well but we were Your company is one of six getting additional revenues utilities that were awarded from rights-of-way that were far a grant by the larger than in Department of “We expect to the past. It was Energy. Will this really driven by lead you to fur- have 400,000 the low-cost gas ther innovations? new customers and oil, which We received a was trying to get across our $200 million grant. from West Texas We used $150 milsystems in the to all the induslion to accelerate trial complexes smart meter de- next five years.” of Houston. ployment and $50 Rights-of-way million to begin building our revenues normally run three to ‘self-healing’ intelligent grid. five million per year, but it was With the smart meters, con- close to $33 million in 2013, sumers can manage their ener- which is a very significant gy and spending levels. Also, amount of revenue. The reenergy companies can now mainder of the difference can know before customers when be related primarily to the bothe power is out and inform nus depreciation.
Centerpoint Energy.indd 1
What sets Centerpoint Energy apart from competition? We are fairly advanced in the smart meter technology and how we interface with our customers. Also, we are quite advanced in terms of modernizing our grid and making it consumer friendly. One area we focus heavily on is cyber security. We spend a lot of time working with industry partners and government to make sure that we have very robust cyber security plans and we also have a very strong and growing physical security plan associated with our infrastructure. Where do you see your company in five years time? Our company will be much larger and stronger. We will invest more than $7 billion over the next five years in our utility systems. Between IT investments and operating technologies, out of the $1.4 billion
that we spend annually, we spend well north of $100 million on new technologies. Also, we expect to have about 400,000 new customers across our system within five years.
1.7m natural gas customers in Texas
2.3m electricity customers in Texas
$100m is the amount CenterPoint spends each year on new technologies
20/04/2016 14:04
Corpus Christi Thrives Through Diversification Ian Vasey, CEO of Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation What has been the impact of the slump in oil prices on Corpus Christi’s economy? The situation is very different from the previous oil prices slump of the 1980s, when the Texas petrochemical and petroleum industry was severely impacted. This time, the driving factor is the availability of natural gas and the sheer volume of gas coming into the market. As for oil, it is oversupply that is impacting the energy markets and keeping prices low. Generally speaking, it is the availability of natural gas, used as feedstock or power source, that is large-scale global refineries are currently one of the key driv- buying feedstock and crude at ers of Corpus Christi’s econo- a lower price and making their my. To summarize, low oil margin and selling on the globprices are generally seen as al energy markets. The other good for the U.S. and bad for piece of the puzzle that is very Texas but it is more complex at interesting for us is crude exthe regional level. Since Cor- port facilities, which remains a pus Christi is focused on the very dynamic sector. midstream and downstream parts of the energy sector, the Are you nevertheless strivimpact is not nearly as bad as ing to diversify your econofor the upstream and oil field my? regions. We are still very deWe are looking at other oppendent on the energy sector portunities. We are focusing but we are not as exposed. In on aviation-related and knowlmidstream, we are seeing a lot edge-based activities through of activity in our universiterms of the “We are looking ties. We are initial splitter also focusing to diversify our and fractionaton petrochemiing facilities as cal diversificaeconomy into well as in stortion, which high tech niche age and distrimeans different bution. Indeed, chemical prodsectors.” there are severucts and parts al billion dollars worth of an- of the chemical production cynounced projects from compa- cle. For example there is a nies that are expanding in the strong demand for ethane, buInner Harbor and La Quinta tane, etc., the natural gas liqChannel of Corpus Christi. uids or NGLs, as well as prodFurthermore, our three very ucts that are created from
Corpus Christi.indd 1
450,000 inhabitants in Metropolitan Area
12,000 students in TAMUCC
$30bn in construction projects in the Port of Corpus Christi those. It is important in the sense that we are gradually transitioning from being almost purely a refinery port to a more diversified petrochemical port. How important is the high tech sector for Corpus Christi’s economy? It is important and we are spending a lot of effort and time on it, focusing on niche sectors. For example Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) is one of the five designated research and development centers for unmanned aerial systems, namely large-scale, industrial services drones, and it is developing one of the first PhD programs in this field in the U.S. There are numerous applications such as mapping pipelines or locating areas in agricultural fields that need special treatment. Researchers are exploring GIS mapping and how drones communicate with control systems and data gathering.
How important an asset is Texas A&M for the city? It is critical for our future economic growth, not only for knowledge-based industries but also for traditional blue collar jobs that increasingly require advanced training in the STEM fields. The university is growing very quickly, adding technical fields, research, engineering and sciences. From 12,000 students now, it plans to exceed 20,000 in a few years. How do you manage Corpus Christi’s economic growth? We constantly monitor three key elements: securing new investments, keeping housing affordable for our workforce, and maintaining a good infrastructure. Also, very importantly, we have an ongoing conversation on how to manage growth in a smart way with a large group of people that includes elected officials, business leaders, community groups and average citizens.
19/04/2016 11:40
Lubbock Becoming A Magnet for Research-Based Companies John Osborne, CEO of the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance (LEDA) As its name suggests, the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance’s mission is to promote economic development and attract businesses here. What is the main reason for people and companies to come, or stay, here? The number one reason is the presence of Texas Tech University (TTU) and the TTU Health Center. The technologies coming out of there and the abilities to contract for research present great opportunities for companies to grow, expand and be prepared for the changes that are taking place in the marketplace. The presence of the university also means that we have a large proportion of the population that is young and highly qualified, which is attractive for companies looking for talent. Furthermore, the majority of graduates want to stay and join a business because the climate here is very business-friendly. Can you give examples of private companies that have come to Lubbock to benefit from TTU’s research facilities and program? Bayer Crop Science, which is based in Germany, is a great example. They saw they had tremendous research and collaboration opportunities with TTU – in agricultural products such as cotton and grain but also in fiber and fuel – and as a result of their investment, other investments in agricultural research have come in, most recently Chromatin, a company specialized in sorghum.
Lubbock Econ Devt.indd 1
640,000 regional population
50,000 college students
2.5% annual job growth* *Source: Title One 2014 Report
Would you say that Lubbock’s unique advantage is this collaboration between education and the public and private sectors? Absolutely. It is very easy here to get introduced to the right people. Texas Tech University’s Chancellor has an open-door policy whereby when we have clients who are looking to set up operations here, he invites them to visit the university’s research facilities and meet the faculty and researchers. We have a very close relationship with TTU, which is extremely helpful for our business community. Also, a great number of TTU students develop new technologies at the university and then go on to create companies, in the hope that they will become the next Google or Microsoft in their field. What sectors present the most opportunities? One area of growth is the oil and gas sector. Lubbock sits on the edge of the Permian Basin,
one of the largest oil and gas reserves in the nation. Furtherexample for cancer research. more, Texas Tech is producing This presents opportunities for significant research to ensure research-based companies to that the industry will continue blossom and grow. to grow. Another important area is agriculture and crop Do you see increasing sciences, which is the traditransdisciplinary research tional area of specialization of taking place? Texas Tech ever since it was Indeed, transdisciplinarity is founded. A lot of research is the buzzword because a lot of being carried out at TTU on innovation will come out of it. new agricultural For example we technologies are working on “Our close and processes a multidiscirelationship that seek to replinary prospond to the gram to redewith Texas Tech challenges of sign hospitals is very helpful feeding the and healthcare for our business facilities based population of the U.S. and the on the needs of community.” world, and we the people who are seeing quite actually use a few companies in this sector them. Work will be carried out setting up operations here. jointly by architects, nursing The third major sector is students and business people healthcare/bioscience. TTU’s to look into what could be the Health Science Center, which best ‘healthcare by design’. was traditionally a clinical-type This is where you bring the university producing doctors, best minds together for a nurses and physicians, is intransdisciplinary solution to a creasingly focusing on innovaproblem, and where innovation and new technologies, for tion takes place.
