What: Austin city leaders and IC² fellows from around the globe will join with administrators from The University of Texas at Austin to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the university’s IC² Institute. Also being celebrated is the 100th birthday of the institute’s founder, George Kozmetsky, and the 90th anniversary of the Bureau of Business Research. The event will be marked with a three-day conference that will explore the factors that promoted the growth of Austin into a leading innovation hub and the successful diffusion of the model used in Austin to other countries. The keynote speech will be delivered by Finn Kydland, the 2004 Nobel Prize recipient in economics.
When: April 27-29, 2017.
- Thursday, April 27 – Tour of the IC² Institute
- Friday, April 28 – Full day of panel discussions
- Saturday, April 29 – Conference adjourns at noon
A full agenda can be found here.
Where: IC² Institute, 2815 San Gabriel St. & AT&T Conference Center, 1900 University Ave.
Media: The event is not open to the public. Media representatives are welcome to attend.
Background: As dean of the College of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, George Kozmetsky founded the IC² Institute (innovation, creativity, capital) in 1977 as a multidisciplinary, university-based “think and do tank.” The impact of the institute has been significant. Just over the past 10 years, the institute helped bring to the Austin startup economy more than $850 million and 6,500 new jobs. Internationally, the institute has created about $1 billion in economic impact in countries such as India, South Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Poland, Turkey and Colombia, among others.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler will join UT Austin President Gregory L. Fenves, entrepreneurs from the private sector and several of the top minds in economics to discuss the role the institute will play in the growth of Austin and the impact of key international programs in light of current social conditions and needs. From these discussions, the IC² Institute will focus its activities to create enhanced value on the UT campus, the Austin community and throughout the world for the next 40 years.
With help from the City of Austin and the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, the IC² Institute founded the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) and Texas Capital Network in 1989, followed by the Austin Software Council in 1993. All three of these initiatives helped catalyze the city’s relentless growth toward becoming globally recognized as a major technology/entrepreneurial center of excellence.
Contact: Prentiss Riddle, priddle@ic2.utexas.edu, 512-475-8970.
