Texas governor appoints tech fund advisors

Texas Gov. Rick Perry appointed 17 high-tech industry leaders, academic researchers and others to advise the state its Emerging Technology Fund.

The $200 million Emerging Technology Fund, created by law two months ago, is aimed at improving research at universities, helping start-up technology firms establish themselves and accelerating development and deployment of new technologies. The fund is also expected to improve economic development within the state.

“Over the next decade, emerging technologies will generate $3 trillion in revenue worldwide, thousands of new jobs and revolutionary innovations that will vastly improve our quality of life,” Perry said in a statement. “With the Emerging Technology Fund, Texas will be at the forefront of this new frontier.”

The fund is expected to help foster innovation, research and job creation in emerging industries, such as semiconductor manufacturing, biotechnology, nanotechnology, environmental sciences and advanced energy.

It will include three major areas of investment: increased research collaboration between the public and private sectors to commercialize products; matching federal and private research grants to help start-ups acquire capital; and attracting top research and development teams from universities outside the state.

Pamela Eibeck, dean of engineering at Texas Tech University, Johannes “Hans” Stork, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Texas Instruments, and Clyde Higgs, president of Tech Fort Worth, a business and technology incubator, are among the 17 appointed by Perry to the advisory committee.