Eli Lilly breaks ground on $6.5B pharmaceutical factory in Houston

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The site will manufacture Lilly's first synthetic oral GLP-1 medication and other advanced therapeutics. Photo via gov.texas.gov

Leading pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly broke ground today, Sept. 21, on its $6.5 billion manufacturing site at Houston's Generation Park.

The 236-acre, state-of-the art factory is expected to come online in 2030 and will manufacture Foundayo, the company's first synthetic oral GLP-1 medication, as well as other advanced therapeutics.

"We are thrilled to break ground on our latest ‘medicines made in America’ site in the great state of Texas," David Ricks, Lilly chair and CEO, said in a prepared statement. "This $6.5 billion investment will help change the game for tens of millions of people suffering from overweight, obesity and its consequences like diabetes. We will make and ship Lilly’s latest products from Texas to people here at home and around the world.”

Houston was up against more than 300 locations in the U.S. for the factory, as part of Lilly’s $50 billion investment in domestic medicine production that has launched 10 manufacturing sites since 2020. Lilly first announced Houston had been selected for the site last September.

Photo via gov.texas.gov

As Abbott mentioned, the site is expected to create hundreds of jobs, and will hire engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians once up and running. It will create 4,000 construction jobs while being built.

In an effort to support workforce development, Lilly also announced a $12.5 million commitment to Houston's San Jacinto College in addition to a $2.5 million charitable donation to the San Jacinto College Foundation. The funding will go toward hands-on training, equipment and facilities to support future technicians, operators, maintenance professionals, and other manufacturing talent, according to Lilly. The charitable donation will fund scholarships for students.

"This relationship will build a strong, sustainable talent pipeline for Lilly while creating meaningful, high-demand career opportunities across our region,” Brenda Hellyer, chancellor of San Jacinto College, said in the release.

"When you invest in a place like Houston, you invest in its people first," Edgardo Hernandez, executive vice president and president of Lilly Manufacturing Operations, added. "This facility will run on the talent of this community, powered by our relationship with San Jacinto College. We're hiring across the greater Houston area to help residents build careers close to home."

Rendering courtesy Eli Lilly

Lilly previously said it chose Generation Park, a 4,300-acre, master-planned commercial district near Lake Houston, because of factors such as financial incentives, access to utilities and transportation and the region’s business-friendly environment. Generation Park is home to campuses for San Jacinto College and Lone Star College.

Since Lilly first announced plans for the site, another fellow pharma giant has made plans to move into Generation Park. Bristol Myers Squibb Co. announced last month that it would build a $2.3 billion factory in the district. The site is expected to manufacture small molecule, biologic and antibody-drug conjugates and will also come online around 2030. Read more here.

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A rendering of the $5 billion University of Texas Dell Medical Center in Austin. Image via utexas.edu

$5B MD Anderson-anchored Austin medical center to break ground this fall

moving forward

Construction on the $1 billion first phase of the AI-native University of Texas Dell Medical Center in Austin—which will feature a hospital operated by Houston’s UT MD Anderson Cancer Center—is set to start this fall.

The UT System Board of Regents approved funding for first-phase construction on Aug. 12.

The medical center—now expected to cost $5 billion, up from the initial $2.9 billion estimate—will span about 2.5 million square feet. It will include 300 to 500 patient beds, outpatient facilities, an emergency department and specialized care for cancer patients.

MD Anderson will bring its world-renowned oncology programs to the center’s integrated health care model, Dr. Claudia Lucchinetti, senior vice president of medical affairs at UT Austin and dean of the university’s Dell Medical School, tells Health Leaders.

Earlier this year, Austin tech billionaire Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, pledged $750 million for development of the medical center. The medical center, scheduled for completion in December 2030, will be a cornerstone of the new 300-acre UT Dell Campus for Advanced Research, a medical education and research hub.

“Through this new campus and medical center, Texas will lead America in health care innovation,” Gov. Greg Abbott said when the research campus was announced in April. “The next generation of medical breakthroughs will take place in Central Texas.”