19/04/2016 11:21
Frisco’s Mega Projects Draw Comparison as Dubai of the U.S. James L. Gandy, President of the Frisco Economic Development Corporation Why has development been so fast in Frisco compared to other cities? It is a question that we’re often asked and there is not one answer. Rather, it is due to a combination of factors. The first one is location: we are situated directly north of downtown Dallas, and we have a major economic corridor, the Dallas North Tollway. Similarly to many cities, Dallas is growing north and Frisco is situated on that path of growth, with its open land ready for development. Another crucial point is that the city has been very well planned by its founders. Then in 2000, this hitherto sleepy town was hit by what I call an ‘economic tsunami’. The opening of the $250 million, 1.6 million square feet Stonebriar Centre Mall was like a paradigm shift: people started coming here for business and shopping, which increased the city’s revenue stream. Another important factor is that Frisco has a highly recognized, independent school district. We have a strong, young and well educated population, which in turn attracts IT, high tech and finance companies looking for talent. The ‘$5 Billion Mile’ comprises the most impressive projects being developed at the moment. Are these record-breaking projects? Indeed, we can claim to have one of the most dynamic development concentrations in America with $5.7 billion in investment, either announced or under construction, within a one-mile stretch of road off the Dallas North Tollway. The
Frisco Econ.indd 1
$5.7 bn in investment planned in the “5 Billion Mile”
43,772 potential new direct jobs
14.5m commercial square footage planned
four projects in the ‘$5 Billion events and improve our quality Mile’ are so large-scale that of life while keeping our propsome even call us ‘the Dubai of erty taxes low. There are three the U.S.’ We are not as luxuriother major projects under deous but like Dubai, we are velopment. Frisco Station is a both very well $1.7 billion inplanned and vestment in an “We innovate in area surroundhave grown very fast. what we do but ing the Dallas The most talkCowboys HQ also in how we do that will feature ed-about project is the $1 billion it, with a strong o f f i c e s , development of multi-family emphasis on the Dallas Cowresidential, reboys’ world tail, restaurant partnership.” h e a d q u a r t e r s, and medical real The Star in Frisco. It will inestate. The Gate is a $1 billion clude the Cowboys’ HQ, a project led by the Dubai-based multi-use special events and Invest Group Overseas which sports facility and additional, features high rise condo-style mixed-use development. As residences, a boutique hoMayor Maso said when the tel, Class A office space, and deal was signed in 2013, havretail and dining experiencing a partner of this caliber is a es. Last but not least, Wade perfect fit for our community. Park is a $2 billion investment We are committed to creating in upscale retail, dining, enterdestinations that bring families tainment, hotels, commercial together, promote business office space, and residential and tourism, attract major housing.
The Economic Development Corporation is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Are you planning special events? We have a series of activities planned throughout the year. We are also preparing an economic impact study on all the projects we have facilitated since the beginning. We have established a list of 345 projects and we are currently calculating how many jobs were created or retained, how much total investment, and how much was the total investment, and how much were the total revenues for the city. But apart from factual data, I believe that one of our key assets is our culture. We work as partners. We collaborate closely with the city government, the Chamber of Commerce, the school district, and the convention visitors’ bureau. This is also part of our innovative culture and what makes us attractive. It is genuine, and people feel it.
19/04/2016 11:23
Texas Tech Systems Plans Further Growth in West Texas Robert Duncan, Chancellor of Texas Tech University in our ability to not only build but also provide excellence. When the Texas Tech System announced shortly after its creation that it would raise half a billion dollars, it was deemed impossible. But we did it, and after that we reached the one billion landmark. We now have an overall system that is close to $1.2 billion and we are in the top 20 AA+ bond ratings in the country. We are financially sound, we have philanthropy and we have significant legislative support.
When was the Texas System created and what is its purpose? We started as a formal system in 1996 so we are still relatively young. The decision was taken at the time to set up a system administration in order to manage our growth. Back then, we had campuses in our Health Science Center in Amarillo, Lubbock, Odessa and El Paso. We have since expanded in a number of communities, including Abilene and Dallas; we have added a pharmacy school, a nurse center, and a four-year comprehensive health institution, which now has a nursing school and a graduate school of medical sciences. We have a comprehensive regional institution in Angelo State University with a scholarship endowment of about $130 million, and we have four component institutions on 12 campuses throughout West Texas, including Dallas. In 20 years, we have grown into a rather expansive and
Texas Tech Duncan.indd 1
You have recently reached the Carnegie Tier One Status. What does it mean comprehensive system. We are in terms of future developnow planning a school of vetment? erinarian medicine in AmarilIt is a launching point to lo, and a dental school in El achieve greater national comPaso. This is the near-term vipetitiveness in research, as sion of where we believe the well as greater competition for needs are and where we behigh quality students and faclieve we can meet them. ulty. Our goal is to Such growth is “Philanthropy be a peer to the Association of obviously costly; has played American Univerhow do you manage it? a major role sities (AAU) and to match their Philanthropy is in our ability quality metrics. one of the ways we have been able to to build and All universities should aspire to grow like we did provide be quality and we and indeed, the Texas Tech System excellence.” aim to grow in those areas that was designed to improve the value coordinate that of our degrees and provide a philanthropy. In all of our diverse range of opportunities campuses – Abilene, Amarillo for learning and research. and El Paso – it has played a major role in establishing those How does Texas Tech dishealth care and educational tinguish itself from the six centers. For example, a $50 large state and the private million gift was critical in universities of Texas? launching the El Paso fourI believe we are very innovayear medical school. Philantive in the way we strive to thropy has played a major role
12
campuses in West Texas including Dallas
$1.2bn
raised for the overall system
Top 20
AA+ bond ratings in the U.S.
grow in areas where there are significant needs. This approach helps us support the financial commitment that is necessary to be successful. Hence our health institutions are all serving slightly different needs: for example in Lubbock, there is more emphasis on family practice, whereas in El Paso, the focus was more on improving the ratio of physicians to patients. It is the same for the veterinary school project in Amarillo: there are vet schools in Colorado State, in Kansas State and in Oklahoma State and they are closer to Amarillo, the food animal capital of the world, than our current vet school in College Station. Similarly, we believe that a dental school in Far West Texas, where all the surveys show that the population is underserved, is a challenge that we can satisfy with the same approach we’ve had in recent years.
19/04/2016 11:24
Texas Tech Aims at 40,000 Students in 2020 John Opperman, President of Texas Tech harder because we did not have preferred funding: we cannot be satisfied with the status quo.
