Appeared in print and online:  American-Statesman

By Lori Hawkins

Published: 8:12 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday brought together Austin high-tech leaders and University of Texas officials at an event called to discuss how Central Texas could become the next Silicon Valley.

In opening remarks to the audience of 60 business, technology and higher education leaders, Perry said, "The questions before us are these: how close is Texas, specifically Central Texas, to becoming the nation's next high-tech hub \u2026 and what do we have to do to get there? How do we create the culture of entrepreneurship that has made Silicon Valley what it is today?"

In recent months, Perry has come under fire from critics, including higher education leaders and prominent UT donors, who have said he is attempting to undermine academic research at the state's flagship universities. Following the backlash, Perry has become a cheerleader for Austin's potential to become another version of Silicon Valley. That region is the nation's high-tech capital, with companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Google Inc., and more that were born out of research at Stanford and other top California universities.

Mir Imran , a California medical device entrepreneur whose InCube Labs has operations in San Antonio, said that for Austin to become a leader in life sciences, "what we really need is a medical school. Without that, it's incomplete. That's the magic at Stanford — the intersection of different areas that come together to innovate."

Perry later asked whether Round Rock's Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine could help fill the gap. The school provides clinical training for third- and fourth-year medical students through affiliations with regional clinical facilities around the state.

Speakers on two other panels offered ideas for pushing the region forward, including closer collaboration between universities and business and among universities themselves, speeding up the licensing of university research, and fostering an environment that attracts entrepreneurs, and by turn, venture capital.

In remarks after the conference, Perry said, "What we need to look at is how do we get Aggies and Longhorns working more closely. How do we get them to collaborate? In the case of a medical school — does it have to be the University of Texas Medical School-Austin, or can it be Texas A&M Round Rock campus? Rather than hundreds of millions of dollars in cost, is this institution a possibility?"

Imran also said Austin needs a larger pool of companies based on university research, which will in turn attract more venture capital to the area. "We need hundreds of new companies every year, not tens," he said. "We need to tap universities and encourage them to commercialize their ideas, and reduce friction in tech transfer."

When Perry asked Imran to elaborate, he said, "Often, tech transfer offices try to get the best licensing deal for the university, when actually they should be focused on getting (intellectual property) out in the community. I would suggest that technology transfer offices should be viewed as a cost center for the university, not a revenue center."

The event was held at the Austin offices of Cisco Systems Inc., the networking company, with an appearance via teleconferencing by CEO John Chambers. Chambers said that for Texas to truly reach the level of Silicon Valley, its various sectors must figure out how to work together.

"There is an opportunity to capitalize on the significant potential that exists in Texas to make it an innovation center of excellence," he said. "This can only become a reality with increased collaboration and commitment between the technology sector, government and higher education."

lhawkins@statesman.com; 912-5955

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