The medical center will fold AI tools and other technology into the infrastructure, rather than having them added after it’s built. Among other capabilities, the technology will monitor real-time medical data, automate data entry, and help health care professionals quickly predict and identify risks to patients, according to Health Leaders.

“We are not just building a new medical center,” Lucchinetti says. “We are building a fundamentally new model of health. It’s not just a new facility. It’s not just a new collaboration. It is a convergence of capabilities that rarely come together at the same time.”

MD Anderson broke ground on a 600,000 square-foot building that is specifically designed to enable great minds to meet with the goal of conquering cancer. Photo courtesy of MD Anderson

Houston-based, cancer-fighting organization breaks ground on new collaborative building

ready to rise

Houston is where medical researchers and clinicians come together. And it’s getting easier for that to happen thanks to an innovative new facility from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

On September 20, the world-class institution broke ground on a 600,000 square-foot building that is specifically designed to enable great minds to meet with the goal of conquering cancer.

Construction on the seven-story structure, known as South Campus Research Building 5 (SCRB5), is supported by a $668 million institutional grant. The facility is expected to be completed in 2026. Designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects, it will include both high-tech research rooms and public spaces that include a restaurant, conference center and spaces for lectures. A landscaped park is designed by Mikyoung Kim Design.

“The construction of our visionary new research building marks the beginning of our next chapter in Making Cancer History,” Peter WT Pisters, M.D., president of MD Anderson, says in a press release. “With input from hundreds of MD Anderson teammates, we have carefully designed this building and our research campus to foster collaboration, to stimulate creativity and to fuel breakthroughs that will improve the lives of patients here and around the globe.”

SCRB5 is located at 1920 Spanish Trail and is considered an extension of upcoming Helix Park, Texas Medical Center’s 5 million square-foot research campus. Both are specifically designed to create seamless collaborations between scientists and clinicians, where water cooler chat can lead to world-changing discoveries. MD Anderson has already announced that the building will be home to a number of strategic research programs, including the James P. Allison Institute.

The new construction isn’t just notable for the discoveries that will be made there. In itself, SCRB5 will be an exceptionally sustainable and efficient building, with surrounding green spots and connecting pathways that will serve as inspiration for all who work there. This only makes sense for MD Anderson, which invested $1.1 billion in funding in the last fiscal year. In the same year, the institution had more projects funded by the National Cancer Institute than any other.

Rendering courtesy of MD Anderson

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These 5 trailblazing Houston startups are leading the energy transition

meet the finalists

Houston is home to a growing number of startups reshaping what it means to be called the "Energy Capital of the World."

As part of the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards, our Energy Transition Business category honors those innovative startups that are providing solutions within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, alternative materials, circular economy and more.

Five clean energy startups have been named finalists for the 2026 award. The finalists, selected by our esteemed panel of judges, range from a lower-emission steel producer to a diagnostics platform developer working to support batteries used in data centers.

Read more about these innovative businesses, their initiatives, and their inspirational founders below. The 2026 winners will be announced on InnovationMap.com in mid-November.

Capwell Services

Methane capture company Capwell Services works to eliminate vented oil and gas emissions economically for operators. According to the company, methane emissions are vented from most oil and gas facilities due to safety protocols, and operators are not able to capture the gas cost-effectively, leading operators to emit more than 14 million metric tons of methane per year in the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 2022, Capwell specializes in low and intermittent flow vents for methane capture.

The company began as a University of Pennsylvania senior design project led by CEO Andrew Lane. It has since participated in programs with Greentown Labs, the Rice Clean Energy Accelerator and the Creative Destruction Lab Energy Cohort at Texas A&M University. The company moved to Houston in 2023 and raised a pre-seed round. It deployed two commercial units this year, according to its application.

FlowCellutions

Energytech startup FlowCellutions is developing a chemistry-agnostic diagnostics platform for flow and metal-air batteries supporting data centers and critical infrastructure. The platform is designed to help reduce operating costs, prevent failures and costly downtime, and extend battery lifetime from approximately seven years to more than 30 years. It has deployed four paid pilots and plans to take insights from the programs to develop its next-gen sensor platform technology.

