By Port San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
The vast Port San Antonio technology campus is where an array of locally-based startups and blue-chip industry leaders are connecting with a world of opportunities.
Created in the aftermath of the closure of Kelly Air Force Base more than two decades ago, the Port oversees strategic redevelopment of the expansive 1,900-acre property just southwest of the Alamo City’s downtown.
Aerospace Test Cell (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
A home for tech leaders
Today, it is home to over 80 enterprises and 18,000 on-site employees. Leading industry names, such as StandardAero (whose engine test cell is shown in the photo), Northrop Grumman and others have based and grown operations there, including research and development functions.
Boeing's 787 dreamliner at Kelly Field (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
Boeing has maintained the company's largest aircraft maintenance and modernization facility on the Port campus for over 25 years. There, the company upgrades an array of military and commercial aircraft, including the 787 Dreamliner.
Cyberwarriors (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
The campus also hosts major Department of Defense headquarters, including the Air Force’s global cybersecurity hub, the 16th Air Force.
As iconic companies, public sector and defense enterprises have expanded at the Port, the site is also attracting local entrepreneurs whose innovations in aerospace, cybersecurity, space exploration, robotics and other applied technologies are supporting mature industries in the region, across the nation and around the world.
Robots with Vision (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
Robots work, people rule
Plus One Robotics began with a handful of employees in a small lab at the Port in 2017. Within just a few years, it has become one of the most successful technology startups in San Antonio history.
Plus One Robotics
A growing team of engineers, designers and operators are integrating artificial intelligence and visual sensor technologies to existing industrial robots that can adapt to changing circumstances in dynamic spaces such as e-commerce warehouses or in advanced manufacturing.
Protecting Critical infrastructure (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
The front lines of cyber
CNF Technologies is a company that was established by Fred Ramirez, a former civilian worker at Kelly Air Force Base.
Mentoring the Next Generation of Cyberwarriors (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
IPSecure is another cyber-focused enterprise founded by a former Kelly employee, Jesse Rodriguez. The company has welcomed young people--including the Civil Air Patrol--to participate in cyber competitions and inspire future generations of industry experts and innovators.
From modest beginnings as family-owned operations, CNF Technologies and IP Secure have become nationally-renowned names in their sector—safeguarding the digital assets of Department of Defense operations and, increasingly, applying their expertise to protect the networks that power as medical, manufacturing, financial and other important operations that form our nation's critical infrastructure.
Big robot, big plans
In a specialized industrial lab alongside the Port’s runway at Kelly Field, Netherlands-based XYREC planted the flag of its North American headquarters in 2020.
The company’s team, in collaboration with San Antonio-based Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), has built the world’s largest movable industrial robot.
The highly sophisticated system is outfitted with a powerful laser capable of quickly and efficiently pulverizing old paint from a fuselage. Each year, thousands of aircraft worldwide require repainting as part of regular maintenance and whenever operators rebrand.
XYREC’s technology will revolutionize the industry by introducing paint-removal that is significantly more efficient and Earth-friendly, as it eliminates the use of highly toxic paint-stripping chemicals. The much faster new process also allows operators to significantly reduce down-time of their aircraft.
Teaching Robot Dogs New Tricks (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
Building a better machine
Among some of the top roboticists in the nation, the team at Hatchbed specializes in helping and array of industries and public-sector organizations to incorporate robotic technology to make their operations safer and more productive.
They also help established robotics firms develop new capabilities for existing technologies, such as Boston Dynamic’s iconic Spot, shown here.
Aerospace and Medical Innovation (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
Where aerospace and medicine meet and save lives
Port-based Knight Aerospace develops unique medical pods—self-sustaining units that can be quickly loaded onto a cargo aircraft—transforming the interior of the airplane into a highly advanced ‘flying emergency room.’
Aerospace Innovator Building Advanced Flying Medical Units (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
The importance of this new life-saving technology came into sharp focus during the height of the COVID pandemic given the urgent need to safely transport seriously ill or contagious patients.
Bianca Rhodes, Knight Aerospace (2021-10-11) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
The Royal Canadian Air Force was the first to acquire Knight’s innovations, as the company continues to engage potential users across the nation and around the world.
