How does the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, home of TI, become the Silicon Valley of the Central U.S.? According to Steve Lyle, Texas Instruments’ director of university marketing and engineering workforce development, lots of little steps that translate to a big impact. He’ll tell you the first few steps involve building a nationally recognized, “Tier One” research university in the region. For TI, long-term, incremental and hyper-targeted investment in building a world-class research facility as part of the University of Texas at Dallas represents a big leap toward establishing Dallas/Ft. Worth as the Silicon Valley of the south-central U.S.
TI’s mission to build a Tier One research university began in 1969, when the company helped to found the University of Texas at Dallas. Over subsequent years and decades, TI’s commitment to growing UT Dallas’ research capabilities extended to providing funding, support and guidance to numerous academic programs and initiatives such as the Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the Naveen Jindal School of Management.
“The Jindal School Startup Launch Program is the moment of truth for all of the previous work at UT Dallas. You build all of these educational steps, but how are you going to measure if it is really creating new businesses?” said Steve. “This program really encourages entrepreneurship and innovation.”The most recently created Startup Launch Program came out of the Jindal School and the Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. The program is designed to help entrepreneurs launch their startup within 16-24 months by providing hands-on courses with experienced faculty, office and laboratory space at UT Dallas and up to $25,000 in seed funding.
Dr. Joseph Picken, the founding director of the UT Dallas Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said startups require a good idea, a lot of passion and a need to understand enough about the process of building a business.
“I can’t provide the good idea, and you have to take care of the passion and fire in your belly. But the Startup Launch Program can help you reduce the risks and avoid the worst mistakes by teaching you tried-and-true process for creating a startup,” said Joseph.
“The program combines academia with practice and facilitating the creation of new companies in our region,” said Hasan Pirkul, the dean of the Jindal School of Management. “I think it brings the best of both worlds. We are helping people with good ideas to start their companies and we are educating them along the way of how to do this.”
But what’s in it for TI? Why would TI invest in programs designed to help create new companies that could one day be competitors?
“It builds up our communities. If UT Dallas is helping to create new businesses, and the Metroplex becomes even better known as a hub for technology and innovation, TI wants to be at the heart of that growth,” said Steve. “Strong companies build strong communities that attract even more talented people to the area. We, and other area companies, can greatly benefit from that.”
That brings us back to the original question, how do you make the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex the Silicon Valley of the Central U.S.? As we’ve seen, it takes unwavering commitment to investing in research, people and communities to sustain the spirit of innovation. The Jindal School Startup Launch Program brings us a step closer to empowering central Texas to achieve Silicon Valley status.
