Who are Houston's top innovators? Nominate now for 2026 Houston Innovation Awards

Calling All Innovators

Nominate Houston's top innovators today. Photo by Emily Jaschke

Calling all Houston innovators: The 2026 Houston Innovation Awards, presented by InnovationMap, return this fall to celebrate the best and brightest in the Houston innovation ecosystem right now.

We're asking you to nominate Houston's top innovators and startups for this year's awards. Nominations are open now through August 27 and can be made on behalf of yourself, your organization, and other influential leaders in the local innovation scene.

The annual awards program recognizes the most innovative individuals and companies in Houston across 10 prestigious categories.

This year's awards will honor the following categories:

  • Minority-founded Business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ representation.
  • Female-founded Business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by a woman.
  • Energy Transition Business, honoring an innovative startup providing a solution within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, alternative materials, circular economy, and beyond.
  • Health Tech Business, honoring an innovative startup within the health and medical technology sectors.
  • Deep Tech Business, honoring an innovative startup providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges, including those in the AI, robotics, and space sectors.
  • Startup of the Year (People's Choice), honoring a startup celebrating a recent milestone or success. The winner will be selected by the community via an interactive voting experience.
  • Scaleup of the Year, honoring an innovative later-stage startup that's recently reached a significant milestone in company growth.
  • Incubator/Accelerator of the Year, honoring a local incubator or accelerator that is championing and fueling the growth of Houston startups.
  • Mentor of the Year, honoring an individual who dedicates their time and expertise to guide and support budding entrepreneurs.
  • Trailblazer, honoring an innovator who's made a lasting impact on the Houston innovation community.

You have three weeks to submit nominees, so don't delay — nominate today at this link or fill out the form below. Qualified nominees will receive a formal application to complete, which will be reviewed by our esteemed panel of judges to determine the finalists and winners.

More announcements about the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards are coming soon, including an introduction to this year's panel of judges. Interested in sponsoring the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards? Please contact sales@innovationmap.com.

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Judging is underway for the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards.

Meet the judges for the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards

Meet The Judges

Editor's note: Judging is now underway for the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards, and before we reveal this year's finalists, it's time to meet the decision makers.

Our 2025 judging panel comprises past award winners who represent a variety of industries and areas of expertise. They are joined by InnovationMap's editorial leaders, past and present. All are deeply engaged in the Houston innovation ecosystem.

Our judging panel will review all nominee applications submitted across 10 prestigious categories. They will determine the 2025 finalists in all categories, and they will select the winners in all but one category — our people's choice award, Startup of the Year.

Learn more about our esteemed judges below, and stay tuned for the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards finalists announcement, coming in early October!

Winners will be announced live at our awards ceremony on November 13 at Greentown Labs.

Phillip Yates, 2024 Ecosystem Builder of the Year

Phillip Yates. Photo courtesy of Equiliberty

Attorney-turned-entrepreneur Phillip Yates is the founder and CEO of Equiliberty Inc., a Houston-based fintech platform that connects users with resources to build wealth. Deeply involved in the Houston innovation sector, he helped establish a pre-venture business incubator at the Houston Area Urban League Entrepreneurship Center in 2011. He has served as general counsel for the Business Angel Minority Association and Direct Digital Holdings Inc., and currently serves as chairman of Impact Hub Houston.

"My favorite part of Houston's innovative ecosystem is the growing network of resources for founders," he said. "Given our racial, ethnic, and culturally diverse population, we have a wider range of experiences and perspectives — and ideas that lead to better problem solving, creative solutions, and understanding of the needs our community."

Mitra Miller, 2024 Mentor of the Year

Mitra Miller. Photo via LinkedIn

Mitra Miller is vice president of Houston Angel Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing the innovation ecosystem by supporting founders and startups with financial resources and mentorship. She is also founder and chair of Eagle Investors, a nonprofit that teaches students about the investment and innovation community, and she serves as an active mentor for numerous Houston organizations.

"Houston has the most friendly, open, collaborative, and inclusive innovation environment anywhere," Miller said. "When I ask individuals and organizations to partner on events and initiatives, they readily agree and give freely of their time and resources. There is a generosity of spirit that is very special to Houston."

Juliana Garaizar, 2024 Investor of the Year

Juliana Garaizar. Photo courtesy of Juliana Garaizar

Juliana Garaizar is founding partner of Houston energy and carbontech ecosystem builder Energy Tech Nexus. "A hands-on investor," Garaizar invests in Houston and beyond with groups such as Portfolia, Houston Angel Network, Business Angel Minority Association, and more.

