AT&T Performing Arts Center
Nate Rehlander
Frisco and North Texas is a vibrant community
that embraces new opportunities, making it a
perfect fit with our culture at Greatbatch.”
North Texas’ economically diverse environment has long attracted a wide range of
businesses, especially those in technology. To
keep up with the growing research and development and subsequent commercialization
coming out of North Texas, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s United States Patent
and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced
a Dallas-Fort Worth regional satellite office.
The office, to be located in downtown Dallas,
will operate as a site for small businesses and
entrepreneurs to navigate the patent process,
meet with examiners and access the USPTO’s
comprehensive databases.
“The Dallas-Fort Worth area is exceedingly rich in engineering talent, patent applicants
and patent grants,” said David Kappos, under
secretary of commerce for Intellectual Property and director of the USPTO. “This office
location positions us well to serve the broad
innovation community throughout the Central
time zone and the South.”
Manufacturing Boost
The North Texas region is also seeing major
growth in the manufacturing industry with
the selection of Fort Worth as the site for GE
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NTX Magazine
Manufacturing Solutions’ first locomotive
manufacturing plant outside of Pennsylvania
in more than a century, chosen mainly because
of location, the availability of a skilled workforce and rail line access.
“Fort Worth and the State of Texas made us
so comfortable that we later decided to increase
our initial locomotive manufacturing investment by establishing a second manufacturing
plant to produce electric-drive wheel systems
for large off-road vehicles,” said Walter Amaya,
plant manager GE Manufacturing Solutions.
GE Manufacturing Solutions utilized the
Texas Enterprise Fund, a program created in
2003 by the state and has since become one of
Texas’ most competitive tools to recruit and
support business.
“We are truly blessed to live in one of
the hottest job markets in the country: North
Texas. People and businesses are flocking
to Fort Worth and other North Texas cities
thanks to our skilled workforce, the abundance
of good-paying jobs, the business-friendly tax
environment, our great quality of life and our
proud western roots,” said Fort Worth Mayor
Betsy Price. “We’ve traveled around the globe
on several business missions in the last year
and a half, and it’s abundantly clear that our
international partners are ready and willing to
invest and be a part of what North Texas has
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