The Austin Region

The Game Changer of Texas

For the past 20 years, Opportunity Austin has changed the game in Austin, helping to create more opportunities for people living and working in the region. These new opportunities do not happen overnight. They take years of discussion and planning that our organization helps to foster for the region.

Opportunity Austin achievements:

First to call for a new medical school in Austin (2004)–Dell Medical School at UT Austin opened in 2016

Partnered with Capitol Factory to launch a community center and co-working space that became the center of gravity for entrepreneurs

Samsung announced in 2021 a new $17 billion next-generation chip-making plant creating at least 2,000 jobs in Taylor

Tesla announced 5,000 jobs for the new Austin Gigafactory in 2020. In 2021, announced 5,000 more jobs and moved its headquarters to Austin

Oracle announced a 560,000 SF campus in 2015. In 2020, the company completed phase 2 of the project and designated 2300 Cloud Way the company’s HQ

Apple selected Austin in 2018 for a new $1 billion campus on 133 acres that could accommodate 15,000 workers

Since 2004, Opportunity Austin Helped:

• Create 640,400 new jobs
• Curated $53 Billion of new wages to the Austin region to benefit everyone
• Recruited 827 new companies to the Austin region
• Expanded 1443 companies to the Austin region

Our continued determination to make the Austin region a world class place to live, work and be creative has certainly produced exemplary results over these past 20 years. We have continued our economic development efforts with a strong focus on economic resilience through business recruitment and retention, workforce development and pushing forward on critical quality of life initiatives including infrastructure and affordability.

Opportunity Austin 5.0 Strategy

Ensuring the Austin region’s economy is diverse, resilient and prosperous

• Refocus recruitment on emerging industries such as semiconductor, life science and tech sectors

• Develop and market emerging industries

• Launch a best-in-class BRE program

• Tell the story about economic development incentives

Securing the Austin region as a top global destination for business and investment

• Expand efforts to recruit internationally

• Develop a structured “soft landing” program for international organizations

• Support regional business expansion into foreign markets

Providing companies in the Austin region with access to the talent they need

• Prioritize customized training to better connect for regional business needs

• Continue efforts to connect regional students to in-demand career pathways and associated training programs

Ensuring the Austin region invests in the quality of life that makes it attractive to people and businesses

• Work to help improve housing development and density

• Invest more in regional mobility projects

• Address public safety

A new era for the Austin region

The work Opportunity Austin has done has helped the region rebound from economic downturns more quickly than other parts of the country. That is evidenced by Austin being selected as one of the top metro areas for 2022, and ranking 1st for projects on a per capita basis. We aim to continue to focus on infrastructure including transportation and mobility and energy sustainability, while collaborating on regional housing affordability.

Opportunity Austin works to cultivate a wide array of industry sectors in an effort to diversify our economy, make it more resilient for the future and help provide opportunities to help lift everyone in the region up. We are looking forward to the economic bounds that the Austin region will continue to experience as Opportunity Austin 5.0 is adapted and fulfilled within the next five years.