What are the advantages for Texas Tech University of being based in Lubbock? Lubbock is probably the city in Texas where the spirit of independence of the state – which was once a republic – is as strong. This is West Texas, where the pioneers that first settled had to be hearty, and this spirit remains today. It is not measurable but it is nevertheless real: there is a spirit of innovation and a favorable business climate for that. You have now 35,000 students and are aiming at reaching 40,000 by 2020. Why is it important? There are a number of reasons but the key element is linked to the way the state funds our growth. A public university that does not grow stands to lose funding overtime, so there is clearly an incentive. Also, as a public university, we have a duty to educate students in Texas, and we feel we are doing a great job at it. The diversity of the campus has improved substantially
Texas Tech Pdt Opperman.indd 1
As an interim president, what are your priorities and objectives? First of all, I have to address the issues that need to be addressed regardless of who is president, such as making decisions for enrollment this fall, decisions on how fast we are going to grow and on what the quality and diversity of the student body will be. Beyond that, there are investments in research that were based on and we are recognized internadecisions made three years tionally for our achievements. ago. There are some areas The objective is not only to diwhere we did not do as well as versify our student body but envisioned at the time, in part also to make sure those stubecause there are a lot of other dents get their degrees at the universities competing in the same time. same fields. For example we wanted to make a fairly major What distinguishes Texas investment but we are finding Tech from other leading that it is a space where a lot of universities in the state? top research universities are I would say again that it is competing, which drives up our location and our indepenthe price of faculdence. We were recently classified “We have had ty. Do we want to play this game? It as a Carnegie Tier One research insti- to work harder is a decision we have to make. tution. The list inbecause we There is another cludes a little over did not have area earmarked 100 universities for investment around the counpreferred that requires intry, and almost all funding: the tense inter-disciof them are priplinary cooperavate, such as Harstatus quo tion, which has vard and Stanford, won’t do.” proven difficult so or a flagship or far, so we have land-grant institunow to overcome these hurtion such as the University of dles or else invest in a different Texas at Austin and Texas area altogether. A&M. Texas Tech is one of about only 20 that are neither How do you encourage inflagship nor land-grant. This terdisciplinarity? means we have had to work
35,158 students (enrollment 2014)
$150m in total research expenditures
150 100 50
undergraduate
master’s and
doctoral degrees
Historically, since higher education has been siloed, interdisciplinarity has been a challenge for most universities. But here, and again going back to our willingness to do things differently, both the faculty and the administrative personnel are willing to cooperate. Providing incentives, our Innovation Hub, and the funding from the state have helped bring people together. A lot of the time, it is simply a matter of getting the faculty in a room and letting them talk businesstogether. In addition, we do a lot of undergraduate research here and students are very interested in the interdisciplinary approach to things. This is very encouraging.
19/04/2016 11:25
High Quality Hospitality at Rates On Average 40% Lower Phillip Jones, CEO Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau What are the competitive advantages of Dallas as a business tourism destination? How do you market Dallas in business tourism compared to other cities such as Austin, Atlanta or San Francisco? The first advantage is that we are located in the middle of the country, in the central time zone, which puts us at a relatively short distance from all the major destinations in the U.S. Another very important advantage is that we have two great airports: you can choose between downtown Lovefield, on Southwest or Virgin America, and Dallas-Fort Worth, primarily with American, to fly to the East Coast or the West Coast in less than three hours. Regarding hotel capacity, we have at present over 75,000 hotel rooms in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, and in the next 18 months, Dallas will have no less than 16 new hotels. Large hospitality brands are investing same pie. Isn’t there a risk of in Dallas because of the strong oversupply? economic growth and booming The most recent report of the tourism market, in particular in Center for Exhibition Research the business segment, with record (CER) on the convention industry occupancy and demand. Dallas is shows that we have had 21 straight a good value destination, with quarterly increases, and year over year increases. rates on average So the conven40% lower “Large hospitality tion market is than those of New York, brands are investing growing, and California, in Dallas because of in the last three quarters, it has Florida or Las the strong economic even outpaced Vegas, while at growth and booming GDP growth. the same time tourism market.” The environoffering high ment is very quality. All the big names in luxury hospitality good, but it is a very competitive are here: Ritz Carlton, Four market. Dallas competes with Seasons, lots of great boutiques, about 20 other cities in America Mansion on Turtle Creek, you that are spending on average half a billion dollars in renovating and name it! expanding their convention cenWhat are the challenges for ters because business tourism is so the U.S. convention market? buoyant and profitable. Our biggest Everyone is fighting for the challenge is to stay competitive.
75,000
hotel rooms in the DFW metro area
24.9 million
visitors each year
$7.3
billion
economic impact of tourism
What is the impact of tourism, and more particularly business tourism, on the economy of Dallas? Last year, 24.9 million people visited Dallas, spending $4.3 billion for a total economic impact of $7.3 billion, which directly translates into jobs, generating tax revenue of $942 million, of which $501 million goes to state and local entities resulting in an offset of household taxes for residents. All that spending translates into jobs, about one out of every 19 jobs in the city of Dallas. Because of this, the average household pays $1,084 less in taxes each year.
What is the average capacity of Dallas’ largest hotels? Indeed, we have some of the biggest hotels in the state of Texas and in the country: the Sheraton is the largest in Texas with 1,800 rooms. The Hilton has 1,600
rooms; the Omni has 1,001, and the Hyatt has 1,100. Obviously this large capacity is a great asset for the convention market.
How important are the big sports brands in attracting tourism in Dallas? They are hugely important! The Dallas Cowboys are the number one sports franchise in the world, having just taken over Manchester United and the Yankees. Furthermore, we have a $1.3 billion stadium that hosts major events, such as the Academy of Country Music, and will be hosting Wrestlemania, in conjunction with the American Airlines Center. We hosted the Superbowl, the National College Football Championships, and the NBA All Star game. We have hosted every major sporting event in the country and will of course continue to do so.
GermBlast Blazes New Trail in Prevention of Infections Rodney Madsen, CEO of GermBlast Founded in 2009 in Lubbock, GermBlast is a company specialized in providing an “innovative solution to significantly lower the number of illnesses and infections caused by dangerous microorganisms found in the environment.” Why Lubbock? Firstly, we are all from Lubbock, the friendliest city in America, but more importantly, a very unique city with an important research community. There are more than 2400 doctors here. In addition, there is the Texas Tech Health hospital, and approximately Sciences Center so it is a re- 99,000 die from it. Investigatsearch-based community as ing these staggering figures, well. This means there is an we saw that we have not been availability of able to move resources that is from that mark “About 1.7 quite unique. for years. This Also, our part- million people in led us to do renership with search and to the Lubbock America develop realize that the Economic Deprotocols used an infection in velopment Alliin healthcare ance makes our the hospital each today are a bit business more antiquated and year.” competitive. do not work as More broadly, we benefit from they used to because we are the fact that Texas is business- dealing with new, unique bacand innovation-friendly. teria known as multi-drug reThe idea at the basis of the sistant organisms. This is company is that each year in where GermBlast comes: our America, about 1.7 million motto is ‘Keeping the fight people get an infection in the outside the body’. In a nut-
GermBlast technician applying their unique treatment inside a hospital burn unit room.
Germblast.indd 1
creased revenues for them. And now we are also looking at innovative ways for the general consumers to disinfect their home in the most appropriate way. The markets that we serve are deep and broad.
shell, we provide not just products but whole solutions adapted to the environment – hospitals, schools, and even the home – and also promote education to raise awareness on how to reduce the probability of infection. Who are your clients? Hospitals? Clinics? We look at the whole continuum of care from acute care hospitals to long term acute care hospitals, which is a step down unit from a hospital, to nursing homes, assisted living, urgent care: the whole chain. Anywhere where bacteria and virus transmission is an issue. In addition, we intervene in the education sector. This is particularly important in the state of Texas because here, schools are reimbursed on the number of days children are actually in seats. So apart from the obvious public health requirement of keeping children safe and healthy, there is also an economic dimension: by minimizing the effects of illness on schools, we generate in-
Do you have star products? We use different pieces of technology such as atomized alcohol vapor, a unique approach to broad-spectrum disinfection of everything from hospital beds to high technology electronic equipment. In addition, we have high-powered ultraviolet light, which has received press coverage recently. But what we want people to understand is that there is not one, specific technology that will answer all your problems. There are multiple solutions. Precisely our goal is to determine what are the best technologies for a specific sequence of events. How does your partnership with Texas Tech and other labs function? There is no formal partnership but we do use their resources such as labs, SEM microscopes and expertise. For example our Chief Science Officer, Dr. Christopher Truitt, PhD, is a Texas Tech alumnus. We collaborate with many research facilities in the area, including with physicians who have the ability to research. This is what makes Lubbock unique: we have some of the world’s best doctors and researchers right here.
