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Brownsville resembles Austin two decades ago – What developing communities can learn from those who’ve faced the same challenges. Education is key!

Though there were more questions than answers at a roundtable discussion, economic development and university officials agreed that Brownsville is much like Austin from two decades ago.

At the time, Austin was considered a sleepy town that was known for being the capitol of Texas.

Today, it’s buzzing with economic activity.

For his part, Gibson said that “what Austin did in the 1980s could work here,” said David Gibson, associate director at the Innova-tion, Creativity, Capital Institute (IC2) at the University of Texas at Austin.

The meeting between academics, business leaders and public sector officials was dubbed the “International Technical Education and Commerce Campus Envisioning Workshop,” to discuss role in Brownsville’s economic development and the ITECC at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.

Gibson facilitated the meeting and told the group that “having excellent institutions isn’t enough.”

Gibson likened Brownsville’s challenge to the one Austin faced two decades ago when it was the sleepy Texas capitol, before Dell, before Samsung, before it was “Austin.”

“All regions have challenges and all regions have assets,” Gibson told the audience. He added that having a facility like ITECC wasn’t enough to attract talent, reminding the participants, “Michael Dell started selling computers out of his trunk.”

By Chris Mahon
The Brownsville Herald

Full Story: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.php?id=66849_0_10_0_C

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