With boost from Houston, Texas is the No. 1 state for economic development

governor's cup

Texas is being hailed as “a dynasty in economic development." Photo via Getty Images.

Texas is on a 14-year winning streak as the top state for attracting job-creating business location and expansion projects.

Once again, Texas has claimed Site Selection magazine’s Governor’s Cup. This year’s honor recognizes the state with the highest number of economic development projects in 2025. Texas landed more than 1,400 projects last year.

Ron Starner, executive vice president of Site Selection, calls Texas “a dynasty in economic development.”

Among metro areas, Houston lands at No. 2 for the most economic development projects secured last year (590), behind No. 1 Chicago and ahead of No. 3 Dallas-Fort Worth.

In praising Houston as a project magnet, Gov. Greg Abbott cites the November announcement by pharmaceutical giant Lilly that it’s building a $6.5 billion manufacturing plant at Houston’s Generation Park.

“Growth in the Greater Houston region is a great benefit to our state’s economy, a major location for foreign direct investment and key industry sectors like energy, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and life sciences,” Abbott tells Site Selection. “Houston is also home to one of the largest concentrations of U.S. headquarters for companies from around the world.”

In 2025, Fortune ranked Houston as the U.S. city with the third-highest number of Fortune 500 headquarters (26).

Texas retained the Governor’s Cup by gaining over 1,400 business location and expansion projects last year, representing more than $75 billion in capital investments and producing more than 42,000 new jobs.

Site Selection says Texas’ project count for 2025 handily beat second-place Illinois (680 projects) and third-place Ohio (467 projects). Texas’ number for 2025 represented 18% of all qualifying U.S. projects tracked by Site Selection.

“You can see that we are on a trajectory to ensure our economic diversification is going to inoculate us in good times, as well as bad times, to ensure our economy is still going to grow, still create new jobs, prosperity, and opportunities for Texans going forward,” Abbott says.

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Plug and Play is opening a Sugar Land hub to accelerate startups and innovation across smart cities, energy, health, and mobility sectors. Photo courtesy of Plug and Play

West Coast innovation organization unveils new location in Houston suburb to boost Texas tech ecosystem

plugging in

Leading innovation platform Plug and Play announced the opening of its new flagship Houston-area location in Sugar Land, which is its fourth location in Texas.

Plug and Play has accelerated over 2,700 startups globally last year with corporate partners that include Dell Technologies, Daikin, Microsoft, LG Chem, Shell, and Mercedes. The company’s portfolio includes PayPal, Dropbox, LendingClub, and Course Hero, with 8 percent of the portfolio valued at over $100 million.

The deal, which facilitated by the Sugar Land Office of Economic Development and Tourism, will bring a new office for the organization to Sugar Land Town Square with leasing and hiring between December and January. The official launch is slated for the first quarter of 2025, and will feature 15 startups announced on Selection Day.

"By expanding to Sugar Land, we’re creating a space where startups can access resources, build partnerships, and scale rapidly,” VP Growth Strategy at Plug and Play Sherif Saadawi says in a news release. “This location will help fuel Texas' innovation ecosystem, providing entrepreneurs with the tools and networks they need to drive real-world impact and contribute to the state’s technological and economic growth."

Plug and Play plans to hire four full-time equivalent employees and accelerate two startup batches per year. The focus will be on “smart cities,” which include energy, health, transportation, and mobility sectors. One Sugar Land City representative will serve as a board member.

“We are excited to welcome Plug and Play to Sugar Land,” Mayor of Sugar Land Joe Zimmerma adds. “This investment will help us connect with corporate contacts and experts in startups and businesses that would take us many years to reach on our own. It allows us to create a presence, attract investments and jobs to the city, and hopefully become a base of operations for some of these high-growth companies.”

The organization originally entered the Houston market in 2019 and now has locations in Bryan/College Station, Frisco, and Cedar Park in Texas.

