he year 2003 has been very, very good to the very, very large state of Texas. Supercharged by project announcements from Toyota ($800-million plant in San Antonio) and Texas Instruments ($3-billion plant in Dallas), the Lone Star state's momentum has been further enhanced by a re-engineering of the state's economic development strategy.
        New legislation has extended Texas Economic Development's charter through 2015, while simultaneously adding "tourism" to its name and thinning its ranks from 116 to 72. Besides bringing the agency under the purview of the governor's office, the law establishes an arm dedicated to the aerospace and aviation industry. Key to the new program is a spaceport trust fund.
        Also high on the office's priority list is a renewed focus on industry cluster identification. The new strategy specifically mentions the targeting of biotechnology, nanotechnology and semiconductors.
        U.S. Census data released in July shows that the big city climate of the Lone Star state is at least as strong as its wide open spaces. Houston, Dallas and San Antonio – all three among the ten largest cities in the country – showed healthier population gains over the past three years than every other top-10 city but Phoenix.
        The corporate population is merely following suit.