"Houston has the talent, the corporations, and the great intersection of industries where innovations happen: energy, medical, and space," she said. "Houston knows how to do hard things. We are doers, and we know how to build on our key strengths and are resilient when things don't go according to plan."

Anwar Sadek, Corrolytics, 2024 Minority-founded Business of the Year and Startup of the Year

Anwar Sadek. Courtesy photo

Anwar Sadek is CEO and co-founder of Corrolytics, a technology startup that aims to solve microbiologically influenced corrosion problems for industrial assets. In 2023, Sadek made the bold decision to relocate his startup, which was founded in Ohio, to Houston. It was the winner of two Houston Innovation Awards last year.

"Houston is the energy capital of the world. For the technology we are developing, it is the most strategic move for us to be in this ecosystem and in this city," Sadek said.

Remington Tonar, Cart.com, 2024 Scaleup of the Year

Remington Tonar. Courtesy photo

Remington Tonar is co-founder of Cart.com, a unified commerce and logistics solutions provider for B2C and B2B companies. Founded in Houston in 2020 by CEO/co-founder Omair Tariq and Tonar, Cart.com relocated to Austin in 2021, before returning to its roots and reestablishing its Houston headquarters in late 2023. The fast-growing e-commerce platform was then named Scaleup of the Year in the 2024 Houston Innovation Awards.

"When we think about Houston, we think about access to at-scale infrastructure, amenities, and workforce and talent pools," Tonar said, in regards to the relocation.

Laura Furr Mericas, Interim Editor, InnovationMap

Laura Furr Mericas is interim editor for InnovatonMap.com and EnergyCapitalHTX.com. She is a longtime contributor to both sites and has reported on Houston's innovation ecosystem for InnovationMap since 2020. Previously, she served as web editor and data reporter for Houston Business Journal.

Natalie Harms, Inaugural Editor, InnovationMap

Natalie Harms is the inaugural editor of InnovationMap.com, spearheading its launch in 2018 and shepherding its growth through 2024, as well as overseeing sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com. Prior to InnovationMap, Harms was associate editor for Houston Business Journal. She now covers the hotel and tourism industry as a reporter for Hotel News Now.

Over 500 members of Houston's innovation community showed up to celebrate the best and brightest of the ecosystem. Photo by Emily Jaschke/InnovationMap

Nominate top innovators for the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards by Aug. 31

Calling All Innovators

Editor's note: Houston innovators, this is your reminder that the nomination period for the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards closes on Sunday, August 31. Please provide your nominations for Houston's best and brightest innovators and innovative companies at at this link. Our panel of judges will review the nominees to determine the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards finalists and winners. Finalists will be named in early October, and winners will be revealed in November.

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Calling all Houston innovators: The Houston Innovation Awards return this fall to celebrate the best and brightest in the Houston innovation ecosystem right now.

Presented by InnovationMap, the fifth annual Houston Innovation Awards will take place November 13 at Greentown Labs.

The awards program will honor the top startups and innovators in Houston across 10 categories, and we're asking you to nominate the most deserving Houston innovators and innovative companies today.

This year's categories are:

  • Minority-founded Business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ representation.
  • Female-founded Business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by a woman.
  • Energy Transition Business, honoring an innovative startup providing a solution within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, alternative materials, circular economy, and beyond.
  • Health Tech Business, honoring an innovative startup within the health and medical technology sectors.
  • Deep Tech Business, honoring an innovative startup providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges, including those in the AI, robotics, and space sectors.
  • Startup of the Year (People's Choice), honoring a startup celebrating a recent milestone or success. The winner will be selected by the community via an interactive voting experience.
  • Scaleup of the Year, honoring an innovative later-stage startup that's recently reached a significant milestone in company growth.
  • Incubator/Accelerator of the Year, honoring a local incubator or accelerator that is championing and fueling the growth of Houston startups.
  • Mentor of the Year, presented by Houston Community College, honoring an individual who dedicates their time and expertise to guide and support budding entrepreneurs.
  • Trailblazer, honoring an innovator who's made a lasting impact on the Houston innovation community.

Nominations may be made on behalf of yourself, your organization, and other leaders in the local innovation scene. The nomination period closes on August 31, so don't delay — nominate today at this link, or fill out the embedded form below.

Our panel of esteemed judges will review the nominations, and determine the finalists and winners. Finalists will be unveiled in early October, and the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards winners will be announced live on November 13.

Tickets will go on sale this fall. Stay tuned for that announcement, as well as more fanfare leading up to the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards.