Haleh Ardebili (left) has been appointed as assistant vice president of Entrepreneurship and Startup Ecosystem, and Michael Harold as assistant vice president for Intellectual Property and Industrial Engagements at the University of Houston. Photo via UH

University of Houston names new leaders within innovation, tech

appointments made

Two professors have assumed new leadership roles in the University of Houston’s Office of Technology, Transfer, and Innovation.

Haleh Ardebili, the Kamel Salama Endowed Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has been named assistant vice president of entrepreneurship and startup ecosystem. Michael Harold, Cullen Engineering Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, has been named assistant vice president for intellectual property and industrial engagements.

Ardebili and Harold “are both tested leaders in their respective areas —they are already contributing to our rich academic environment with their knowledge, expertise and commitment to innovation,” says Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president for energy and innovation at UH, in a statement. “Having them helm our growing team will help UH continue its culture of innovation and contribution to society.”

In her new role, Ardebili will oversee entrepreneurship and startup efforts at UH. She will direct the startup and entrepreneurship staff within the Office of Technology, Transfer, and Innovation (OTTI).

Ardebili, who joined the university in 2004, previously was director of the Cullen College of Engineering’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative.

In his new role, Harold will lead the university’s technology transfer activities. He will direct the OTTI licensing and IP management staff.

Harold worked at DuPont in various technical and managerial positions between 1993 and 2000. He joined UH in 2000 as chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering. He served as chair until 2008 and again from 2013 to 2020.

“Both positions will play integral roles in increasing faculty engagement, facilitating innovations from research labs to market, and enhancing collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. These appointments underscore UH’s commitment to driving innovation, economic development, and industry partnerships,” the university says in the release.

Greentown Houston has received funding from the EDA. Photo via GreentownLabs.com

Houston energy tech startup incubator secures federal support to accelerate tech entrepreneurship

seeing green

Sixty organizations across the country have received a grant from the United States Department of Commerce — and one recipient is based in Houston.

Greentown Labs, dual located in Houston and Somerville, Massachusetts, has received a grant from the 10th cohort of the Economic Development Administration's “Build to Scale” program for its Houston location. The $53 million of funding was awarded to 60 organizations across 36 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. All of the programs support technology entrepreneurs across industries.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is Investing in America to help create entrepreneurial ecosystems across the country and put quality, 21st century job opportunities in people’s backyards,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo says in the press release. “The ‘Build to Scale’ program will unlock innovation potential in regions all over the nation, improving our economic competitiveness now, and for decades to come.”

According to the EDA, Greentown, located in a growing innovation district, will receive $400,000 with a $400,000 local match confirmed. The project, named Houston Ion District Investor Activation, is described as a way to create economic opportunity through equitable capital access.

"This project capitalizes on the need for jobs and economic development, especially in communities most vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters," reads the project abstract. "EDA funding will enable the expansion of Greentown’s Investor Program into EDIJ, in partnership with the Ion, to further climate equity and resilience in Houston and empower underrepresented entrepreneurs as the city transitions from fossil fuels to a clean energy economy."

Greentown receives of of the 2023 Capital Challenge Grant Recipients. The other competition, the Venture Challenge, also awarded funding to another Houston organization. The Urban Partnerships Community Development Corporation received $741,925 to support the BioWell Start Accelerator Program, which is committed to scaling of bio-industrial startups.

“EDA is proud to partner with this year’s ‘Build to Scale’ grantees as they fuel regional innovation hubs and technology-based economic development strategies throughout the U.S.,” Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Alejandra Y. Castillo says in the release. “Investing in scalable startups and expanding access entrepreneurial capital will yield good-paying jobs, economic resiliency, and equitable growth in communities throughout America.”

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This article originally ran on EnergyCapital.

Every stakeholder should be at the table: industry, city officials, businesses, and most importantly, the local community, to support the expansion of the local 5G network. Photo via Getty Images

Op-Ed: It's time for the greater Houston area to embrace connectivity

guest column

We live in a digital first world where the need for fast, reliable connectivity is not just something people want--it’s a necessity.

