El Paso becoming new frontier for space research, business ventures

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Our lives are full of consumer products that can be traced back to NASA: invisible braces, infrared ear thermometers, memory foam and cordless drills. Now one El Paso-area organization has partnered with NASA to make this kind of technology transfer easier. The Space Race challenge offers business planning, networking, mentorship and support to teams who are competing for up to $1.2 million in funding from venture capital investors. The Center for Advancing Innovation, a global public-private nonprofit is facilitating the program with El Paso-based Medical Center of the Americas Foundation. “NASA has a very large number of researchers who are primarily dedicated to solving NASA’s problems, but once that technology has done its job for NASA, by and large, that’s the end of the road, said Jeff Fuchsberg, the director of intellectual property and innovation projects at the center.

Ragz to Riches thrift consignment shop. (Natalia Aguilar/Borderzine.com)

Mexican shoppers make El Paso trips fun tradition

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EL PASO — Daniela Caballero, a senior at UT El Paso, remembers being a young girl from Chihuahua, Mexico, and being so excited for her seasonal shopping trip in El Paso. “I would invite a friend with me and my family, and we would stay in Juarez and cross over every day. My dad would save money on the hotel by staying with family in Juarez, so we also took the opportunity to reunite with our family,” she said. Caballero’s family eventually moved to El Paso, which changed her shopping experience. “Now that my family and I have moved to El Paso, I no longer view shopping here the same way.

El Paso, the safest city in the U.S. by fact, the most dangerous by media coverage. (José Luis Trejo/Borderzine.com)

Growing congestion on border bridges can stifle business and kill jobs

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EL PASO – An expected doubling of the populations of Cd. Juárez and El Paso by 2035 would cause dramatic delays at the border bridges resulting in a threat to business in both cities instead of providing larger markets. By 2035 the combined population of both cities is expected to reach 3.4 million, compared to 1.1 million in 1980 and nearly 2 million today. According to a study by the Texas Department of Transportation, the continuous population growth will cause wait times on international bridges to increase from two hours today to almost four hours 25 years from now. The extended wait times will provoke a negative effect in El Paso-Juárez business, said Dr. Gary Hedrick, assistant professor of finance at the University of Texas at El Paso.