Interested in Innovation Awards sponsorship opportunities? Please contact sales@innovationmap.com.
Do you think you know the best of Houston's innovation community? Now's your chance to shine the spotlight on a deserving innovator. Photo by Emily Jaschke/InnovationMap

Nominations launch, tickets open for 2024 Houston Innovation Awards

call for submissions

Update: The nomination period has closed. The original article is below.

Calling all Houston innovators — InnovationMap needs your help identifying the best and brightest in the Houston innovation ecosystem.

For the fourth year, InnovationMap is hosting its signature awards program that will recognize the top startups and innovators in Houston. The awards program will be on Thursday, November 14, at the Texas Medical Center's Helix Park. Tickets and tables are on sale now.

The nomination period — which includes submitting nominations on behalf of yourself or others — will close September 10. Nominees will be sent an application, which will be due September 23. A panel of judges will review the applications and finalists will be announced and notified ahead of the event.

This year's categories include a few new awards — as well as the return of some crowd favorites. Nominees can be submitted to multiple categories. The 2024 Houston Innovation Awards include:

  • Minority-founded business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ representation
  • Female-founded business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by a woman
  • Energy transition business, honoring an innovative startup providing a solution within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, alternative materials, circular economy, and beyond
  • Health tech business, honoring an innovative startup within the health and medical technology
  • Deep tech business, honoring an innovative startup providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges
  • AI/data science business, honoring an innovative startup utilizing artificial intelligence and data science within a tech solution
  • Scaleup of the year, honoring an innovative later stage startup that's recently reached a significant milestone in company growth
  • Community champion organization, honoring a corporation, nonprofit, university, or other organization that plays a major role in the Houston innovation community
  • People’s choice: Startup of the Year, a startup celebrating a recent milestone or success and the winner will be selected by the community via online portal and announced at the event
  • Ecosystem builder, honoring an individual who has acted as a leader in developing Houston’s startup ecosystem
  • Investor of the year, honoring an individual who is leading venture capital or angel investing
  • Mentor of the year, honoring an individual who dedicates their time and expertise to guide and support to budding entrepreneurs

Additionally, the awards gala will honor an innovator who's made a lasting impact on the Houston innovation community. While you may nominate an individual for the Trailblazer Award via the online form, the judging committee will not require applications or nominations for this category and will be considering potential honorees from the ecosystem at large.

If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, including the opportunity to sponsor any of the above award categories, please reach out to sales@innovationmap.com.

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Houston researchers develop dissolvable implant for targeted cancer drug delivery

cancer research

Researchers at Houston Methodist have developed a biodegradable implant that can be used to safely and consistently deliver drug treatments to tumors and then dissolve without the need for further surgery.

The implant is only the size of a grain of rice, but its potential is staggering. The biodegradable nanofibrous drug-eluting seed (b-NDES) works as a reservoir parked inside a soft tumor, where it can slowly release immune-stimulating drugs over time. This overcomes a consistent problem with drugs such as immune checkpoint inhibitors. Normal systemic administration sees comparatively little of the drug making its way to the tumor, with most of it circulating throughout the body. The b-NDES is like deploying a small guerrilla fighting force embedded in enemy territory, doing maximum damage to the entrenched tumor.

"To improve cancer treatment, we're trying to start a fire inside the tumor itself," Corrine Chua, associate professor in the Center for BioNanoengineering at Houston Methodist Research Institute, said in a news release. "By activating immune cells directly within the tumor microenvironment, those cells can then travel throughout the body and seek out cancer wherever it exists. The b-NDES platform was developed to help keep therapeutic drugs concentrated inside tumors while minimizing exposure to healthy tissues.”

Chua co-led the study with Alessandro Grattoni, chair and director of the Center for BioNanoengineering at Houston Methodist Research Institute.

The study included support from the Nancy Owens Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute.

Chau and Grattoni used preclinical models of triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of cancer that is estrogen receptor-negative, progesterone receptor-negative and HER2-negative. Because of the receptor negativity, some popular treatments like tamoxifen and trastuzumab are ineffective. Chemotherapy has been shown to be the best course of action.

The b-NDES implant is deployed alongside radiation drugs. It keeps the drugs focused on the tumor, reducing the amount of harmful side effects typically seen when drugs are circulated more widely in the body. In 60 percent of the models, tumors were eliminated and did not cause side effects beyond the tumor site. Once the drugs have been deployed, the implant breaks down naturally.

While promising, more research will have to be done to expand use to other tumor types.

"Although the study focused on triple-negative breast cancer models, the approach could have broader applications for solid tumors," Grattoni added in the release. "It could potentially be used in cancers where there is a tumor lesion accessible for placement, including pancreatic or lung cancers."