Connectivity plays a key role in every facet of life from economic development to public safety. Tomorrow’s innovations will rely on today’s infrastructure. That means cities and states must keep their eyes and efforts firmly fixed on the most up-to-date technology and prepare for modern wireless services, including 5G technology, the fifth-generation wireless system, in order to stay ahead of the curve.

Many of us have seen television commercials and internet ads touting the benefits 5G will bring, particularly as it relates to speed and reliability. But 5G is much more than speed. It will pave the way for innovation across a broad range of industries, injecting trillions into the global economy and ultimately changing the way we work, get around the city and live our lives. 5G connectivity will be able to process mass amounts of data with little to no latency, a requirement for the technology of tomorrow.

The economic impact will also be significant. A report from Accenture found that 5G will greatly benefit the Texas economy in the next five years, bringing Texas an estimated $235.8 billion in additional sales, $130.5B in new GDP and 1.35M in potential jobs.

Cities that embrace this coming technological boom will find themselves better prepared to tackle challenges and address the needs of their residents. Take public safety for example: 80 percent of 911 calls originate from mobile devices, which rely on a network of infrastructure – towers, small cells and fiber. 5G will enable seamless data transfer between first responders and dispatchers, including the exact location of a call as well as medical history to EMS. It will create a seamless network to properly communicate to other emergency services like fire and police departments. An estimated 10,000 lives could be saved each year if emergency response times were reduced by one minute.

Relevant to Pasadena are the transformations 5G will bring to healthcare and manufacturing. 5G is revolutionizing advanced training for medical professionals and allows more remote post-acute care and home-based models as well as enhanced communication between medical professionals. This will ultimately drive better patient outcomes and cost savings greater than 30 percent. 5G will also increase capacity and security for Pasadena’s wide variety of manufacturers, from chemicals to electronics to food and textiles, as well as create safer, smarter and more efficient processes that will drive continued innovation.

The full potential of 5G requires communications infrastructure–towers, small cells and fiber—and modernized regulations from local and state governments. Without the right infrastructure and policies in place, communities in Texas - like Pasadena - won’t have access to the innovative technology and benefits that 5G will embolden.

Research has found that 78 percent of Texans support their city leadership taking faster action to implement 5G technology. Yet Pasadena city officials have spent countless hours and financial resources since September 2020 fighting a lawsuit to prevent 5G installations in this community. Those dollars could have been spent on real community needs like infrastructure, utilities and public works. Pasadena is now behind its peers across the greater Houston area, where we have witnessed thousands of successful deployments of this necessary communications infrastructure. This puts Pasadena at a disadvantage as a great place to do business and improve the lives of residents.

It’s time for Pasadena to embrace the smart city infrastructure of the future. Other Texas cities like in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, or even neighboring La Porte, have initiated smart policies that have encouraged connectivity in their communities as well as investments from industry. Unfortunately, Pasadena’s connectivity and infrastructure are being impeded by local politics. Every stakeholder should be at the table: industry, city officials, businesses, and most importantly, the local community, to support the expansion of the local 5G network.

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Scott Dunaway is a spokesperson for the Texas 5G Alliance.

Things seem to be ever-so-slowly improving. Courtesy of Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau

Houston's post-pandemic economy slowly creeping back, new study says

bouncing back

While COVID-19 cases are alarmingly surging in Texas, here in Houston, businesses are slowly returning to a new normal (for now). So, just how well is the Bayou City recovering economically from the pandemic, compared to other big-city counterparts around the United States and in Texas?

So-so, according to a revealing new report.

A new list, published July 29 by financial advice website SmartAsset, ranks the U.S. cities with the strongest economic recoveries from the pandemic.

