Merck announces new IT hub

Merck & Co. has announced its new information technology hub in Austin will be located on the campus of the University of Texas’ Dell Medical School. The hub, which was approved to receive more than $800,000 in economic incentives from the city over a 10-year period, will be part of the school’s Health Discovery Building that is intended to pair science and technology expertise to spur improvements in health care. The company announced it will focus on digital health, business analytics and computer science in its Austin facility, which will cost an estimated $28 million and is expected to create more than 600 jobs in the Austin area. The hub’s location on the medical school’s campus will also serve as an anchor of sorts for the area known as the “innovation zone” for health care businesses that are expected to open in the wake of the medical school’s opening. Still to be decided is who will be the main tenants that will occupy the redevelopment of the nearby 14-acre campus of the former University Medical Center Brackenridge, which is slated for redevelopment over the next 15 years.