19/04/2016 11:26
Texan Can-Do Entrepreneurial Spirit in Texas Instruments’ DNA Richard K. Templeton, Chairman, President and CEO of Texas Instruments A global, Fortune 500 company, Texas Instruments started operating in 1951 and is headquartered in Dallas. Is the fact that TI was originally a Texan company part of its success? Texas has always been very pro-business, ever since the early days of the oil industry some 50 or 60 years ago. But even before that, Texas has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I believe we were just lucky that being originally in the geophysical industry, we set up our headquarters here back in the 1950s. Although we are today everywhere in the U.S. and in the world, yes I think we have benefitted from being in Texas ever since TI was founded. How closely do you work with local educational institutions such as UT Dallas and Southern Methodist University? We work across the U.S. with many different universities because we work with the best and brightest. There is however something specific about UT Dallas because it was borne out of an initiative of the founders of Texas Instruments, who wanted to have an MIT-class research university close to the company. It started modestly, but today it is on its way to being in the top 10 research centers and institutions in the world. We remain very closely committed to UT Dallas but also to Southern Methodist University. More broadly, there is a great depth of cross-pollination among all the universities and research centers
Texas Instruments.indd 1
$13bn revenue in 2015
35
countries where TI operates
100,000
customers worldwide
throughout Texas, and among very good about that, and as a the cities too. It is one of the result their tax and regulatory advantages we like: we can policies and the overall enviwork with ronment are UT-Dallas up strongly strongly “The Texas state supportive for inthe street on bioengineervestors. For exgovernment ing, and they ample they were understands can connect greatly encouragwith UT ing when we set that growing Southwestup a wafer fabriand prospering ern for a cation unit here medical in Richardson businesses lead school. And back in the early to a growing and 2000s, and they we know that there is no prospering state.” are also commitcompromisted to investing ing in terms in UT-Dallas. of the quality of R&D and the They have been enormously quality of scientists and rehelpful. searchers. How much of your supply How well does the state chain is based in Texas, government encourage inand how important is TI to novation? the local economy? The Texas state government Our portion of local suppliunderstands that growing and ers is significantly higher than prospering businesses lead to a for most companies: we manugrowing and prospering state. facture more than 80% of our It is a simple concept but it wafers internally, and more gets lost in many other states than half are produced in Texand in some countries too. The as. The rest is produced in our Texas authorities have been plants in Germany, Japan, Chi-
na and Southeast Asia. As for the impact of TI on the local economy, I would say that our founders set a standard: the belief that if you invest and help build strong communities, they will help you as a company. We still believe this today, and we live it, not only here in North Texas but also wherever we operate around the world. Why is there such a rise in demand for analogue chips? It’s not a new, rising demand; the beauty of analogue chips is that they have been around ever since electronics were invented. There is not a piece of electronics that operates in your home or around you – your laptop, your phone, your car, TV – that doesn’t have at least one analogue chip, and quite likely tens of them. As we continue with more electronics in the world around us, there will be more analogue chips, so it is a great place to invest and we think a great market for many years to come.
15/04/2016 19:52
Researching Technologies For The Next Energy Revolution Ahmed Hashmi, Global Head of BP Upstream Technology large number of suppliers is the next main reason. You have GE Oil and Gas, Schlumberger and a number of others, all of which have their research facilities within a few miles radius.
How is the fall in oil prices affecting the research and development priorities in the upstream sector? Technology underpins everything that we do and is central to our business. We own a range of technologies that support our leadership positions and work collaboratively on a range of other technologies that underpin our competitiveness. We do five things in upstream technology. We support reliability and safety through technology. We support efficiency of our operations and our deployment of capital. Finally, technology supports growth. In this low-price environment, we have added more in digital and optimization technologies while we have pulled back in some of the very long-term growth prospects; not cancelled but delayed. What does Houston offer to BP? Houston is the energy capital of the world; there is a broad and deep oil and gas technical
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What is BP working on in terms of operational efficiency? One area of focus is the reduction of production deferrals, which are elements that impact the ability to take oil and gas from the well to the export pipe. This could be asphaltenes or solids that drop out of the produced oil and clog the pipe or it could be knowledge base here as well as sand that disaggregates from a desirable quality of life and rock and comes into the wells reasonable cost of living, which and production enable us to attract system. This inworld-class talent. “Houston is volves multiple We do a lot of the energy and complex sciwork with the University of Texas at capital of the ences, such as chemistry of the Austin and Texas world, with fluids that we are A&M, and we utiproducing and lize third party laba broad and their interaction oratories across deep with the surface Texas to test some of the pipe. Hardof our ideas. To knowledge of ware has finally support our deepthe oil and caught up with water and offshore our vision of a operations, we use gas industry.” digital oil field yards in Houston with sensors and communicawhere we can build mockups of tion systems available across our flow loops. our operations. Today, it is more about software and the How does technology play algorithms that we develop into BP’s presence here? and apply to harness and get BP has seven technology centhe most out of the vast quanters worldwide. Houston is tities of data available to us. Upstream’s largest technology center. We have the high-perTo what extent are digital formance computing facility rock imaging and data here that we are now using for analysis changing the way worldwide application. The oil you operate? Is it reducing and gas technology infrastruccosts? ture in the city as well as the
$600m in R&D across the enterprise
$250m invested in bioenergy, carbon management, energy efficiency and digital
100,000 bpd of Enhanced Oil Recovery
Our high-performance computing center is just down the street and we have set that up as our digital technology center for big data in seismic. This allows us to see, non-invasively, underneath the earth and to improve the reservoir image. There have been unexpected positive effects; for example, digital rocks and computational fluid dynamics – both highly numerical and compute intensive – are leveraging this investment. We are also using our cloud computing platform for production optimization. This is the big prize that everyone is pursuing and we are leaders in the area. Ten years ago we created systems that optimized not just a well but also the entire production system. That was proprietary but now we are taking it out into the industry for it to develop apps that we can plug into our system.
19/04/2016 11:28
Austin is the Place for this New Experiment in Medicine and Health Dr. Maninder Kahlon, Vice Dean for Partnerships and Strategy, Dell Medical School Why is Austin the place for Dell Medical School? Firstly, the community here got behind the idea of a new medical school and voted to raise property taxes to fund it. This created an unprecedented opportunity. And because the community is behind the school in such a big way, we can do things that others cannot. This is why Austin is the place for this new experiment in medicine and health, redefining the role of a medical school. The community finances $35 million a year and another $25 million comes from the University of Texas System. From various donors, we receive about $5 million annually, which will grow to $50 million in the next 10 years. Our total revenue is about $80 million. Our goal is to improve health by changing our model because the current one, based on delivering care through feefor-service, is broken.