CEO Becca Segel founded the company in 2022. It is a member of Greentown Labs, and Segel was a 2025 Activate Fellow. The company has raised over $2 million in non-dilutive funding and received a $1.5 million NSF SBIR Fast-Track award earlier this year.

Hertha Metals

Hertha Metals produces lower-cost, lower-emission steel and high-purity iron. The company has developed a single-step process that uses natural gas as a direct reductant instead of metallurgical coal, which cuts production costs by more than 25 percent and emissions by up to 50 percent, according to the company. The same process produces high-purity iron needed for high-purity steels and rare earth magnets. The company says it aims to "re-industrialize America’s production of critical materials."

Hertha Metals was founded by CEO Laureen Meroueh in 2022 and emerged from stealth last year with more than $17 million in venture capital funding. The company closed a $133.65 million Series A this month and also broke ground on its $100M high-purity iron factory known as Chalyx in Conroe.

Mars Materials

Clean chemical manufacturing business Mars Materials is working to convert captured carbon into resources, such as carbon fiber and wastewater treatment chemicals. The company develops and produces its drop-in chemical products in Houston and uses an in-licensed process for the National Renewable Energy Lab to produce acrylonitrile, which is used to produce plastics, synthetic fibers, and rubbers.

Founded in 2019 by CEO Aaron Fitzgerald, CTO Kristian Gubsch, and vice president of operations Trey Sheridan, the company has secured over $7.2M in financing and is backed by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy, Shell, Black & Veatch, and other organizations. It won in the Minority-founded Business Category in last year's Houston Innovation Awards.

Solidec

Chemical manufacturing company Solidec has developed autonomous generators that extract molecules from water and air and convert them into pure chemicals and fuels that are free of carbon emissions on-site, eliminating the need for transport, storage, and permitting. The company was founded around innovations developed by Rice University associate professor Haotian Wang.

The company was selected for the Chevron Technology Ventures’ Catalyst Program, Greentown Labs, NSF I-Corps and was part of the first cohort of the Activate Houston program. It won first place at the 2024 startup pitch competition at CERAWeek. Solidec was founded in 2023 by Wang, who serves as an advisor, CEO Ryan DuChanois, and CTO Yang Xia. It closed a $2.5 million seed round in 2025.

Houston businessman and philanthropist to receive legendary Texas award

Making History

The Texas State History Museum Foundation (TSHMF) has set the date for its 23rd annual Texas Independence Day Dinner and unveiled the 2027 recipients of its prestigious History-Making Texan Award, which includes a prominent Houston businessman.

Since 2005, the organization has honored "living Texas legends whose contributions to the state and the nation have been truly historic and exceptional in scope and nature." Past galas have recognized prominent Texas figures such as former presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush and former first ladies Barbara and Laura Bush, as well as H-E-B chairman Charles Butt, among others.

The two 2027 History-Making Texan Award recipients are Texas Historical Commission chairman, businessman, and philanthropist John L. Nau, III, and trailblazing Texas actor, director, producer, and writer Taylor Sheridan. The 2027 gala will be held at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin on March 2, Texas Independence Day.

"Our honorees are national leaders whose accomplishments have elevated Texas’ distinctive place on the national and international stage," Debbie Raynor, dinner chair and TSHMF Trustee, said in a statement. "John L. Nau, III and Taylor Sheridan have each, in very different ways, helped tell the Texas story — one through the preservation of our history and treasured places, the other through the power of storytelling that has brought Texas and the American West to audiences around the world.

"Nau is the former chairman and CEO of Silver Eagle Beverages, one of the largest Anheuser-Busch distributors in the U.S. He has served as chairman of the Texas Historical Commission since 2015. Raynor said Nau's "commitment to preservation" extends further than his protection of Texas historic sites "to the stewardship and conservation of the land itself, including his bay area lodge in South Texas and his ranch in West Texas.

