Gov. Perry: Texas Remains at Forefront of New Technology

I'd like to start off by congratulating Google for making such a great decision.

Central Texas is a perfect fit for Google Fiber and I wish you all the best of luck as you move into the implementation stage.

This announcement plays right into the Texas tradition of freedom, enterprise and innovation.

From the earliest advancements in drill bit technology on the earliest oil fields of West Texas, to the heart of the Space Race at Houston's Johnson Space Center, to the burgeoning privatized space industry, Texas remains at the forefront of new technology.

Already, the Austin area is home to some of the boldest, most creative and most visionary people in the world.

This development will mean another way for these visionary companies, and many to come, to help take their ideas and visions and make them a reality.

It vastly increases the odds that the next great thing, the next "Google," for example, will be born and bred right here in the Lone Star State.

For these types of companies, a connection with the Internet is the air they breathe, the faster and more stable, the better.

Google Fiber brings another option for these companies, joining a field of providers who have already made Austin a well-wired community.

As a firm believer in spirited competition, the addition of a new competitor will help expand access across Central Texas, further unleashing the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit that have made the Austin area, and our state, a national leader in technology.

Two years ago, I pulled together some of the greatest minds in high tech for a conference we held here in Austin, over at Cisco Systems, specifically.

Our goal that day was to explore the steps we'd need to take to help Texas overall, and Central Texas in particular, make the final leap from a tech-savvy area, to the next high-tech hub in the United States.

A case could be made that Texas is arriving at that point, with recent expansions by companies like Google, Facebook and Samsung in Austin providing strong evidence.

And the announcements keep coming, both today and last month, when we learned about a national center to develop cutting-edge vaccines being founded at Texas A&M.

Today's announcement moves us even further in that direction, and I commend everyone in Austin and throughout our state who helped make this happen.

Whether in biotech, communications, commerce, or privatized efforts to serve the needs of the next generation of space explorers, you will find Texas at the forefront of the movement.

I look forward to the innovations and steps forward that announcements like this will power in the years and decades to come.

God bless you and, through you, may He continue to bless the great state of Texas.

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