Texas

During Fiscal Year 2013, EDA invested $10,365,270 in 19 projects in the State of Texas. These projects are expected to create or retain 403 jobs and leverage $3,416,144 in private investment, according to grantee estimates. EDA’s investments help Texas communities achieve bottom-up, locally-defined economic development goals and strategies.

EDA offers a complementary, balanced portfolio of grant programs designed to help rural and urban communities grow their private sectors and create jobs.

Investment Spotlight: Biomedical Research and Technology Center

The biomedical industry has a small, but notable presence in the Paso del Norte region, a cross-border area including El Paso County, Texas; Dona Ana County, New Mexico; and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.   Comprised of primarily small businesses, including class 1 (low risk) medical device manufacturers and testing facilities, this cluster mostly serves the local market. However, with large producers located just across the border, El Paso, Texas has tremendous potential for growth as the center of a cohesive biomedical cluster.

Standing in the way was a lack of new intellectual property in the local marketplace, hindering the ability to attract new biomedical vendors to this area.  To advance the Paso del Norte region’s biomedical innovation pipeline, the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation is working to develop a Biomedical Research and Technology Center in El Paso. In 2013, EDA awarded $1 million to fund the design and engineering of the new center, which will serve as a flexible hub to support multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary biomedical research, innovation, and commercialization. Ultimately, the center will support entrepreneurship and small business development throughout the growing industry cluster.