The Austin tech community didn’t just happen… it was built, decade by decade, by bold thinkers, engineers, academics, and entrepreneurs who saw this city not just as a place to live, but as a place to invent. This wasn’t luck. This was intentional. The leaders of yesterday not only took actions, they told the story of Austin… and the world heard them.
Our foundation goes back to the 1960s and 70s, when forward-looking leaders laid the groundwork through higher education and early R&D investments. Companies like IBM, Tracor, and Texas Instruments planted roots here, and partnerships with the University of Texas helped give Austin its first taste of tech credibility.
In the 1980s, the semiconductor wave hit hard. Austin became a center for advanced manufacturing and chip design, and the word started getting out: this was a serious tech town. Then came the 1990s and the software boom. Dell’s meteoric rise gave us a global stage, and startups started to grow in the shadow of giants. Venture capital followed.
The 2000s solidified our status. Austin was no longer emerging… it was here. Entrepreneurs took risks, the startup scene took shape, and major companies opened offices to tap into the city’s energy and talent. In the 2010s, we exploded. The city’s population soared, and tech became one of the driving forces behind the economy.
Today, we’re in the middle of a renaissance. The Austin tech community is more diverse than ever; in people, in ideas, and in industries. Space tech, fintech, medtech, proptech, clean tech, climate tech, defense tech, deep tech… it’s all here. And it’s all thriving.
Look at the data. The Technical.ly Innovation Index ranks us 3rd amongst tech ecosystems (but they split San Jose and San Francisco), so really, we’re #2. We’re consistently ranked among the top U.S. metros for STEM jobs. We’re a top city for patents. And we’re growing.
Why? Because we welcome new voices. This is a place where first-time founders, seasoned executives, and fresh UT grads can all be part of the conversation. Austin is a city that allows room for disruption, and we actually expect it. That’s part of what makes the Austin tech community unique: we don’t fear the future, we shape it.
We also don’t operate in silos. Sure, we have cliques (every city does) but here, you can still walk into a meetup or conference and talk to the CEO of a startup or the head of a major innovation lab. Our culture leans open, not closed. We collaborate. We share. We lift each other up. And when someone is not that way, they are not respected for the long run.
There’s also a deep well of private and public sector R&D happening in Austin. From federally funded labs to garage-born prototypes, innovation is in our DNA. And the University of Texas continues to be one of our biggest assets, pumping out brilliant graduates who want to stay in Austin and help build what’s next.
The Austin Technology Council was built to support all of this. We’re here to connect, advocate, and educate. Because no ecosystem stays strong without care and intention. And the future of the Austin tech community depends on how we show up for it… today and tomorrow.
The Austin tech community was not created by accident. But its next chapter? That’s still being written. By all of us. The best days of the Austin tech ecosystem are going to be in the future…. and that will not be by accident either!