Cybersecurity ecosystem partners joined together last Wednesday to celebrate the grand opening of the new Project Tech facility at Port San Antonio. A little over a year after the groundbreaking, civic and business leaders gathered on the third floor of a new building at Port San Antonio to welcome in new infrastructure designed to accommodate technology and cybersecurity firms supporting national defense missions and industrial partners.
Three years ago, the San Antonio Chamber launched CyberSecurity San Antonio in partnership with the City, Bexar County, and the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation. Your Chamber’s focus on cybersecurity and our leadership role within the ecosystem has been critical to the growth and global reputation that San Antonio continues to garner. Over two years ago, your Chamber began working closely with Port SA staff and members of their Board to socialize a concept that would bring multiple buildings to the campus, supporting innovative companies, fostering greater public-private collaboration, and providing space for defense mission expansion. The leadership of the executive team at Port SA and the visionary mindset of their board members brought the project to life.
“It’s hard to believe that just over a year ago we were standing on an empty parking lot as we broke ground for this facility,” said Will Garrett, Director of CyberSecurity San Antonio. “Today, we are standing inside what can be best characterized as a powerful beacon for our community and a key addition of infrastructure for our growing cyber industry. This effort—and the speed with which it came together—is a bold affirmation that the Port and its partners have a true vision and commitment as they take giant strides forward.”
Guest speakers at the event included State Representative Phillip Cortez; San Antonio Councilman Manny Pelaez; Port San Antonio Board Chair Victoria Garcia; Port San Antonio Interim CEO Jim Perschbach; and the San Antonio Chamber’s Director of CyberSecurity SA Will Garrett. More than two hundred members of San Antonio’s tech and cybersecurity industry were in attendance for this substantial launch of innovation space on the Port’s 1,900 acre campus.
The finished structure provides a 90,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility that will be finished out to meet the specific needs of the growing number of cyber operations at the Port. The first building is the cornerstone of the Port’s vision to add multiple facilities in the surrounding areas, including additional offices and labs to house cybersecurity expansions. Project Tech also foresees the addition of classrooms and spaces that showcase technologies that are evolving in San Antonio, such as innovative security systems for digital assets as well as new information technologies that create greater efficiencies across a spectrum of advanced industries worldwide.
As CyberSecurity San Antonio and its partners continue to grow the global connectivity and brand of our community’s cyber ecosystem, the campus at Port SA will prove to be an invaluable resource to support security operation expansion in our region.
For more information on CyberSecurity San Antonio, and how you can get involved in your Chamber’s efforts to grow the security ecosystem contact Will Garrett or Amanda Keammerer.