New Houston platform Same Day Reels launches for on-demand content creation

In The Moment

If an event doesn't happen on Instagram, did it even really happen? In today's social media-driven age of branding and audience engagement, the answer increasingly is no.

Houston entrepreneur Karen De Amat is looking to fill the online content creation needs of companies with her new venture, Same Day Reels, which launched in early August. It will serve as a platform to connect companies and brands with talent that can help turn an event into a viral moment as it is happening.

"Events move quickly, and social media moves even faster,” said De Amat. “Same Day Reels was built to help brands capture the moment while it still matters. We are creating a more efficient way for businesses and creators to work together. Brands need content faster, and creators need more opportunities to turn their talent into real work. Same Day Reels brings those needs together.”

The company is focused on adding livestreams and concurrent short video content to "activations, launches, fundraisers, grand openings, conferences, hospitality experiences, and private celebrations." Such content can significantly increase the visibility of a product or brand according to digital marketing brands like Wyzowl, whose data found 63 percent of people in 2026 prefer to learn about new products via short video.

Packages offered by Same Day Reels will include filming, editing, and publishing content within hours of the targeted event.

De Amat says that her content creation platform will be a way to preserve the excitement of events and launches by enshrining them with immediate social media-driven memories.

“Event content is no longer just something you post after the fact,” De Amat said. “It is part of how people experience, remember and share the moment.”

Previously, De Amat is also the founder and CEO of Social Behavior, an influencer marketing company she launched from her home in 2014. It quickly garnered an array of clients and thrust De Amat into the spotlight, including numerous appearances on Fox 26's The Isiah Factor. Influencer Marketing Hub named her one of the top CEOs of influencer marketing companies in Houston in 2025.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Bristol Myers Squibb to build $2.3B Houston pharma manufacturing campus

coming soon

New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb Co. has officially named Houston as the home of its new state-of-the-art manufacturing site.

The 60,000-square-foot facility represents a $2.3 billion investment, according to a news release. It is expected to create 500 skilled jobs and will be located in Houston's Generation Park.

BMS first announced that it was considering Houston among 16 other cities for the facility in May. The new hub will manufacture small molecule, biologic and antibody-drug conjugates and is part of a $40 billion commitment to invest in the United States over five years. Construction is slated to begin next year, with the facility coming online in 2030.

"We're building the domestic manufacturing capabilities needed to deliver the next generation of medicines and support future scientific breakthroughs. Houston and the state of Texas offer the talent, infrastructure, and partnership needed to help bring that vision to life," Christopher Boerner, CEO and board chair of BMS, said in the release.

The new facility will feature a modular, multi-modal design, which will allow the company to reconfigure and add to its manufacturing capabilities over time. BMS says it expects the facility to "(grow) in scale and capability well beyond its opening configuration."

"Our decision to build this state-of-the-art manufacturing campus in Houston, Texas, reflects our confidence in the region’s ability to support a world-class, digitally advanced supply operation,” Karin Shanahan, EVP and chief supply chain and operations officer of BMS, added in the release. “This facility is designed to deliver the speed, quality, and reliability that patients depend on, combining flexible, modular manufacturing with advanced digital capabilities to ensure consistent supply across multiple modalities. It strengthens our ability to operate with resilience and positions us to reliably deliver medicines to patients today while adapting future demands.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shared that the state has granted BMS a $4.89 million Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) grant for the project. TEF grants, administered by the Texas Economic Development & Tourism Office, support business relocation or expansion projects that create "new, good-paying jobs in the community and attract significant new capital investment to the state." The development is also a qualified project under the Texas Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation (JETI) program.

“Texas is a global hub for life sciences, where today’s innovations shape the future of healthcare,” Abbott said in a news release. “This $2.3 billion investment by Bristol Myers Squibb in the dynamic biotech ecosystem in Houston is a testament to the depth of our skilled workforce and the pipeline of talent coming through our nation-leading technical colleges and research universities. With lower operating costs and easy access to markets across the U.S. and the world, Texas drives affordability for consumers.”

"Bristol Myers Squibb’s announcement is a tremendous win for Texas and the Houston region, further reinforcing our position as a premier destination for life sciences and advanced manufacturing,” added Greater Houston Partnership President and CEO Steve Kean.

Last fall, Eli Lilly and Co. selected Generation Park, a 4,300-acre, master-planned commercial district near Lake Houston, for its $6.5 billion manufacturing plant. More than 300 locations in the U.S. competed for the factory. Read more here.

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