Here is the full transcript:
Interviewer: Phillip Tracy
Interviewee: Dr. Sriram Vishwanath
Interview Setting: Gates Dell Complex Computer Science building at the University
of Texas at Austin
(Start of Interview)
Tracy: This is Phillip Tracy and I’m here with electrical engineer and Associate
Professor from the University of Texas, Dr. Sriram Vishwanath to discuss the
technology scene here in Austin, Texas. Thank you for coming.
Dr. Vishwanath: Pleasure to be here.
Tracy: Austin has adopted the nickname “Silicon Hills.” What gives Austin its
association with technology?
Dr. Vishwanath: Austin has been a long supporter both in terms of culture as well
as in terms of environment of startups in silicon in general. Startups such as Silicon
Labs, companies such as Free Scale which specialize in silicon are headquartered here
in Austin, and in silicon hardware and electrical engineering material Austin is one of
the leaders in the world which gives it the name “Silicon Hills” and obviously the hills
around Austin add to that name. So it is a well-deserved name, there is a lot of silicon
in Austin, compared to the rest of the world.
Tracy: Great, now numerous fortune 500 companies have taken to Austin including,
but not limited to: Ebay, Google, Apple, and Intel. How has this affected the city and
its residents?
Dr. Vishwanath: It has made the city a lot more diverse. It’s made the city a lot more
tech-savvy in that people who are technologists from all over the world see Austin
as a city to move to, to settle down in, to build a company in and it’s made Austin
seem like a welcoming technology hub. That’s a beautiful thing, a really fantastic
thing for the city of Austin, because it is bringing in diverse people from different
walks, different attitudes, to a common location that makes things happen. So yes, it
has changed the perception over the past decades from a small city that was largely a
capital city to one that is a technology growing hub.
Tracy: Is this growth something that we can expect from the technology industry to
continue?
Dr. Vishwanath: Yes, I expect Austin - the next decade to be Austin’s decade in that
a lot of things are in Austin’s favor to grow in that path. The environment is as good
as ever. It still has the small city feel while it has all the big city advantages in terms
of talent, in terms of resources. So yes, I expect this growth to continue.
Tracy: Austin hosts South by Southwest, the annual festival that features some of the
biggest names in technology. How important to the tech world is South by Southwest?
Dr. Vishwanath: South by Southwest, from its inception, has played a fairly major
role in the tech world. At the moment it has grown so huge that it’s on everybody’s
radar. SXSW has to eventually decide if it retains its early characteristics of being
the sort of unusual place to be at, “Keep Austin Weird” theme or it becomes sort of
a mainstream place that every big company shows up at, but regardless SXSW has
played a major role in putting Austin on the map around the world.
Tracy: In speaking about SXSW, Twitter more or less grew famous after its showcase
at the event. AT&T has adopted U-Verse with gigapower here [in Austin] and apps
like ISIS have allowed the city to more or less “beta test” their apps. Is this a trend
you can expect and what about Austin gives it the right environment for that?
Dr. Vishwanath: Yes, this is a trend we can more than expect. In fact, there is a
substantial portion of the population that regards Austin as the place to launch. What
makes Austin the right place to launch is its critical mass in terms of population and
the tech savviness and therefore the willingness to adopt new ideas. To compare,
New York City, it would be a much harder launch because of the larger size of the
population and the more financial, less tech savvy in general and clearly a much
smaller city such as Wichita Falls would also be difficult to launch in because of its
smaller size and less tech savvy. So Austin has the right balance: it’s the right size
with the percentage of tech savvy people being in often critical mass so penetration
can be tested very reliably, in fact, there’s a lot of companies that are therefore
choosing Austin as a great place to launch. I recently launched an app three weeks
ago - a month ago in Austin and it was launched first in Austin, not that I belong to
Austin, which is an obvious reason, but also it just made sense to do it here.
Tracy: And very lastly, as a professor at the University that is central to the city. Do
you feel that the tech environment provides the students and the teachers a unique
experience?
Dr. Vishwanath: Oh totally it does, there are good schools who happen to be in non-
tech cities that are good engineering schools, but the students get a great academic
background, but they might not get as good a fusion of academic and industry
experience. Austin offers this unique blend of having a great school within a very -
growingly technical town. So it does offer a great environment for students to learn
both inside the university and right next door about how the technology applies in the
real world. It does.
Tracy: Well thank you very much Dr. Vishwanath for taking the time to discuss the
tech industry in Austin. If you haven’t already check out the full Keep Austin Evolving
blog and thanks for listening.
END