Instead of focusing on people’s sickness, we are going to start with the wellness. Our biggest innovations start with saying, “put health front and center, not sickness, not medicine.” That’s radical for a medical school as even the most creative of them are working with an ivory-tower mentality. So How will Travis County our students – about 50 in the benefit from their invest- first year starting in June 2016 ment? – will become much more The important than good practipart is that we tioners, they will “The issue we become leaders will measure our success in that who can think have to solve way, i.e. by mak‘what should is people’s ing an impact for health look like?’ the people in this With health as health, their county. This inour goal, we need wellness, not to enable the envolves rethinking care, not just sickness and tire ecosystem of throwing doctors players who inmedicine.” at the problem. fluence health – The issue we that is, the Mayor, have to solve is the City Council, people’s health, their wellness the Chamber of Commerce, and then, improving their shopkeepers who sell fruits health when they are unwell. and vegetables, the Trail Foun-
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dation... They all play a role. How will DMS benefit from all the cross-disciplinary activities that give Austin its innovative edge? The taxpayers voted to raise their taxes for a medical school because they believe it will improve their health. But they also believe it will be a catalyst for Austin’s economy. Also, to serve our objectives of making large-scale change and becoming a model for the nation, we need to have. a more robust health innovation economy. The whole package becomes something that can radically transform health and health care. That’s the big picture: bottom up innovation making Austin an entrepreneurial hub at the intersection of all these different technologies that are essential for the future of care, and creating ‘smart care’ settings to show the true value of these innovations in health technology.
$35m a year is the amount financed by the local community
250+ contributors designed the curriculum from scratch
$295m is the price tag of the Dell Seton Medical Center
15/04/2016 19:41
South by Southwest Festival Reflects Austin’s Creative Spirit Hugh Forrest, Director of South by Southwest Interactive
$317.2m is the total revenue generated by SXSW for the city of Austin in 2015
70,552 is the number of attendees at the SXSW trade show in 2015
33,000 How important is South by Southwest to Austin and vice-versa? Austin has contributed significantly to our growth and success; there is a kernel of creativity here that is integral to everything that we do. Austin has traditionally been a college town and that is a significant driver of creativity but it has also grown a lot over the last 30 years. That spirit of creativity has stayed with Austin throughout the growth. Austin seems to embrace cross pollination between industries; do you think that South by Southwest plays a major role in this? South by Southwest has always been a reflection of the strengths of this city and that is why it started as a music event; Austin was a major music city. Then we added film and more recently, the new medical school has started to shape the city with more health and medical technology start-ups and
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culture. Because we reflect each other, South by Southwest will offer more health and medical technology. So just as in Austin, the cross pollination of industries can really take off here at the event.
to be a major part of our lives. The future is already here; it is just unevenly distributed. One of the things that we do well on the Interactive side is scale; we will have between 500 to 700 total sessions in five days.
What trends do you see How does South by Southemerging for 2016? west promote entrepreThe trend of health and medical technology aligns with a neurship? number of similar trends, one We started to push start-ups in the mid-2000s. When the of which is wearable technology. Another trend is the presworld economy was in the midst of turmoil ence of start-ups. in 2007 and The whole start“Virtual and up culture has 2008, we were augmented changed the way seeing massive many of us and reality is going growth. This was many of the Milevidence that the to change start-up sector lennials think. Also, we are rewas very resilient the way we and separate from ally pushing virtual and aug- experience the the economy. The mented reality for fact that Twitter world.” broke here made 2016; it is going to change the way it increasingly that we experience the world popular for venture capitalists as well as for start-ups from in so many different ways. Delivery on demand is also going the world over looking to meet
is the number of attendees at SXSW Interactive in 2015
fellow start-ups. These connections may be very significant or they may be smaller, but even if you hire a new programmer the power of small connections should never be underestimated. Is there a risk that South by Southwest Interactive has grown too big for Austin? Currently we have about 33,000 attendees and fortunately not all of them are ever in one room at one time. It is a constant effort to keep it relevant and cool while also adjusting to the growing number of attendees. But it is a perfect reflection of Austin; it is growing and changing and always adapting.
19/04/2016 11:29
Online Travel Company HomeAway: Austin Is in Our DNA Brian Sharples, CEO of HomeAway to be a division of Expedia headquartered here in Austin. How important is Austin for the existence of HomeAway and vice versa? Austin is hugely important to HomeAway because it’s the place where we created the company and where our DNA comes from. There has been a lot of turnover over the years, but we still have a lot of people who have been with us for 7, 8, 9 years. More importantly, we have trained the new generation who works at HomeAway. Currently about half of our 2,000 staff work here in Austin. The rest work in our worldwide offices such as London, Frankfurt, Madrid and Marseilles. Austin has very professional, super smart, well-educated people. On paper, this city has the most educated population in the United States. People come to school and never leave. They just love it here. Microsoft’s Expedia is buy- world, they have orders of ing HomeAway for $3.9 magnitude. billion. What will the deal We cater for 190 countries bring to both parties? around the world and none of The benefit of putting Expe- the major online travel agendia and Hocies like Priceline meAway together “HomeAway is or Expedia cater is that the owners for them. we represent will a business that get their properHois so different Will ties put in front of meAway confrom Expedia tinue to be the Expedia audience. They have that they plan headquartered massive global in Austin? to let us keep traffic; they own HomeAway is a huge brands such running it the business that is so as Orbitz, Travedifferent from way it was.” locity and Trivaanything Expedia go. Even though has ever been so we have more traffic in our they plan to let us keep runbusiness than anyone in the ning it the way it was. It’s going
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The press announced you expect $16 billion in sales this year? We have publicly estimated that in 2015 we will do between $14-16 billion, so roughly $15 billion in bookings we will do already. That’s obviously growing. You have been growing 20% year on year. What are the main trends for your company and the online travel sector in general? There is a lot written about how this segment is going to disrupt the hotel industry. I actually don’t believe that at all.
$3.9bn
is the reported price tag paid by Expedia for HomeAway
20%
is the yearly average growth of HomeAway
$16bn
is HomeAway’s sales target for 2015
It’s just a very different type of travel. That’s not taking business away from anybody, that’s creating a new market. As more awareness gets out about what we do, it creates travel that just didn’t happen before; multigenerational and big family travel. What are the advantages of doing business in Texas? Texas is pretty business friendly although we never got any special incentive or tax break. The best thing is that there is no income tax and that’s a huge selling point in getting executives to come to this city. Another advantage is that we are in the middle of the country. If you are a business that has customers all over the country and you’re at the midpoint, it is two hours in either direction.
15/04/2016 19:44
American Airlines Capitalizes on DFW’s Business Attractiveness Douglas Parker, Chairman & CEO of American Airlines American Airlines recently announced plans to build a new HQ in Fort Worth, near the Dallas Fort Worth airport. Why this decision now? Our current HQ was built 25 years ago and served its purpose. We are going to build not only our new HQ but also our flight training and reservation centers. We are really excited about it, as it will give us the chance to start afresh in a more collaborative environment and closer to our employees. We came back to the DFW area as part of our merger with US Airways. Both Dallas and Fort Worth are phenomenal air space and to keep costs cities; they’re quite a metropo- down. It is our largest hub and lis. This community really we are the world’s largest airdoes a great job line so it is inof attracting credibly imcommerce and portant to us “DFW is our you can feel the and a big part largest hub difference: there of why we are are a lot of Forhere: we have and we are tune 500 comgrown together; the world’s panies here. As it is really a a result, it is a symbiotic relalargest airline: good place to tionship. it is a symbiotic have an airline. We have over It’s also a great 800 flights a relationship.” place to live, day out of DFW and it is very airport to 200 business-friendly. destinations in 27 countries. For businesses, being able to Was the vast area of land get around the world efficientat DFW airport part of the ly is a very important part of decision to keep your hub their choice of location so we here after the merger? feed off each other. As the area DFW airport understands attracts more business, we add how important it is for us to be more flights, and as we add able to operate efficiently be- more flights, the area attracts cause we compete not only more business. There is no with other airlines but also better place in the United with other U.S. airports. DFW States than the Dallas Fort airport authorities work really Worth area if your goal is to be well to make sure there is open able to easily move around.
