A HUGE YEAR BUILDING FUTURES
01-09-2024
In 2023, we completed the first full year of activities at the Boeing Center at Tech Port, which we launched in the spring of 2022. Below are just some of the year's highlights.
The innovation destination in the heart of our campus once again was a place where thousands of people from across the community and beyond gathered — to learn, to enjoy an array of cultural experiences, to celebrate milestones and to make important connections advancing their careers and their industries.
Importantly, as it continues to grow and gain momentum, the Boeing Center fulfills a very special role in the Port's mission to connect San Antonians with opportunities; unlike other buildings on the large Port campus, all net profits from this facility — including income from concerts and concessions — are directed to the Kelly Heritage Foundation. The Port-affiliated nonprofit provided nearly half a million dollars in funding to innovative educational efforts in 2023, including the computer build program hosted in the arena last spring (see more information below).
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE KELLY HERITAGE FOUNDATION AND ITS IMPACT
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BOEING CENTER'S MANY OFFERINGS, INCLUDING UPCOMING CONCERTS AND OTHER EVENTS
JANUARY 3
AREA 21's cybersecurity simulator exhibit is completed. The new experience in the venue's innovative exhibit hall, presented by the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology (SAMSAT), provides students and grown-ups alike with a first-hand experience similar to the security operation centers (SOC) where professionals across the Port campus and elsewhere in the region are protecting our nation's critical infrastructure — such as transportation systems, hospitals and the power grid — against cyberattacks. The simulator brings cybersecurity into a new light for students who realize that teamwork, analytical thinking and effective communication skills are an essential part of a successful career in the very rapidly growing field.
JANUARY 24
State and local leaders joined the Port, Boeing executives and ASM Global to celebrate two major partnerships with the aerospace icon. First, Boeing announced a $2.3 million donation to the Port-affiliated Kelly Heritage Foundation and will develop a state-of-the-art exhibit at SAMSAT's AREA 21 that will showcase aerospace and space exploration innovations. In a separate agreement with ASM Global, the former Tech Port Center was rebranded the Boeing Center at Tech Port.
Photos: Port San Antonio/Mark Sobhani.
FEBRUARY 2
It was another year replete with top music acts at the center's arena, including Incubus, who made full use of the venue's state-of-the-art system.
As noted by the San Antonio Current: "The performance was set against the backdrop of the venue's massive LED screen, which alternated between colorful, psychedelic graphics and a live feed of the musicians as they performed. Twice during the night, cheeky text flashed across the screen, noting a particularly epic solo from longtime guitarist Mike Einzinger and the "doot" sounds at the tail-end of the 1999 hit "Drive."
Photos: Jaime Monzon/San Antonio Current
FEBRUARY 11
The R20 Premiere Esports League — comprised of hundreds of students from school districts across the region — hosts one of its well-attended tournaments. Players access state-of-the-art systems at Tech Port Gaming LAN Center and a converted cybersecurity simulator exhibit at SAMSAT's AREA 21.
Photo credits: R20 League.
FEBRUARY 21
Capital Factory hosts the Defense Academy — a workshop supporting local tech startups and innovators who want to sell their technologies to the nation's armed forces.
MARCH 1
The CyberTexas Foundation hosts 500 students for the Mayor's Cyber Cup and College/Tech Fair — a morning full of activities which closed with an awards ceremony luncheon featuring a keynote address from San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and 16th Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Kevin B. Kennedy.
Photos: Port San Antonio.
MARCH 23
The Dee Howard Foundation hosts its major fundraiser and tech demonstration showcase. The nonprofit is a leading provider of aerospace- and aviation-focused programming and resources for curriculum enrichment for schools throughout the region.
Also, in late 2022, the foundation located offices for its new Executive Director Christina Martinez at Capital Factory.
And in 2023, the organization also received $150,000 from the Kelly Heritage Foundation to launch a new drone technology program benefitting students across the San Antonio region.
Photo credits: Port San Antonio.
MARCH 27
Exhibits by WEX Foundation and Astroport Space Technologies are finalized at AREA 21, highlighting space-focused research and education, including San Antonio's pioneering work to develop technologies and systems to build infrastructure in orbit, on the Moon and on Mars.
