This year’s SXSW festival in Austin will see the debut of a brand new tech group, Tyler4Tech. Tyler4Tech is comprised of businesses, media figures, educators and more who would like to see the growth of the tech industry explode in Tyler.
TJC’s West Campus has been a part of the initiative from the start. Below is the official press release and photo gallery of the booth they will have on display at SXSW this weekend.
TYLER TEXAS EMERGES AS HUB FOR TECH COMPANIES
Tyler4Tech.com debuts at South by Southwest Festival in Austin
TYLER, TEXAS (March 7, 2014)–Tyler, known as “The Rose Capital of America”, is ready to add another title to its name. “Tyler4Tech” is a new initiative emphasizing the growing importance this East Texas city (area population of 220,000) is placing on attracting new and existing tech companies, entrepreneurs, and developers to make Tyler their next home.
A consortium of two dozen Tyler area civic, business, and educational leaders have embarked today to Austin, unveiling Tyler4Tech at the upcoming South by Southwest (SXSW) Technology & Arts Trade Show March 9-12 at the Austin Convention Center. Besides representing Tyler in its 400-square-foot booth on the trade show floor, the group is also debuting its http://www.Tyler4Tech.com website, providing a single-source of reference for tech entrepreneurs to find all the information essential for considering Tyler as an ideal location for their enterprise.
“Tyler4Tech highlights the key attributes the community offers to tech companies,” said Michael Weiss, CEO of Tyler tech company PersonalWeb, who is spearheading the project on behalf of the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce. Weiss, a serial tech entrepreneur and new media pioneer, located his newest venture to Tyler in 2010.
“Locating in Tyler was one of the best business decisions I’ve ever made,” Weiss said. “Where else could a start-up get unfettered access to a major University’s Computer Science School and an open dialog with city leaders?”
“Tyler is among the country’s most business-friendly cities with its low cost of living, tax abatement incentives, and one of the lowest city property tax rates in Texas, a state with NO state income tax,” said Tom Mullins, Chairman of the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Council. “Milken Institute ranks Tyler as ‘#9 of the Best Performing City-Small Metro Areas,’ Lesser & Co ranks Tyler as ‘#2 Economic Growth-All Metro Areas,’ and the US Census Bureau ranks Tyler ‘#10 in Increase in Median Per Capita Earnings-All Metro Areas.’ Tyler is truly one of the last great places in America to live, work, and raise a family, where people feel welcome and truly at home.”
“Tyler has a really close-knit community, particularly in the tech sector, where no one is a stranger and everyone helps each other succeed, even competitors,” said Beth Womack of ABS (continued)
Telecom, a local tech infrastructure provider who relocated to Tyler 20 years ago and is one of the organizers of the Tyler4Tech movement and past President of the Greater East Texas Information Technologists (getIT) networking group.
“Tyler’s vibrant technology sector is home to several communications service providers where you can obtain all the products and services you would find available in major metropolitan areas,” said Tommy Martin, an East Texas native and owner of the Tyler Vault Datacenter and another of the Tyler4Tech organizers, as well as past President of the Chamber’s Technology Committee.
“Tyler serves as headquarters to the Eastern District of Texas federal court, a popular venue for patent cases due to its judicial expertise, plaintiff-friendly local rules, speedy dispositions, and principled jurors who understand the value of IP,” said Tyler attorney J. Bennett White. “With the recent change in law, only companies that have an actual presence in East Texas can be assured of jurisdiction in the District, adding yet another important reason why locating to Tyler makes good business sense for tech start-ups and their investors.”
“Our growth has been so strong that I built a new ultra-modern, high tech, green office building for our 50 employees and our global support departments,” said Phil Burks, owner of an international software company based in Tyler. “While I’m not a tree hugger, I do believe in good stewardship of the environment, so we’ve created an office park designed for high tech and nestled in a peaceful and creative natural landscaping surrounded by a forest of pines.” Corporate Green Office Park is winning accolades as East Texas’ destination for forward thinking technology companies.
“In Tyler, we enjoy the unique combination of small-town charm with the benefits of big-city amenities offering the best of both worlds,” said John David Carrasco of John David Media, a local digital media agency and a Tyler4Tech organizer. “Tyler has a flourishing live music and entertainment scene where some of today’s big country music stars got their start and where you can go to one our local venues and see Snoop Lion (aka Dog) or BB King along with other national, regional, and local recording artists performing up close and personal, not to mention Tyler’s growing EDM artists and deejays.”
The Tyler4Tech SXSW booth can be found across from the Meet-Up Pavilion adjacent to aisles 700 and 800. Its website can be found at http://www.Tyler4Tech.com.
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Tyler4Tech is a consortium of Tyler Texas’ local civic, education, and private enterprise companies and organizations whose goal is to attract new and existing technology companies, tech entrepreneurs, and skilled developers and programmers to locate to the Tyler community. Its 50-committee members are a virtual Who Who’s of Tyler’s community leaders. More information can be found at http://www.Tyler4Tech.com.
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