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Port San Antonio had a banner year in 2019 as our team is laser-focused on raising our community’s global profile as a place where technological breakthroughs are being created and used around the world.
Today, the Port is home to over 80 organizations and more than 14,000 people whose careers are based here in some of the world’s leading industries. The activities based on our 1,900-acre technology campus have an impact of over $5 billion across our region.
Over 3,000 new jobs have been created on the campus since the spring of 2018: strong careers centered in leading technologies.
CONNECTING TO A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITIES
Capping a record year: Our leaders recently provided a year-end update to our community and shared our strategic vision for the year ahead as we create a place that is a world-class tech innovation hub that connects with people across the region with educational, career and entrepreneurial opportunities in leading global industries.
AEROSPACE
StandardAero and Boeing announced major new military and commercial projects that brought hundreds of new jobs in 2019 with many more expected in the year ahead.
Among its most recent projects, Boeing San Antonio is now the home for modernization of the F/A-18 Superhornet fleet for the U.S. Navy.
Boeing operates its largest aircraft sustainment and modernization facility at Port San Antonio. It features the world’s largest freestanding hangar and other highly specialized facilities to support a rapidly growing array of military and commercial aircraft.
In 2019, Boeing began modernizing the U.S. Navy’s fleet of F/A-18 fighter jets at its Port location. The work will entail significant overhauls of mechanical as well as cybersecurity features.
StandardAero, which celebrated 20 years at the Port last summer, announced a new F-110 engine project at its San Antonio site – a partnership with the Department of Defense, General Electric and the Egyptian Air Force.
With other projects recently announced, the company’s large facility at the Port is preparing to grow additional commercial and military aircraft engines maintenance and modernization projects for years to come.
StandardAero operates within more than 700,000 square feet of state-of-the-art workshop space at Port San Antonio. Hundreds of workers include engineers, researchers and technicians who maintain, overhaul and modernize aircraft engines that power leading military and commercial / passenger aircraft around the world.
Modernization of Egyptian Air Force F-100 engines, which power F-16 fighters, are among the new projects launched by StandardAero’s San Antonio facility in 2019.
And San Antonio-based Knight Aerospace announced in 2019 that it is relocating onto our campus and expanding. Beginning in 2020, the company will use its new space to serve a global clientele as it develops innovative products that quickly transform the interior of aircraft to accommodate multiple uses, including as state-of-the-art medical air transport.
A specialized module designed and by Knight Aerospace is loaded onto a C-130 aircraft at Port San Antonio’s Kelly Field. Units developed by the company allow the interior of aircraft to be transformed to multiple uses, including as modern cabins to transport heads of state and other VIPs and as highly specialized flying medical operating rooms (below).
CYBERSECURITY
The Port is the cornerstone for the growth of “Cyber City, USA.” Numerous industry marquee names have established new operations and are thriving here as they support the region’s large defense community. Of particular importance, the 16th Air Force’s (Air Forces Cyber) national headquarters are based on the Port campus and at neighboring Lackland AFB—a key customer to cybersecurity operations that are locating on the Port campus.
Additionally, the Port’s strategic location and focus on collaboration provides cybersecurity firms based here to develop innovations that meet the security needs of the region’s other key industries, including aerospace, manufacturing, energy, biomed and financial services.
Growth of leading cyber operations has been brisk:
- Lockheed Martin Cyber Solutions became the first tenant at Project Tech Building 1 in 2018—the Port’s new facility to support cyber growth and the industry’s collaboration with the defense, aerospace and other mature sectors in our region.
- CACI became the second company to expand at Project Tech in 2019 as it serves key defense customers in the region and nationally.
- Home-grown CNF Technologies—also became a new tenant at Project Tech Building 1 last year. The firm is launching dozens of new careers at the location as it secured a major new project from the Department of Defense.
- Northrop Grumman, San Antonio-based IPSecure, Salient CRGT, Dynamic Advancement and Booz Allen Hamilton are also among the Port’s cybersecurity customers who continue to expand in other parts of the campus as they deliver testing, development, operational support and training/certification services to the military and private sectors.
San Antonio-based CNF Technologies launched a new cyber lab at the Port in 2019, where it is hiring over 100 specialists to support the company’s growing Department of Defense clientele.
2019 was a year of ribbon-cuttings as numerous new cybersecurity operations arrived at the Port and longtime customers expanded their offerings. Milestones included the launch of a new office facility by newcomer CACI at Project Tech Building 2 (top). Elsewhere on the campus, IPSecure added a cybersecurity training center to its offerings (bottom).