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vation is geared towards taking the best possible care of our customers by having better information processes.
How important is innovation to your growth strategy? It is extremely important. First and foremost, we upgrade our fleet: we add a new airplane every four days, replacing the older, less fuel-efficient and louder Super 80s with more efficient and cleaner 737s. It is a great innovation for our customers. But we also innovate in many other ways. One key area is IT. At the moment, our IT teams are busy implementing the merging of our two systems into one, which is a long, complicated integration process. Nevertheless, we are making huge strides in other aspects, notably as regards mobile information for customers and crews. For example, pilots now have tablets. Flight attendants have handhelds that allow them to process everything they need to do inside the cabin. Luggage is scanned with handheld devices by our employees. Much of our inno-
How does American Airline compare to other major airlines, in particular in the top-market segment? We are a global airline so we must compete with other global airlines. The product we are putting in place now is as good as anywhere in the world. We added new airplanes to our fleet of 777-300s that we are now flying to Sydney, Australia. It is a gorgeous new airplane with full lie-flat seats for first and business, and Wi-Fi on board. That’s the future for American: a world class product that is on par with any global carrier in the world.
6,700 flights per day to 350 destinations in 50 countries
$7.6bn net profit in 2015
$350m earmarked for the new HQ and campus in DFW
15/04/2016 19:36
SMU Enters Second Century With Record $1.15 Billion Raised R. Gerald Turner, President of Southern Methodist University As SMU enters its second century, what are the main achievements to be celebrated? Our Second Century Campaign surpassed every major goal we set for the University. We received over $1.15 billion in commitments, the largest campaign total in the history of Texas private colleges and universities. We are particularly satisfied with the 689 new endowed scholarships, far above our initial goal of 500; the 54 new endowed faculty positions, raising the total to 116, and the 24 major new facilities or major renovations that were significantly funded. It’s notable that nearly 60% of alumni made a gift, when our goal was 50%, and that in a single year, 26% of undergraduate alumni donated, exceeding our goal of 25%. These are terrific percentages for alumni giving. Has the campaign had an impact on innovation at SMU and if so, how? A number of programs added during the campaign are receiving national attention. The key word for much of what we do is interdisciplinary, which is an essential factor in fostering innovation. For example, we have an arts research program based on big data that helps arts venues identify their positives and capitalize on them. Another example is that we created a major with fine arts and engineering – creative computation – that was suggested by the students themselves. At SMU, we give students opportunities they may not find elsewhere.
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11,000 students from 50 states and 100 countries
104
bachelor’s degrees
27
doctoral-research degrees What relationship do you points over the last 20 years. have with businesses and We are keen to attract students the community here in Dalwho have a can-do attitude las? just like the general attitude Being in Dallas is a significant here in Dallas, which is very advantage because it gives stumuch the glass-full approach. dents access to the employers And indeed, most employers based here. say that our stuThere is a wide dents are well array of intern“We want to be trained, well edships available ucated and have known for the for our students, good social and most of skills. They opportunities them have a job, know how to we offer for or offers, before work in groups, they graduate. which is somemultiple This is one of the thing we focus degree and reasons we aton. As for the tract out-of-state interdisciplinary number of apstudents. They plications, it inprograms.” know Dallas is creases by about vibrant and dy500-1000 a year. namic and they We are not lookbelieve their future is in Texas . ing to become much bigger than now, but we want to increase quality. Regarding miWhat trends do you see in nority enrollment, we are SAT scores, and in applicapushing to increase the numtion numbers, in particular ber of minority students to for minorities? better reflect the world around The SAT of our first-year us. class has gone up by about 200
$122m
in external funding for research in the sciences, engineering and education over the last five years
What are your priorities for the next 10 years? Our objectives are to have a significant increase in interdisciplinary programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, to expand our computing capacity, and to build on it, and to hire faculty using it in all disciplines. We want to be known for the opportunities we offer for multiple degree and interdisciplinary programs, with an emphasis on the digital aspect of those programs, and for graduating students who know how to work with people from all backgrounds.
20/04/2016 11:38
A Key Asset for the Economy of Dallas Sean Donohue, CEO of Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport How important is DFW International Airport in the economy of Dallas? The Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) airport is a $37 billion economic engine for the region, generating about 10% of the regional GDP. I don’t know any other entity that drives so much economic activity. The number of direct and indirect jobs is 228,000 and the total payroll is $12 billion. So we are a hugely important asset for the region. Also, we are the fourth busiest airport in the world in terms of takeoffs and landings, with over 1,800 operations each day. This year, we will serve over 64 million customers. We often receive visits by CEOs of large companies who want to talk about our devel- We did this by deploying a opment plans because DFW is system called Global Entry, a key element in which includes their decision to “We are focused 70 passport relocate or exreader kiosks. on becoming pand their busiWhen passena global super gers arrive, they ness here. If you want to do busican go to a kihub, global ness, there are osk, insert their being the key very few airports passport, and in the world that basically the imword because can get you to so migration promany cities we already are a cess is done. The around the system works for super hub.” globe. This is exboth American tremely important for the passengers and foreigners business community. coming from a visa waiver country. We can now process How does the airport use planes with 300 customers in innovation and technology 12 minutes. We have totally on a daily basis? turned around the ‘pain point’ I’ll give you two examples. A we had before and the efficienfew years back, customers had cy of our clearing process has to wait on average two hours become another competitive to get through immigration advantage. And since we have and customs. This was not the intellectual property, we specific to DFW but it was a are also selling this system to problem we wanted to solve. other airports.
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Another example is the touch-screen information units deployed throughout our terminals, for which we won a patent. Passengers can use them to find all the information they need, in various languages, about flights, shopping, parking, etc. We have very good customer feedback on this system.
afford is to become a hindrance to the growth of this region. So we are focused on global and we hope to have some announcements to make in the forthcoming months about additional services.
What is your main objective for the next 10-15 years? We are really focused on becoming a global super hub, global being the key word. We are already a super hub because of our size, but we want to also be global. In 10 to 15 years, there will not be many global super hubs because airlines continue to concentrate more and more. Now is the time to set that plan in motion, because it takes time to do it and the last thing we can
generated for the region’s economy
$37bn 228,000 direct and indirect jobs
207 destinations served
15/04/2016 19:39
Banking on the Sunbelt’s Innovative and Multicultural Environment Manolo Sánchez, Chairman and CEO of BBVA Compass in Mexico, which remains a large operation. We were able to build on synergies as a brand that is present on both sides of the border, along which we have about 50 branches. Border cities are global economies in themselves.