Photo credit: Mark Sobhani (above) and XArc (below).
APRIL 4
Both the arena and AREA 21 host several hundred educators and industry partners as part of the San Antonio Report's daylong Regional Education Forum.
Photos: Port San Antonio.
APRIL 8
Another knockout boxing event, as hometown hero Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez returns to a packed arena to defend his title as WBC super flyweight champion.
Photo: Melina Pizano/Matchroom
APRIL 18
Rebrand complete!
Photos: Port San Antonio.
APRIL 23
The Port's iconic Fiesta de los Niños is held for the first time at Boeing Center. Despite rough weather, nearly 10,000 people gathered for the daylong event that included free admission, free parking, free access to SAMSAT, free local music acts in the arena, free LAN gaming and free carnival rides outdoors. Importantly, in addition to the exhibits at the museum, an array of local industry and educational partners — including several schools — demonstrated various technologies and student-led projects.
Keep an eye out for the upcoming event on April 20, 2024! www.fiestadelosninos.com
Photos: Mark Sobhani/Port San Antonio.
APRIL 24
The U.S. Army North Golden Knights drop in.
Photos: Port San Antonio
APRIL 29
Arena hosts "Build Your Future" program, where 100 area high school students build their own high-end PCs, which they then get to keep. The program was led by SAMSAT educators and partners (including student mentors from the 16th Air Force) and funded through the Port-affiliated educational 501(c)(3) Kelly Heritage Foundation, which held its first major fundraiser at Boeing Center in August 2022.
Photos: Mark Sobhani/Port San Antonio.
June 7
Top military esports athletes converged at the Boeing Center at Tech Port as they showcased skill, camaraderie and the positive impact of gaming within the military community for the 2023 Department of the Air Force (DAF) Esports Invitational, which featured an Overwatch 2 tournament.
Photos: Bento
June 16
During the annual State of the Port hosted before a full house in the arena, President and CEO Jim Perschbach recaps recent milestones by our organization, our partners and customers and important new plans ahead, including upcoming plans to build one of the most iconic modern office buildings in the world just down the street from Boeing enter, as well as the development of a new "vertiport" to accommodate the new generation of electric-powered flying vehicles.
Perschbach also announces a new record for the Tech Port campus, as over 2,000 jobs were created during the fiscal year, principally in the aerospace and cybersecurity sectors.
Photos: Port San Antonio/Mark Sobhani (above) and WOAI-TV (below)
June 21
The Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC) hosted its Airport Business Diversity Conference in San Antonio and introduced area students to exciting career pathways in aviation and related fields via the Project Leaders Inspiring Future Talent (Project LIFT) initiative, hosted at AREA 21.
Project LIFT engages students through an array of interactive learning activities, targeted workshops, innovative STEM projects and mentoring from industry experts.
Photos: Port San Antonio
June 23
The San Antonio Board of Realtors (SABOR) drops by for a great video overview of the venue shortly after its first birthday.
August 3
A group of 20 middle and high school students from the National Society of Black Engineers' (NSBE) San Antonio chapter participate in the CyberPatriot Summer Camp at AREA 21, where they learn first-hand from cyber experts within the Sixteenth Air Force (Air Forces Cyber).
August 11
Fifty area students enrolled in the City of San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department's summer programs gathered at AREA 21 to participate in the 2023 Zero Robotics Summer Program Competition — a nationwide effort organized by NASA and MIT.
Throughout the summer, participants learned robotics, space engineering and computer programming — skills that helped them create code that was utilized by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as they controlled NASA's Astrobee satellites during the competition. As part of the program at AREA 21, the students also connect in real-time via video link with ISS astronauts as they see how their computer code is being used in orbit.
Photos: Port San Antonio
August 23
Port San Antonio partnered with Hiring Our Heroes — an initiative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation — to connect military servicemembers and their spouses who are transitioning to civilian life with locally-based organizations that are seeking talent for industries such as cybersecurity, healthcare, aerospace and advanced tech.