A Lockheed Martin cybersecurity specialists conducts a demonstration during the inauguration of the company’s new facility at Project Tech – Building 1 in the spring of 2019.
Within less than a year of its completion, the Port’s state-of-the-art facility to accommodate cybersecurity operation—known as Project Tech Building 1—reached full capacity in 2019. Accordingly, in September the Port board approved an even larger new facility to accommodate the growth of cyber and defense operations.
Project Tech – Building 1. Completed in the spring of 2018, the 90,000-square-foot specialized facility is now home to leading cybersecurity operations that serve defense and commercial customers at the Port and throughout the region.
Construction of Project Tech Building 2 is now underway – providing 174,000 square feet beginning in 2021 to support hundreds of additional jobs in one of our community’s key target industries. Within weeks of launching the projects, 50% of the space was pre-leased.
Construction of Project Tech – Building 2 began in late 2019. The building will be completed in early 2021 and will provide an additional 174,000-square-feet of modern for the continued expansion of cyber and other defense-focused operations.
APPLIED TECHNOLOGY
The Port has also become a home for groundbreaking applied technology. Two San Antonio-based robotics firms—Reckon Point and Plus One Robotics—are pursuing global opportunities as a result of their innovations in retrofitting robots with sensors, artificial intelligence and cyber technology.
These “smart” robots are revolutionizing global industries, including supply-chain logistics, manufacturing, aerospace, facilities management and many others.
Plus One Robotics’ new headquarters at the Port include a combination officer and laboratory facility. Here, the company is developing new technologies that integrate traditional industrial robots with visual sensors and machine learning capabilities so robots can adapt to dynamic and changing environments, such as e-commerce logistics operations and factories.
Meet “Migsu” – the robot-based technology developed by Reckon Point. The remote-controlled device has been outfitted with LIDAR-based sensors that allow it to quickly scan and provide a precision map of the interior or large industrial facilities. This innovation has applications across industries—improving the operation of places such as airports, factories, hospitals and aircraft maintenance hangars and workshops.
In the spring of 2019, these two companies, along with leading technology experts from UTSA, the Southwest Research Institute and Booz Allen Hamilton joined us as we and our partners at the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation represented our community at the world’s largest aerospace maintenance technology forum.
There, we showcased to a global audience how San Antonio’s innovations in cybersecurity, AI, robotics and virtual reality are revolutionizing global aviation—making the industry more efficient and secure.
Tech Port – Port San Antonio was a top exhibitor at the 2019 MRO Americas conference – a gathering of nearly 20,000 leading aerospace industry executives. The Port, its customers and industry and educational partners showcased how innovations in robotics, cybersecurity, virtual reality and other fields that are being developed in San Antonio are being used by airlines and other aircraft operators.
EDUCATION AND INNOVATION
With all the momentum going on at the Port, we are advancing plans to build a comprehensive innovation center in the heart of the campus in the months ahead.
The center will be a dynamic resource accessible to students, their families, academia, startup entrepreneurs and seasoned tech professionals alike. It will be a place where they can gather to learn, work alongside peers, innovate, and connect with some of the fastest-growing advanced technologies in the world.
And it will be a fun and exciting world-class destination.
Its features will allow it to host electronic gaming and other tech competitions, music concerts and additional types of entertainment. And state-of-the-art connectivity throughout the facility will also open its offerings to audiences around the world.
The center’s components will include a technology / gaming arena; technology museum; collaborative maker / technology-transfer space; and an industry showroom that will accelerate the development of new innovative technologies by bringing together people from throughout the region.
A technology arena—able to host events as varied as electronic gaming competitions, tech industry demonstrations and music concerts—will among the central components of Port San Antonio’s upcoming innovation center, currently under design with construction to begin later in 2020.
The innovation center will also significantly expand the size and reach of the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology (SAMSAT) and partner organizations that include The WEX Foundation – a nationally renowned NASA-funded program that provides innovative STEM curricula focused on space exploration.
From dazzling Tesla coil demonstrations to rare artifacts that chronicle the history of technologies that include telecommunications, computing and television, the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology (SAMSAT) has inspired hundreds of young people and steered them toward educational paths in advanced technologies since opening its doors at the Port in 2017. The upcoming innovation center will allow the museum and its partners to significantly built upon this record of success.
