Fewer Moving Boxes and Rush Hours
Nutria, and Jellyfish for Dessert
Rethinking the Research Dollar
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The demand for computer chips has outpaced the industry's ability to produce them, and companies are spending billions of dollars to catch up. Nearly every major chip maker is expanding to meet demand; industry growth since 1993 has been the strongest in history. Computer chip factories, known as "fabs," cost as much as $1 billion each. Most "fabs" go up in less than two years, and construction delays can cost millions of dollars in sales.
Texas has been a top beneficiary in the race to build computer chips. The ability of semiconductor firms to "embed" themselves into the local economy is vital, and many metropolitan areas--particularly in North and Central Texas--know how to play that card.
Proximity to sales, support, training and research facilities already in Texas contribute to luring manufacturers to the state.
(Austin American-Statesman, September 26, 1995; Oregonian, May 28, 1995; Christian Science Monitor, August 10, 1995)
Implications: Telecommunications and semiconductors are a major factor for economic growth in Texas. Industry experts see no slowdown in the demand for computer chips. Many people consider the personal computer as much a home necessity as the TV or stereo. Also, the replacement cycle for chips is shorter, and chips can be found in a plethora of machines from the automobile to the kitchen toaster.
The construction of "fabs" in Texas will bring many benefits to the state. In the short term, construction employment and local tax bases will rise as new companies open their doors. Developmental linkages to these chip fabrication plants widen the industry base and enhance long-term, stable employment. The trend of forming "clusters" of compatible sectors is the key to future stability of the semiconductor industry.
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $202 million to the National Automated Highway Systems Consortium for "smart" car and highway projects designed to reduce deaths and smooth traffic flows. Automated steering, autonomous navigating, collision avoidance sensors and systems that adjust stoplights to avoid gridlock should help future cars drive better than we do. Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute tested the Rapidly Adapting Lateral Position Handler--RALPH to his friends--in "No Hands Across America" from Pittsburgh to San Diego. The car autonomously navigated 98 percent of the 2,849-mile trip. Prototypes are expected by 1997.
Meanwhile, "smart" windshield wipers know what speed to operate and when to turn on and off. The Rainsense system sends infrared beams onto the glass, detecting whether the glass is wet or dry, and even turns off for car washes. Engineers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a film for windshields that would react to ultraviolet rays, stripping the glass of organic material such as soot, tree sap and oil.
(Business Week, August 14 and October 9, 1995; Houston Chronicle, October 10, 1995; Industries in Transition, September 1995)
Implications: Smart highways already exist in one Texas city. The TransGuide System in San Antonio includes road sensors, cameras and high-speed computers that detect highway incidents and recommend immediate responses. The system is expected to improve traffic flows, decrease delays and accidents and provide faster emergency response on crowded freeways. "Smart" cars could make Texas highways even safer. Sensory windshields that prevent collection of debris offer future potential markets for manufacture and marketing.
Scientists have discovered about 100 different "internal clocks" in the nervous system, known as circadian cycles, which tell people and animals when to sleep and wake up, and regulate a number of biological functions, such as hormone release and body temperature.
The study of these cycles, called chronobiology, could help provide more effective treatment for a number of life-threatening medical conditions. Research indicates that strokes and heart attacks are most likely to occur early in the morning, allergic reactions are most common at night and cancer cells increase their activity at certain times of the day.
Chronobiologists believe treatments for these potentially fatal diseases would be more effective just before the most active period of the cycle.
(Business Week, October 2, 1995; Houston Chronicle, November 3, 1995)
Implications: The chief benefit of chronobiology is that it makes better use of existing treatments. Performing a procedure or taking medicine at a certain time of day typically won't make it any more expensive but could make it more effective. Chronobiology could cut health care costs without compromising the effectiveness of treatment.
Scientists at Houston's Hermann Hospital Center of Chronobiology and Chronotherapeutics are among the field's pioneers. Study in the field is likely to increase as it becomes more widely accepted in the medical community, making chronobiological research an attractive field for Texas companies and investors.
Large agriculture conglomerates are stepping up efforts to recruit college graduates. This is a difficult sell, primarily because many students from urban areas believe agribusiness is just harvesting crops and milking cows.
In their recruiting efforts, companies show there are important jobs related to modern agriculture including agri-economics, genetics and biotechnology. The key is to snag students' interest in high school.
(Wall Street Journal, September 18, 1995; Austin American-Statesman, October 30, 1995)
Implications: The future of agriculture relies heavily upon youth. No longer only an industry run as the family farm, agriculture is more efficient, and technology is one of the primary reasons.
In Texas, enrollment in high school agricultural science classes is up. Educators attribute this to flexible curriculum that prepares students for college paths or careers in agriculture, rather than sending them back to the family farm or ranch after high school.
Old agriculture curriculum in Texas was designed as a vocation, oriented toward production and mechanics, and currently criticized as antiquated. Today, however, high school courses as varied as horticulture, agribusiness and aquaculture steer graduates to real jobs in growing areas of agriculture.