An array of technology employers on the Port campus participated in the daylong event as they, too, engaged and identified their future talent.
Photos: Port San Antonio
September 2
Danzig rolls into town, and rocks the arena, as the iconic heavy metal band celebrates its 35th anniversary world tour.
Photo: Brianna Espinoza/San Antonio Current
September 10
IntelliGenesis — a leading name in information security — planted its flag in the Alamo City within a new space at Capital Factory.
The firm provides an array of support to defense and intelligence customers, including cybersecurity, analytics, machine learning and data science, among other capabilities.
Photos: Port San Antonio
September 21
High school senior Siddhi Raut, who is also one of the first students to have gone through the WEX Foundation's LCATS program, meets with Port President and CEO Jim Perschbach at AREA 21 in an expansive discussion about the region's growing role in driving global technology innovation and the educational and career paths that are being forged on the Port campus and beyond.
October 4
Cybersecurity month is in full swing, as an array of partners come together throughout the facility to share best practices and discuss advancements in the protection of our national critical infrastructure.
Among the stakeholders are the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, the Sixteenth Air Force (Air Forces Cyber), Port customers Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) — which also showed off its brand new mobile classroom in the Boeing Center's Parking lot — and Leidos, which launched its new cyber lab at the Port just a few days prior in a new space just down the street from the Boeing Center.
Photos: San Antonio Chamber of Commerce (top) and CyManII (middle and bottom)
October 14
Hundreds gather at the parking lot and at AREA 21 to celebrate the spectacular solar eclipse with hands-on STEM activities and insights with local space experts at STEMclipse!
Photos: Port San Antonio
October 17
An expansive feature story in the San Antonio Express-News provides an overview of the tremendous growth across the technology sectors throughout the Port campus, and notes the special role that the Boeing Center has played in its first year as a centerpiece of the Port's vision to bring people together and connect them with life-changing opportunities in their careers, educational paths and as entrepreneurs.
Rendering: Port San Antonio
October 18
TechFuel 2023 hosts an array of companies as they take part in a Shark Tank-style competition that draws hundreds of attendees to the arena as finalists pitch their innovations in industries such as art marketing, aerospace, biosciences and more.
Photos: TechBloc
October 19
Women in Robotics launches its new San Antonio chapter through a community-wide meetup in and around Capital Factory and AREA 21. It's a great opportunity bringing together leading industry experts who are joined by students from across the community in panel discussions and project demonstrations as the Alamo City continues to raise its global profile as a leading community in applied technologies.
Photos: Port San Antonio/Stephanie Garcia
November 14-15
Nearly 2,000 students from across the region recently took part in CORE4 STEM, a two-day expo organized by the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and hosted at the Boeing Center. The students engage with an array of exciting activities and are introduced to leading industry professionals in areas that include robotics, drones, cybersecurity, aerospace, space science, advanced manufacturing and more.
Photos: Port San Antonio
November 29
A group of young students from neighboring Brentwood Middle School STEAM School of Innovation are surprised to learn that their daylong program on online safety hosted at Capital Factory also includes a very special gift to each one: a personal laptop to take home!
Photos: Port San Antonio
December 11
StandardAero hosts a graduation ceremony in the arena, congratulating the latest graduates of its in-house training program, who were joined by their families. Beginning in the fall of 2023, the aerospace icon, as it significantly grew projects at its vast operation at the Port, began recruiting talented people from through San Antonio. Even if they did not have previous industry experience, they were able to start working on maintaining and modernizing an array of state-of-the-art engines, following weeks of intensive paid training, that power commercial and military aircraft flown around the world.
Photos: Port San Antonio
December 12
As was announced at the beginning of the year, Boeing launches a new interactive experience highlighting the excitement and wonder of aerospace and its many associate disciplines.
The Boeing Aerospace Adventure was custom-created for AREA 21, and in the years ahead will offer students of all ages a place where they can engage in hands-on learning — including state-of-the-art flight simulators — and follow future educational paths to become the next generation of San Antonio's world-class aerospace talent.
Photos: Port San Antonio/Mark Sobhani