From designing and building computers to launching rockets and building 3-D models of lunar habitats, the museum and its partners provide exciting hands-on activities to advance STEM-based education across San Antonio and introduce young people to careers that await them at the Port as tomorrow’s tech innovators and entrepreneurs.
These leading organizations are relying on and growing on the Port’s platform to deliver an array of groundbreaking STEM-based programs to thousands of students throughout San Antonio in partnership with area schools. Since the spring of 2018, over 10,000 students have participated in programs developed by SAMSAT and its partners.
Homes for lunar colonization designed and created on a 3-D printer by students who participate in programs developed by the WEX Foundation—one of the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology’s innovative partners.
The upcoming innovation center will significantly grow that ability to inspire and connect students with educational and future career paths with the industries that continue to thrive at the Port and across the region.
In 2019, the Edgewood Independent School District launched a new STEAM academy just down the street from Port San Antonio. Both the Edgewood and South San Antonio districts straddling the Port—along with schools throughout the region—have partnered with the museum at the Port to deliver an array of hands-on programs in cybersecurity, robotics, aerospace and other tech fields.
To further connect young people across San Antonio with educational and future career opportunities, in early 2019 Compass Rose announced that it is building a new campus in the heart of Port.
The upcoming school will serve the entire region, beginning with an estimated 500 students in kindergarten and grades 1,2 and 6 during the 2020-21 academic year. As the school phases-in additional grades in the years ahead, enrollment will exceed 1,000 students in grades K through 12.
The upcoming Compass Rose facilities in the heart of the Port, which are currently accepting applications for the 2020-21 academic year.
Eyes on the future: Two among hundreds of young participants at the Kelly Field Aerospace Expo in the fall of 2019. It was an opportunity where Port customers and other aerospace and technology organizations throughout San Antonio were able to showcase their technology to the next generation of innovators.
A community effort: Boeing was among the industry leaders supporting STEM education for all. In September, the company provided a $100,000 multi-year grant to that the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology can deliver programs at community learning centers operated by the San Antonio Housing Authority.
In the summer of 2019, The Port welcomed its inaugural class of talented student interns, who acquired new skills while helping advance the work of one of the region's major centers of economic growth.
IT and cyber training firm Dynamic Advancement expanded its training, certification and examination offerings at the Port. Based at the Port since 2017, Dynamic Advancement now operates an all-in-one test center on our campus.
Early in 2019, the Port hosted cybersecurity demos and training by welcoming Red Hat, a national leader in security solutions for government and commercial clients.
CAPITAL PROJECTS
From building to upgrading hundreds of thousands of square feet of highly specialized facilities to adding essential infrastructure, the Port, its customers and our partners invested a record $61 million in capital projects throughout the campus in 2019.
What’s more, 2020 is shaping up to be an even bigger year yet.
ACCESS OUR INTERACTIVE MAP – Get details on the different projects, who the participants are and how each is growing a unique platform for innovation and learning.
Big infrastructure projects are under construction that will enable the development of hundreds of acres at the Port for upcoming facilities that will be home to new jobs. This initiative is part of the City’s 2017-2022 Bond.
Port-wide infrastructure projects have enabled the development of state-of-the-art facilities that will be home to hundreds of new jobs.
CONNECT WITH US
FOR JOB SEEKERS
At any given time, there are hundreds of career opportunities open with the more than 80 employers based on our campus seeing a wide range of positions. Visit, bookmark and share:
FOR ENTREPRENEURS
Whether you require a large highly specialized tech facility or are a startup in need for interim space and / or a place where you can prototype and build your new big idea, we are here to serve as your strategic partners:
FOR FAMILIES AND EDUCATORS
The San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology offers an array of family-friendly activities, including free evening lectures by leading scientists of topics ranging from lunar exploration to quantum computing. Schools can also contact the museum to arrange special tours as well as STEM programs developed by museum partners.
Additionally, the museum is open and free to the public every Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Calendar of Events
View our calendar of events on our Facebook page.
And the Port hosts numerous family-friendly events, including our iconic Fiesta de los Niños every April—featuring carnival rides, food and free fun activities such as gaming, robotics demonstrations and more.
FOR BUSINESS OWNERS
We are committed to ensure that ongoing growth of the Port also provides opportunities for businesses throughout our region. This in why in 2019 small area businesses participated in over $27 million in projects at the Port—providing us with their expertise and supplies.
Find out how to register as a vendor and enroll to be kept informed about competitive opportunities:
