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10+ can't-miss Houston business and innovation events in June

Natalie Harms
Jun 1, 2021, 1:46 pm
Here's your one-stop shop for innovation events in Houston in June. Photo via Getty Images

This month, Houstonians have yet another good batch of online innovation events — from Zoom panels to virtual conferences — and you and your tech network need to know about them.

Here's a roundup of virtual events not to miss this month — like demo days, workshops, competitions, and more.

Note: This post might be updated to add more events.

June 10-11 — Interdisciplinary Symposium on Decision Neuroscience

The Interdisciplinary Symposium on Decision Neuroscience brings together a range of constituencies involved in the use of neuroscience techniques to understand decision making: world-renowned academics, neuroscience research companies, marketing research executives, and industry leaders. It offers an opportunity to learn, present and discuss the latest breakthroughs in using neuroscientific and physiological measures to inform decision making in individuals, groups, societies, organizations, and markets.

The event is on Thursday, June 10, to Friday, June 11. It's free and can be accessed online. Click here to register.

June 11 — Enventure Venture Investment Panel

The 2021 Venture Investment Competition by Enventure is happening June 11th. VICE is a (virtual) venture investment competition where students will play the role of investors to perform diligence on our partnering startups and be judged by real venture capitalists. Enventure has over 100 participants competing and will see four teams make it to the finals. The competition is a closed event, but at the end of the competition, Enventure will be hosting a panel with the judges that will be broadcast publicly.

The event is on Friday, June 11, at 3 pm. It's free and can be accessed online. Click here to register.

June 14-16 — Super Demo Day

Announcing The Ion's SUPER DEMO DAY. Live from The Ion & The Ion Online. Catch 19 startups across three accelerators.

The event is on Monday, June 14, to Wednesday, June 16. It's free and can be accessed online and in person. Click here to register.

June 17 — LGBTQ+ in Tech

Capital Factory is calling for all LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, and allies in tech who support and invest in diversity and inclusion. Join the new LinkedIn Group to discuss takeaways, the session topics as well as future opportunities during and after the event.

The event is on Thursday, June 17, at 1:30 pm. It's free and can be accessed online or in person. Click here to register.

June 17 — Greentown Labs Investor Speaker Series: Spotlight on Houston

Greentown Labs is going to host its next Investor Speaker Series event at Greentown Houston. A rapidly unfolding energy transition will require a robust early-stage investment community to fund the creation of new technologies—and Houston is home to this type of vibrant investment ecosystem.

The hybrid event is on Thursday, June 17, at 3 p.m. It's free and can be accessed online or in person. Click here to register.

June 17 — Igniting Possibilities

Join us for stories of inspiration from winning CEOs of the Ignite Healthcare Network's Fire Pitch Competition as they share successes for overcoming challenges of the past year. Moderated by Susan Feigin Harris, Partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius, the panel of solutions-driven women entrepreneurs will provide enlightening advice from what worked, what didn't work and the exciting plans they have for the future.

The virtual event is Thursday, June 17, at 6:30 pm. It's free with reservations required for accessing online. Click here to register.

June 17 — Investor Speaker Series: Spotlight on Houston

Join Greentown Labs virtually or in person for our next installment of our Investor Speaker Series.

A rapidly unfolding energy transition will require a robust early-stage investment community to fund the creation of new technologies—and Houston is home to this type of vibrant investment ecosystem. Hear from leaders of this community and how they are approaching investing in the companies and technologies that will power the energy transition.

The event is on Thursday, June 17, at 3 pm. It's free and can be accessed online or in person. Click here to register.

June 22 — Plug and Play Summer Summit 2021

Plug and Play's Summer Summit is quickly approaching and the Batch 8 startups are getting ready to showcase their progress and accomplishments. Catch the energy presentations on June 22, but there are other cohorts premiering between June 14 and June 24.

The event is on Tuesday, June 22, at 8 am. It's free and can be accessed online. Click here to register.

June 23 — The Ion Innovation Summit: Future of Energy Tech presented by Baker Botts

The Ion's inaugural innovation summit will focus on the transformation of the energy sector – from digitalization to the investment landscape to support the energy transition. Hear from our three Founding Partners (Baker Botts, Chevron, and Microsoft), as well as other industry experts, investors, and innovation ecosystem supporters. This event will be virtual with the fireside chat broadcast live for the virtual audience from the forum stairs at The Ion.

The event is on Wednesday, June 23, at 11 am. It's free and can be accessed online. Click here to register.

June 23 — Houston Startup Showcase: Energy Tech

The Ion's inaugural innovation summit will focus on the transformation of the energy sector – from digitalization to the investment landscape to support the energy transition. Join Baker Botts and The Ion to hear from three energy tech startups pitch their company and see who the judges will select to move on to the Final and have the opportunity to compete for a prize package.

The event is on Wednesday, June 23, at 6 pm. It's free and can be accessed online. Click here to register.

June 24 — ALUMNI 2021 H. Albert Napier Rice Launch Challenge - Startup Competition

Support Rice alumni startups and join us virtually for the H. Albert Napier Rice Launch Challenge Startup Competition. Rice-affiliated teams are competing for cash prizes. Watch pitches, network with the Rice entrepreneurship community, and vote for your favorite idea! Attendance is open to the Rice community and the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The event is on Thursday, June 24, at 6 pm. It's free and can be accessed online. Click here to register.

June 26 — Understanding Success for Sales by Silver Brick Sales Solutions

Sales organizations oftentimes focus most heavily on the lagging indicators. They look almost exclusively at results while not organizing and measuring the leading indicators for sales success. The Cannon and Silver Brick Sales Solutions will discuss how to identify and focus on the leading indicators of attitude, behavior, and technique. By focusing on what you can control you can more reliably predict and improve your sales success.

The event is on Saturday, June 26, at 10 am. It's free and can be accessed online. Click here to register.

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Houston health care leader on a mission to innovate an end to heart failure

Emerson Perin of the Texas Heart Institute, recently published the largest clinical trial of cell therapy for patients with chronic heart failure to-date included 580 patients at 52 sites throughout North America. Photo via texasheart.org

Emerson Perin’s end goal isn’t to treat heart failure. The medical director of The Texas Heart Institute says that he has his sights set firmly on curing the malady altogether. And, with the power of innovation and a strong team, the Houston-based cardiologist has a good chance of meeting his objective.

Perin first came to THI for fellowship training in 1988, following his residency in Miami and medical school in his birthplace of Brazil.

“This is a very special place,” the physician and researcher, whose titles also include director for THI’s Center for Clinical Research and vice president for medical affairs, tells InnovationMap. “It has a worldwide-reaching reputation. I’ve always liked research and this is a great place in terms of innovation and practicing high-level cardiology.”

For decades, Perin has followed in THI founder Denton Cooley’s footsteps with world-changing research. In 2001, the founding medical director of THI’s Stem Cell Center was the first person to inject stem cells into a failing human heart. It led to a trial of 17 patients that year.

“A couple of the patients did remarkably well — more than you could ever expect. These guys who couldn’t’ walk across the room pretty much were jogging on the beach. That gave me the initial insight that this works,” Perin recalls.

What exactly is heart failure? The term refers to the condition of a heart that can’t pump enough blood to sustainably power the body through oxygenation of the tissues from blood flow. It may sound like a death sentence, but with appropriate care, it can usually be managed with medicines and if worsening occurs, devices and, ultimately, heart transplantation.

And Perin is proving that there’s a lot of life ahead for heart failure patients. Earlier this year, he published another groundbreaking clinical trial, DREAM-HF. The largest clinical trial of cell therapy for patients with chronic heart failure to-date included 580 patients at 52 sites throughout North America.

With the goal of getting a new cell therapy approved for heart failure, the primary endpoint was to prove that the therapy could prevent recurrent hospitalizations.

“It was a total negative,” says Perin. That’s because the cells don’t have a decongestant effect such as the medicines currently used to treat heart failure.

But that doesn’t mean that the trial was a failure. Quite the opposite. That’s because Perin and his team proved something else: The trial was able to prove that there was significant improvement in patients with inflammation. After those patients were injected with mesenchymal precursor cells (MPC), they showed a 70-percent reduction in heart attacks and strokes. Cardiovascular deaths also decreased.

These are blockbuster numbers, and big news for patients dealing with heart failure. What it means is that the cells addressed a different aspect of heart failure that until now had been left untreated which was the inflammation — how heart failure starts and what keeps it going.

So what’s next? Going to the FDA.

“They said, ‘We can’t approve it with one trial, but we’ll approve it with two,’” says Perin.

This time, his primary endpoint will be tailored to suit the positive outcome he knows he’ll be able achieve. This next round will begin in 2024.

Once the FDA approves a new catheter system for injecting the heart with stem cells and genes, the team will proceed with new studies. Gene therapy will be another frontier for Perin — and patients with heart failure.

“I think the combination of cells and genes is even more powerful,” he says. “That will help save lives in a completely new way and do away with heart failure.”

Perin's work is just one piece of the puzzle, and Dr. Joseph Rogers, who was appointed president and CEO of THI in 2021, is leading the organization's initiative in several ways. THI, recently buoyed by a $32 million donation from a patient — the largest charitable donation in its history — is exploring several innovative therapeutics, devices, and treatments.

THI recently received a two-year, $1.14 million grant from The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to develop a novel, first-in-class drug to treat the cardiovascular disease that arises from atherosclerosis. Another THI innovator, Camila Hochman-Mendez — along with her research team — is studying the effects of regenerative medicine on hearts.

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DREAM-HF trialEmerson PerinTexas Heart Instituteheart failure

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