340 branches in Texas out of a total of 666
$35.7bn
in deposits in Texas How important is innovation in your development strategy? Innovation is key to our business strategy. When we started operations in the U.S., in earnings for we wanted to be the owners of 2015, up 5% our own destiny from a technology perspective. We designed our core banking platform, which is the code on which the bank runs. We wrote that from scratch. Northe forefront of providing mally, banks process transacthose solutions. tions at night. We broke that rule and are providing clients How do you support innowith real-time banking, so vative businesses? they see what we see at the We are an active lender. We same time, which provides funded nearly $17.3 billion of greater transloans to customparency. In traers throughout “We funded ditional bankour franchise last nearly $17.3 year and ranked ing, checks can take two or billion of loans among the top 10 three days to SBA lenders as throughout our well. One of the clear. In the age of Netflix and franchise last sectors in which iTunes, customwe focus particuyear.” ers are not willlarly is health ing to wait two care, which is a to three days for their checks key economic driver for Housto be available. ton. We also have a dynamic This is an instantaneous not-for-profit lending practice. economy and we have worked We are also committed to the hard to make banking instancommunities in which we optaneous. We also write our erate. In everything we do, we own code for all our applicafactor in being a responsible tions, which are all bilingual in corporate citizen. Not only is it English and Spanish. We have good business, but it is also seen the revolution in convepart of our mission and our nience and we want to be at purpose to make a difference.
$490m
What are the benefits of U.S. and the fourth largest being in Houston for BBVA in Texas. Tell us why you Compass? chose this area in particuHouston is a very interna- lar. tional city when measured by The U.S. has multiple highthe number of foreign-born growth economies because it is residents, and it’s a fascinating- a large country. We focused ly open society. Houston is a our growth in the Sunbelt beplace that offers cause it is a the kind of attifast-growing re“This is an tude and environgion. Furtherinstantaneous more, Texas is the ment that we want our busiNo. 1 exporting economy ness to be instate for the 14th and we have spired by. We consecutive year. have benefited worked hard to And for the third greatly from beyear in a row, the ing in Texas. The make banking state surpassed level of energy California for instantaneous.” and ambition high-tech exports, here makes it a presenting develgreat platform for business. opment opportunities for us. Another interesting point is BBVA Compass is one of that we started investing here the 25 largest banks in the after firstly building a network
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19/04/2016 11:30
Rice University to Invest in Nanotechnologies and Data Sciences David W. Leebron, President of Rice University
3,879
How important is investment in research and innovation to your vision of Rice? Research and innovation have a tight relationship, but they are not the same thing. They are core to who we are as a private, small research university whose DNA is heavily influenced by engineering. Houston is a city built on oil, so it has that entrepreneurial spirit of adventure that drives you to go out, find new things, and exploit them. The energy industry is built on technology and the spirit of that industry is innovative. Rice University announced in September that it would invest over $150 million in initiatives aimed at increasing its research competitiveness, establishing a world-renowned program in data sciences and bolstering its position as one of the leading centers for molecular nanotechnology research. What are the objectives? There are three major components to this plan. One is more generic and concerns research structures and capacity, as well as faculty positions. The second one, molecular and nanotechnology, is to reinvest and maintain our position in an area in which Rice has established a global reputation as one of the birthplaces of nano-science and nanotechnology. Now about data sciences; in an age where we have more and more information, we need to increase our capacity to analyze it, organize it, process it, and extract insights
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undergraduate and 2,744 graduate degree-seeking students
665
full-time and 197 part-time faculty
$102m
from it. We do not call it big data because sometimes you find a lot of information in a small amount of data. We see that extending across the university: every part of it is expected to have some relationship or investment in thinking about data. The energy industry is built on innovation but it seems that Houston does not have the reputation it deserves in this respect. How important is it to Rice University to be based in Houston? Houston stands apart for several reasons. One is the relationship it has with the adventurous and innovative spirit of the energy industry, which did not emerge as a force in Texas until after the early 20th century. For Rice, as a relatively new university that started with technology and science, it has been central, in part because the university was built with the idea that it was going to help the city of Houston. The
in annual research
commitment of the faculty, not expenditures just in engineering but also throughout the university, particularly in social sciences, is to discover and develop ideas that have an impact on society. Innovation concerns all disciman body. The energy sector plines. For example in engidoes the same except on a neering, it means making a much larger scale. Houston discovery or designing applihas scores of innovative comcations, but in humanities it panies and a huge number of may be a new insight or way of engineers. The challenge now looking at or understanding is to bring together all the orthe world. ganizations that The image of innovate in order “Contrary to the energy industo nourish a more the image of try is someone in robust and comoveralls with oil plete innovation someone in dripping on them ecosystem. Housoveralls with ton already has and a cowboy hat. But it is actually a a cowboy hat, the science, the very high tech, research, the insoaked with sophisticated secnovative spirit, tor. Drilling operoil, energy is a everything except ations for explothe financial invery high tech frastructure. If we ration, seismic detection, all can make that industry.” these things have next step, it will a lot in common with bio-medbecome one of the great innoicine, which analyzes the flow vation centers not only of the through the “pipes” of the hucountry but also of the world.
15/04/2016 19:50
Innovation Comes from Interdisciplinary Collaboration Gregory L. Fenves, President of the University of Texas at Austin
52,000 is the number of undergraduate and graduate students
3,000 is the number of teaching faculty
What are your main priorities for the University of Texas at Austin as President? This is a great university and my goal is to make it even greater. Part of that includes more international engagement and international exposure. We have 40,000 undergraduate students, and 52,000 in total with our graduate and professional students. One of my goals is to merge our undergraduate education mission with our research mission even closer so the values of research becomes integrated throughout our curriculum and our degree program. We are a very large research enterprise, with close to $600 million of sponsored research a year. Given the importance of the university, this amount could and should be larger. How? First by bringing faculty together on interdisciplinary research centers. And second through closer collaboration with industry. Given the con-
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centration of major companies in Texas, we can do a lot more. Our third priority is the start of the new medical school, the Dell Medical School at UT Austin.
Dean’s goal is to make Austin a model healthy city, which is how we are going to reduce the cost of medical care and increase the value of medical care.
What impact will the Dell Why is the medical school Medical School have on hailed as particularly innohealth sciences at UT Ausvative? tin and healthcare in AusTexas has some great medical tin generally? schools, but they are separate One is that the research will from the academic universibe highly integrated because ties. Many of the ideas, soluwe are not creating a separate tions and innovations are gohealth science center. The Dell ing to come from the Medical School collaboration bewill be closely tween scientists, “The Dean’s collaborating engineers and with all the goal is to make computer scienschools and col- Austin a model tists working with leges. The second physicians to is the collabora- healthy city and solve healthcare tion with industry problems in new thus reduce and we have some ways. Dell Medithe cost of great ideas about cal School is goan innovation dising to be fully inhealthcare.” trict across the tegrated in the street from the campus so that medical school. The third is we will have joint faculty apthe impact on the community pointments between for examthrough improving health. The ple computer science and
$586.7 million
is the amount awarded in sponsored projects (2014-15)
medicine. A lot of the innovation is going to come from interdisciplinary collaboration. How important is the university in terms of impact in the community? The university has had an extraordinary impact on Austin. Austin really grew around the State government and the university. The city of Austin and this innovative culture is such an important asset. I have worked near Silicon Valley; I know MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology], Cambridge and the Boston area pretty well and it’s clear that Austin is the next one.
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University of Houston Brings Innovation and Dynamism to the City University of Houston President, Renu Khator, upbeat about future prospects top. We make sure we push this institution on both angles.
Photo courtesy of UH
How does the university benefit from being in Houston and vice versa? We are in the fourth largest city in the country and soon to be the third. We have an energy industry like nowhere else, the largest medical center in the world, and a vibrant arts economy. Student success is also fundamental. So this is our competitive advantage : we are in a global setting and we have energy, health, arts, and absolute focus on student success. When we recruit national academy members, the selling point is not just the University of Houston. The deal is, “You’re going to be in Houston. Here are other partners, let us take you to meet them and see what opportunities you will have here.”
