BY BRITTANY ANDERSON & GRACE DICKENS
The bigger picture
Innovation district
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Dell Seton Medical Center
While Austin shows key indicators for the success of a life sciences industry, available lab space remains an issue, Schwab said. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, the largest lab space developer and investor in the nation, has also acquired two properties in the Central Austin area in recent years. One is 198,972 square feet and the other almost 2 million square feet, although the exact purpose for those facilities has not been confirmed, according to a company report. Scharf said the last five years in particular have brought a life science explosion to Austin, thanks to the convergence of science and technology. “A lot of the innovation is going to start coming, and I think that Austin—with this kind of thriving tech sector and thriving health care sector, and the convergence of the two—is really primed well for that,” Scharf said.
J.J. Pickle Research Campus
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North Austin
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MOPAC
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The influx of life science companies began after Dell Medical School opened in 2013 in Austin’s Innovation District. On Nov. 9, Austin City Council voted to create a research and sciences mixed-use subdistrict near the University of Texas’s J.J. Pickle Research Campus to pave the way for more science labs.
• Hanger Clinic : prosthetics and orthotic care • Smith & Nephew : devices to repair and regenerate soft and hard tissue • Spinesmith Partners : creates devices to treat spinal injuries • Syneos Health: research services for pharma and biotech companies • Tekton Research : clinical trials for pharma and device companies • WuXi Clinical: research studies for pharma, bio and device companies
A number of pharmaceutical/ biotech and medical device companies have set up shop in South Austin, including:
SOURCE: OPPORTUNITY AUSTIN/ COMMUNITY IMPACT
Needs for industry growth For the industry to continue to grow, the report from AustinNext and Austin Medtech Connect said the following must be prioritized:
Looking ahead
“There’s very high growth, but it’s in its [beginning] stages of growing, which is why we’re so excited about it,” Schwab said. “We see no reason why there won’t be more and bigger companies coming our way, if the infrastructure and real estate projects are there for these tenants to come.”
Compared to major research hubs across the country, from the top-performing Research Triangle Park in North Carolina to Texas’ own largest industry in Houston, Austin has a small life science industry, by all measures, according to the report from Newmark, a national real estate services firm. However, the exponential growth of Austin’s industry in three years proves, despite its size, life science opportunities are high in demand, Schwab said.
More available lab space
Further investment into life sciences industry
Continued supply of skilled workforce
SOURCES: AUSTIN MEDTECH CONNECT, AUSTINNEXT/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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