Diving in deeper
The 10,000-square-foot wet lab space, called the UT Impact Labs, will be built at Parmer Austin, a business park with laboratory and office space. A project timeline has not yet been released.
According to the news release, the life sciences sector in Austin grew tenfold from 2017 to 2023, jumping from being the city’s 23rd largest sector to the 10th largest.
Gary Farmer—chair and interim CEO of Opportunity Austin, a five-year regional economic development initiative—said that the team is looking to use federal investments and incentives, and implement recruitment strategies to support the local life sciences industry.
“For our efforts to be effective, though, we need space,” Farmer said in the release. “Historically, our ability to sustain a thriving life sciences cluster has been impacted by the availability and affordability of leasable lab space for innovators.”
Quote of note
“Austin is poised to become the next major hub for life sciences, and I am thrilled that UT and Karlin can be at the forefront of this movement and make an enormous impact on the city and the world,” UT Austin President Jay Hartzell said in the release.