To the moon, mars, and beyond
Sam Ximenes, one of a handful of people in the nation to bear the title of Space Architect, is the visionary behind two enterprises he established and has based at the Port.
The WEX Foundation is a nonprofit that engages students throughout the region beginning in middle school. The organization and partners, which includes significant support from NASA, deliver an array of hands-on learning experiences that include projects centered on spacecraft construction, robotics, lunar cave exploration and 3D printing.
Students explore ideas like establishing factories in orbit to build massive satellite arrays that could convert solar energy into electricity to be transmitted wirelessly back to earth. They are also developing plans to tap into the moon’s surface as a hub for mining and manufacturing—where lunar basaltic minerals, in combination with robotic and 3D printing technology, will serve as primary construction material to build habitats for humans and for orbital space construction of satellites.
Robotic Lunar Rover (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
In turn, Astroport Technologies, also founded by Ximenes, collaborates with research partners like NASA to turn that vision into reality. Combined, these efforts are unleashing students’ creativity as they identify how humankind can harness space.
AREA 21, A Place for Robots and Humans (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
Building and connecting talent
Central to the Port’s vision to connect people across the San Antonio region to a world of opportunities is access to education at all levels.
Boeing Center at Tech Port (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
Building community
In 2022 the Port launched the Boeing Center at Tech Port. The large facility combines a large entertainment / conference venue, a collaborative technology lab, a state-of-the-art LAN gaming center, and AREA 21—home of the San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology (SAMSAT).
AREA 21's Lego City and Cybersecurity (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
A modern museum that inspires, engages and connects
SAMSAT, which first arrived at the Port in 2017 and expanded at Tech Port Center in 2022, is a principal connector that showcases the technologies thriving and across the region and engages thousands of students each year with related hands-on experiences.
AREA 21's Security Operations Center (SOC) (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
Among those experiences is the museum's simulated cybersecurity center, where students get a engage in exercises to protect critical assets like power grids. The same exhibit also serves to train seasoned professionals and to demonstrate new cyber technologies.
Lego City and Cybersecurity at AREA 21 (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
AREA 21 allows students to connect directly with top experts. It is not unusual on any given day for K-12 students to hear directly from leading professionals on how their technologies are advancing and how students can prepare to be the next generation of innovators.
Boeing Flight Simulator (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
In early 2023, Boeing, which maintains its largest aircraft modernization operation at the Port, announced a $2.3 million gift to the Port-affiliated educational nonprofit, the Kelly Heritage Foundation.
As part of that agreement, the company will build a state-of-the-art exhibit at AREA 21 showcasing innovations in aviation and space travel. As an initial offering, Boeing provided two top-line simulators to engage and inspire students to follow educational and career paths in aerospace.
LAN Gaming Center (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
Game on!
The Boeing Center at Tech Port is also home to one of the nation's top LAN gaming facilities. In addition to attracting a wide range of video gaming enthusiasts, industries based on the campus increasingly use game-based technology to run their operations.
A Venue For Building Futures (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
Rocking ahead
The Boeing Center includes a large arena that can host everything from industry conferences to esports tournaments to top rock concerts. All net proceeds from revenues at the facility are directed by the Port to grow educational programs benefiting students across the region.
The Future Is Up (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
Building futures
As it looks ahead, the Port is preparing to launch a series of new first-in-kind facilities, including a consolidated airfield facility--vertiport--to accommodate traditional aircraft and the next generation of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles.
A stunning conceptual rendering of the planned Innovation Tower (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
Also on the horizon, an upcoming iconic building will support expansions by industries that continue to thrive here. It will also be a beacon that connects the rich heritage of the former Kelly Air Force Base to San Antonio's rising profile as a world capital of innovation.
A whimsical rendering of the innovative campus featuring the new Innovation Tower (21st Century) by Port San AntonioPort San Antonio
Connecting people to opportunities
Between 2017 and 2023 over 8,000 new jobs were added at the Port--making it one of the fastest-growing innovation hubs in the country. As momentum grows, it is firmly positioned as the gateway connecting the Alamo City to an exciting world of opportunities in advanced tech.
All media courtesy of Port San Antonio.