"[Nau's] leadership and lifelong dedication to history have earned him national recognition, but perhaps his greatest legacy is his determination to ensure that the stories and places that shaped Texas endure for generations to come," Raynor said.Quadruple-threat filmmaker Sheridan is most widely recognized for his award-winning neo-Western TV series Yellowstone and its associated spin-offs 1883, 1923, Marshals, and Dutton Ranch. Raynor hailed Sheridan for his success in bringing a "remarkable new dimension to the way the world sees Texas and the American West."

"As a creator, writer, director, and executive producer of some of television’s most successful series, he has captured the imagination of audiences across the globe while bringing the people, landscapes, traditions and enduring spirit of the West into millions of homes," she said. "And he does more than tell the Texas story — he lives it, as a native Texan, accomplished horseman and steward of two legendary Texas ranches."

A release estimates about 450 "business, political, and community leaders" attend the Texas Independence Day Dinner each year, and proceeds will benefit the Bullock Museum's educational programs and special projects.

The 2027 Texas Independence Day Dinner will take place March 2, 2027, at the Bullock Museum in Austin. A VIP reception will start at 6:30 pm, followed by a 7 pm reception, and 7:30 dinner and program.

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This article first appeared on CultureMap.com.

Houston bio-based materials startup breaks into footwear

cleaner shoes

A more sustainable shoe can’t be built on a single material swap. From the hard plastics hidden inside a heel to the material covering a sneaker’s upper, footwear is a collection of components—and each presents a different challenge for companies trying to move away from conventional, petroleum-based materials.

Houston-based Rheom Materials wants to change that equation. The biomaterials company has launched a sustainable footwear platform featuring two of its bio-based alternatives: Benree, a biodegradable plastic designed for hard internal components, and ShoraiDura, a durable leather alternative for footwear uppers.

“A shoe is not one material; it is multiple parts working together as a system. Substituting a single material has never moved the needle,” Rheom founder and CEO Zimri Hinshaw said in a news release. “Rheom wants to make it easier for brands to make a positive impact. By providing an assortment of bio-based materials, brands can change the system, not just a swatch of it.”

Benree is Rheom’s alternative to conventional hard plastics used in footwear construction. The company says it is a 100 percent USDA-certified bio-based, biodegradable material with performance comparable to acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), a widely used engineering plastic.

The material has passed SATRA testing for high-heel applications with Bared Footwear, an Australian footwear brand.

“At Bared, we're constantly on a journey to remove plastic from our shoes. At the same time, our brand won't compromise on quality for the end customer,” Millie Richards, Bared’s head of sustainability, added in the release. “From samples and testing, Rheom has proven to be solving both of those problems for us. We look forward to seeing how they develop as a company and would love to use them in our shoes.”

Rheom says it is also exploring Benree for additional internal components, including toe puffs and heel counters.

Rheom's Benree material was used for a high-heel prototype. Photo courtesy Rheom Materials

The company’s ShoraiDura material addresses another major part of shoe construction: the upper, which must withstand repeated flexing, friction and wear while maintaining its appearance.

Containing about 80 percent bio-based content, ShoraiDura is engineered as a durable leather alternative for footwear. Rheom says the material’s molecular structure is designed to deliver the strength and durability required for demanding applications.

To demonstrate how the material could be used in finished products, Rheom worked with a Los Angeles-based footwear manufacturer to create two prototypes: an athletic sneaker and a textured skater shoe, both featuring ShoraiDura uppers.

The two offerings reflect the company’s broader strategy. Rather than asking brands to evaluate a single material in isolation, Rheom is positioning its platform as a way to explore alternatives across different parts of footwear construction.

The next step is broader industry adoption. Benree’s testing with Bared Footwear and ShoraiDura’s footwear prototypes offer early examples of how the materials could be applied, while commercial use will depend on manufacturers’ evaluations and product-development decisions.

Rheom Materials is a Houston-based biomaterials company developing bio-based alternatives to petrochemical plastics. Its product portfolio includes Shorai, a leather alternative, and Benree, a hard plastic alternative.

The company debuted Shorai at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 2025 and showed a bio-based "leather" collection in Milan earlier this year. Read more here.

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