Texas' forward thinking in the field of high school agriculture studies will pay off as these students use their education to further a technologically-advanced, efficient and productive industry.
More than 20 of the nation's largest companies together have pledged $100 million toward improving care of employee dependents, those in need of pre-school and post-retirement care. A California company has hired three medical professionals to advise employees on health care treatments, saving $1.1 million, or 25 percent of annual medical costs.
The American Business Collaboration for Quality Dependent Care began in September 1995, the second phase of a six-year effort to set up programs run by independent contractors in U.S. communities. Children's programs include summer camps, after- and before-school care and holiday programs. The collaboration will invest in more than 1,000 projects to aid working people with children or elderly relatives. Each company chooses its investment projects and the extent to which it will participate.
One California company hired two nurses and a part-time medical director to supervise a health care plan that allows employees to choose their doctors. Nurses confidentially monitor costly cases, review bills and advise employees on health care treatments. The company's health care costs fell to $2,184 per employee, compared to $3,485 under a health maintenance organization.
(Austin American-Statesman, September 14, 1995; Wall Street Journal, August 4, 1995)
Implications: Companies that address their economic self-interest in terms of a family-friendly environment may eventually improve the bottom line. While corporate downsizing seems to be the norm, attention to employees' non-financial needs could improve morale and lower health care costs, thus reducing lost hours and increasing production.
By the turn of the century, two-thirds of new workers will be women--75 percent of whom will become pregnant during their working years. About 40 percent of workers expect to be responsible for their aging parents. With so many employees responsible for family members, workplaces sensitive to these impending changes will build employee dedication.
Medical personnel on company payrolls spawn smarter health care consumers. Better health care for employees means savings in medical costs for employers. Company nurses can examine claims and negotiate for better treatment prices from hospitals and clinics.
While fewer Americans changed residences between 1993 and 1994, there was substantial movement into and out of Texas. Only 16.7 percent of the U.S. population changed residences during the year, compared to the postwar high of 20.7 percent in 1964-65, according to the Census Bureau. Nearly 7 million people moved to a different state between 1993 and 1994.
An aging population, the increase in two-income families, declining family size, the stress of relocation and a continuing sense of financial insecurity are reasons for people not pulling up roots.
Texas, a favorite relocation for businesses from other states, defies this trend. An 18 percent population increase between 1990 and 2000 is predicted by the Census.
While Americans have quit moving as much, they also have slowed down. According to a recent poll, nearly 30 percent of Americans are shifting toward "voluntary simplicity," cutting back on their income to reflect priority changes such as reducing stress, spending more time with their families and doing something more creative with their lives.
(American Demographics, November 1995; New York Times, September 21, 1995; Time, November 6, 1995)
Implications: States must adjust to a less mobile population, which can affect federal funds, sales tax revenues, size of the work force and individuals' purchasing power of everything from houses to entertainment. While Texas must cope with the influx of people in terms of infrastructure, real estate and social services, it could learn from other states' adjustments because population growth won't last forever.
And while "voluntary simplicity" may be a sign of striving for quality of life, it may also be the result of events like company downsizing and stagnant incomes. For many states, the primary implication of voluntary simplicity is a drop in sales tax revenues.
If the latest dish out of Louisiana by Master Chef Paul Prudhomme catches on, Louisiana's nutria problem may be solved by deep frying cubes of the eight-pound rodent and serving it up in a French Quarter bistro.
A native of Argentina, the rat-like animal is considered a table delicacy in Eastern Europe. But in Texas and Louisiana, it is known as a voracious pest, a good swimmer that can strip a bayou, lake or marsh of cattails, cord grass, reeds or duckweed. In Louisiana, where the nutria numbers into the millions, the critters destroy rice and sugar cane crops and obliterate entire sections of coastal wetlands.
Nutria sauce piquante, however, has been called a triumph. A nutria cookoff, sponsored by the Louisiana Nature and Science Center, honored a computer scientist's apple-smoked nutria and wild-mushroom crepe in bourbon-pecan nutria sauce.
In another gastronomic development, the first commercial batch of American jellyfish was shipped to Korea in mid-1995. Dried jellyfish is a delicacy in Asia. In fact, Asian-Americans spend $6 million a year on jellyfish imported from China and Malaysia.
(Atlantic Monthly, February 1995 and August 1995)
Implications: States bordering Texas have capitalized on two of Mother Nature's nuisances by turning rats and slimy water creatures into marketable delicacies.
Perhaps enterprising Texas food mavens could produce and sell nutria "picante" as well as dried jellyfish, driving down the population of these pests and making money in the process.
Financial cuts are forcing some scientists away from expensive long-term basic research and development (R&D) projects, primarily because this approach--though it covers much ground--produces few lucrative results. In many cases today, a company cannot capture the full value of a research breakthrough. The existing base of technology is so solid that many discoveries are increm>