The University of Houston system has an economic impact of some $4 billion a year on the Houston area. How does it achieve that? We have 70,000 students at the University of Houston System and most of them stay here after they graduate. You can go to any enterprise or business here and you will find University of Houston graduates. Houston is a very global city and we are a major player because we provide the necessary workforce but we also provide innovative capital to the city. As a public university, what role do you play in social inclusion and diversity? It is a very important part of
You have been President of the university since 2008. what we do. We are the only What is your pride and joy? education system that is desigIn my eight years here we nated by the federal governhave done so many wonderful ment as a Hispanic-serving inthings and I give stitution. We are all the credit also one of the most diverse “Our competitive again to the community that universities in advantage is allows us to have the country. having energy, the vision, and Many of our students come from health, arts, and to the faculty and the staff who families that are first generation absolute focus on make it happen. immigrants. student success.” But my proudest achievement at I have very the moment is to deep passion for have seen the University of not just higher education but Houston inducted into Phi also access to higher education. Beta Kappa. You need to have a critical mass of educated people, but that is You opened a 75-acre enonly one part. It is also importergy research park as part ant to have excellence at the
$4bn is the amount generated each year in Houston by the University
40,914 is the total number of students (2014)
3,760 is the total number of faculty at the University of Houston (2014)
of an ambitious campus construction program. Do you have other expansion plans? We have built over a billion dollars worth and I can see another billion coming in terms of the program. Recently we got $20 million for renovating our basketball facilities, and we built a $126 million football stadium. Our next big project is our biomed and health building. For 2020, our objective is the completion of a billion dollar campaign. I just see possibilities! People often ask me what it takes to build a Tier One university. I say that the ingredient number one is Houston.
Reliant NRG on a Journey to Make Texas Cleaner and Smarter Elizabeth Killinger, President of Reliant and NRG Texas Retail did trials and in 2014, we started a business line with a station called NRG Go, for which we won an innovation award. Then we discovered a company, Goal Zero, that also made portable power devices and we acquired it that same year. We are now launching a new, solar-powered, very high quality portable device called Sunbook, which will be available in a few months. We also have a larger unit called Yeti, more or less the size of a lunchbox, that can be used at home for example for powering a small refrigerator. What are you doing to make Texas power cleaner and smarter? We embarked on a journey to make Texas cleaner and smarter in 2007 by giving customers the ability to understand what was in their bill. Back then, you got a bill somewhere between 30 and 45 days after you actually used the power. The analogy I would use is you go to the grocery store and a month and a half later you pay for all the food you bought. With smart meters, we began to have access to information about how people were using power throughout the month and we could give that feedback to them. So we introduced a weekly update or status check on how people are using their energy. This has provided the underpinning for our strategy which is really to bring customers insights, choices and convenient energy solutions to make a difference for them. We have advanced that vision to be even broader and now we are looking at other places where peo-
ple need power. They still need it at home but they also increasingly need power on the go.
You operate in a very competitive market with about 50 retailers in Texas. Has investment in innovation helped you keep your leadSo you are moving into ership? what you call “personal It has been fundamental. power”? NRG has a multi-brand strateIndeed, nowadays everygy because we recognize that thing is mobile power, our one size doesn’t fit all for conwhole life is on our mobile desumers. NRG is the largest revices: our calendar, our kids, tailer in Texas with 29% marour flights... When I became ket share through Reliant, President of Reliant in 2012, which is our flagship. We are we embarked on this vision of the ones who becoming the bring the innocompany peo“We have this vation to marple count on to vision of being ket, for exampower their ple an app to homes and their the company control your air lives. I had expeople count on c o n d i t i o n i n g perienced it mysystem, or our self as a mother to power their predictable of three: we homes and their electricity plan, have not one or called Predicttwo devices but lives.” able 12. We at least five and have evolved from being that we all need power on the go. company that sends a surprise So we came up with a pilot to the customer once a month project, a small power pack to being that company that that people could rent when at customers can count on bea conference, a show or a festicause we share with them how val, and people loved it. We
40m homes in the U.S. are Reliant NRG clients
47,000 MW total generation capacity
100 power plants in 18 states they are using their energy. We give customers frequent updates, telling them: “It’s week One, if all goes as expected, your bill will be $100.” And then, “It’s Week Two and it looks like you have used more energy; your bill is now going to be $112.” Do you believe renewables are a promising market in Texas? The cost of renewables has dropped dramatically in the past few years, and the more economical they become, the more interesting they will be to invest in. Also, people are more willing to invest because it is the right thing to do. We are not there yet, but we are doing what we believe we need to do so that our customers can count on us for their solar solutions. We are already providing that in our East Coast markets. In Texas, it is still a much smaller market but it will grow.
Energy Giant Calpine Upbeat about Growth in Houston and Texas Thad Hill, President and CEO, Calpine Based in Houston, Calpine Corporation is America’s largest generator of electricity from natural gas and geothermal resources, with more than 27,000 megawatts of generation capacity. How do you see demand perform in Texas this year? The demand was up by slightly over 2% in 2015. It is still too early to know what the trend will be in 2016. There is a big debate about that here because obviously, oil prices are low. Texas is very important for us: we have about 30% of our portfolio here, with just under 10,000 MW in investment. There is a view that the economy here can slope but so far, it seems to be continuing to grow.
particular. A lot of our competitors cannot turn on or off, whereas we have the ability to How have your gas plants turn our plants on and off helped push coal plants out twice a day. So for example if of the Texas market? on a given night, it gets really There are several trends oc- windy and prices go negative, curring at the moif you have a coal ment. One is the or nuclear plant “Low gas very low gas you have to shut prices and the down for several price, which makes the plants volatility of net days or weeks, we operate much whereas we just demand after turn off at night more competitive compared to our renewables play and turn back on competitors. The the day when the second factor is really well with wind isn’t blowthat the Environ- the flexibility of ing. So low gas mental Protection prices and the our fleet.” Agency (EPA) has volatility of net raised some standemand after redards. So at the same time as newables play really well with margins are being squeezed, the flexibility of our fleet. there are some additional environmental capital expenditures Do you have plans to buy that some of these other plants new assets or build new have to make. A third import- plants in Texas? ant factor is the higher peneWe have done so in the past tration of renewables, wind in few years. We made two asset
Calpine Thad Hill.indd 1
27,000 MW
of power generation capacity nationwide
$1.97bn adjusted EBITDA (2015)
84 power plants in operation or under construction acquisitions: a 1100MW plant near San Antonio and an 800 MW plan northwest of Waco. We have also carried out two construction projects by expanding two of our plants in Houston. So we have put about $2 billion into the state in the last couple of years, and we will certainly invest more when the market conditions warrant. What are you doing to make your plants cleaner and more efficient? There are three key criteria: sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain; nitrous oxide, which can cause haze and respiratory issues, and mercury. Natural gas plants produce no SO2 and no mercury, but we do produce some nitrous oxides. Our plants are heavily controlled but also, we start much cleaner than coal. Now the EPA is tightening the National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS) but we feel we are in great shape no matter how tight that standard gets. Do you think the state of Texas should do more to support renewables? No, I don’t think so. Texas produces more wind than any other state in the country, and it has already invested billions of dollars in building transmission lines between the East, where most of the population lives, and the West, where wind and ultimately solar resources are. The federal government has investment tax credits in place and eventually there will be a price on carbon. So everything has been done, and the state is very well set up. There are some imperfections and a lot of technical twists and turns but the overall spirit of competition and letting the market work has done very well.
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