A University of Texas research unit is unveiling today the results of a study of Austin's position as a hotbed of wireless development: The UT group, IC2 Institute, which stands for Innovation, Creativity, and Capital, worked with Polycot Consulting to complete the study. While results include some facts about the current status of Austin as a center for wireless development, the goal of the research was more to discover how the city might encourage the continued growth of wireless in Austin.

The study found that Austin is home to 91 wireless companies, over half of which are pure wireless ventures. Nearly half of the wireless companies, 43 percent, are involved with Wi-Fi. Most are small, with 80 percent employing 50 people or less. Through 2008, the researchers predict that the number of workers in wireless firms in Austin will grow an average of almost 19 percent.

While the researchers were surprised at how many wireless companies were in Austin, they were surprised by other findings too. "We discovered companies weren't really aware of how much there was out there," said Jon Lebkowsky of Polycot Consulting. The companies themselves didn't know how many other companies in the region were working on wireless development. As a result of that finding, the researchers started up the Austin Wireless Alliance as a forum for companies to promote growth in the wireless market in Austin. The researchers also initiated meetings for wireless workers, city government leaders, and community networking members to talk about industry needs.

One of the most important ways to support the continued growth of wireless in Austin is to make sure companies can find talented people to hire, the report concludes. As such the researchers recommend that companies work closely with local colleges and universities to ensure that proper training is available to students. In addition, the city should encourage pervasive connectivity so that more people have the opportunity to be connected and develop wireless technology. "The more people engage in the innovation of the network the more innovation emerges," said Eliza Evans, the project director with IC2 Institute.

While the city doesn't seem to be actively involved yet with supporting the proliferation of hotspots, the volunteer communities in Austin have put Austin on the top of the list of cities with the most free hot spots, according to at least one source. Less Networks, an Austin company of volunteers that develops software that venues can use free of charge to set up their hot spots, notes that Austin has the most free hot spots according to JiWire's hot spot listing. JiWire is a Wi-Fi Networking News partner. Rich MacKinnon, founder of Less Networks, did some math and notes that 36 percent of Austin's 235 hot spots are free to use while only 4 percent of New York’s 770 sites are free. JiWire's listing of free hot spots hasn't been terribly thorough but I just checked it again and the Seattle listing is much better than it was a while back. Regardless, JiWire's list is probably equally thorough (or not) everywhere so MacKinnon's numbers are probably pretty accurate.