Business Insider interviewed Rebecca Taylor, the Interim Executive Director at the Austin Technology Incubator, for an article on Austin’s tech-startup scene. Taylor, who has served as an Executive-in-Residence at ATI for over two decades, said the years she and others have spent mentoring startup founders points to a culture that made the city a powerhouse for startups – particularly around clean tech. She noted that ATI, which is affiliated with The University of Texas at Austin, is the longest-running incubator in the U.S. Taylor said that back in 2001, the people in charge of ATI noticed that there were a good number of clean-energy startups emerging in Austin but that there wasn’t infrastructure in place to support them. To help fledging companies gain footing, leaders at the incubator set up a division focused on clean energy. That early attention has helped the Austin region, which is home to some 2.2 million people, grow into a clean-tech powerhouse. ATI has helped shepherd companies like Yotta Energy, which helps commercial buildings incorporate tech such as solar, energy storage, and electric vehicle changing. Another ATI graduate is ICON, which makes 3-D printed homes.