SmartAsset looked at five data points for 49 of the largest U.S. cities to determine the economic winners:

  • Percentage change in consumer spending
  • Percentage change in small businesses that are open
  • Percentage change in small business revenue
  • Percentage change in job postings
  • March 2021 unemployment rate

Houston performed slightly better than the studywide average in three of the metrics, (although some of the numbers still look pretty bleak). The Houston stats are:

1. Change in consumer spending (January 2020-April 2021)

  • Houston: 11.7 percent
  • Studywide average: 7.3 percent

2. Change in small businesses open (January 2020-April 2021)

  • Houston: -34.5 percent
  • Studywide average: -32.51 percent

3. Change in small business revenue (January 2020-April 2021)

  • Houston: -36.6 percent
  • Studywide average: -30.9 percent

4. March 2021 unemployment rate

  • Houston: 10.6 percent
  • Studywide average: 6.6 percent

Elsewhere in Texas, The SmartAsset ranking puts Dallas at No. 19, and Fort Worth, at No. 11. Among the most populous cities in the SmartAsset study, Dallas ranks highest. Austin lands at No. 23 for pandemic economic recovery, with San Antonio at No. 38.

Only one other Texas city, El Paso, appears in the top 20 (No. 8). Salt Lake City, Utah tops the list.

University of Houston's Bauer College of Business recently analyzed Houston's pandemic recovery. In its report, the Bauer study notes a bigger bounce-back in the U.S. than Houston — and that oil and gas downturns selectively hurt Houston more than the rest of Texas.

In some good news, the Bauer study reports the biggest sectors that have the biggest recoveries: healthcare, retail, and food service.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

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Houston researcher builds radar to make self-driving cars safer

eyes on the road

A Rice University researcher is giving autonomous vehicles an “extra set of eyes.”

Current autonomous vehicles (AVs) can have an incomplete view of their surroundings, and challenges like pedestrian movement, low-light conditions and adverse weather only compound these visibility limitations.

Kun Woo Cho, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Rice professor of electrical and computer engineering Ashutosh Sabharwal, has developed EyeDAR to help address such issues and enhance the vehicles’ sensing accuracy. Her research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation.

The EyeDAR is an orange-sized, low-power, millimeter-wave radar that could be placed at streetlights and intersections. Its design was inspired by that of the human eye. Researchers envision that the low-cost sensors could help ensure that AVs always pick up on emergent obstacles, even when the vehicles are not within proper range for their onboard sensors and when visibility is limited.

“Current automotive sensor systems like cameras and lidar struggle with poor visibility such as you would encounter due to rain or fog or in low-lighting conditions,” Cho said in a news release. “Radar, on the other hand, operates reliably in all weather and lighting conditions and can even see through obstacles.”

Signals from a typical radar system scatter when they encounter an obstacle. Some of the signal is reflected back to the source, but most of it is often lost. In the case of AVs, this means that "pedestrians emerging from behind large vehicles, cars creeping forward at intersections or cyclists approaching at odd angles can easily go unnoticed," according to Rice.

EyeDAR, however, works to capture lost radar reflections, determine their direction and report them back to the AV in a sequence of 0s and 1s.

“Like blinking Morse code,” Cho added. “EyeDAR is a talking sensor⎯it is a first instance of integrating radar sensing and communication functionality in a single design.”

After testing, EyeDAR was able to resolve target directions 200 times faster than conventional radar designs.

While EyeDAR currently targets risks associated with AVs, particularly in high-traffic urban areas, researchers also believe the technology behind it could complement artificial intelligence efforts and be integrated into robots, drones and wearable platforms.

“EyeDAR is an example of what I like to call ‘analog computing,’” Cho added in the release. “Over the past two decades, people have been focusing on the digital and software side of computation, and the analog, hardware side has been lagging behind. I want to explore this overlooked analog design space.”

Houstonians make Forbes billionaires list and more top innovation news

Trending Topics

Editor's note: The top innovation news of the month finds leading Houstonians in the Forbes and Inc. spotlight. Plus, we see where Texas ranks among the most innovative states right now. Below are the five most-read InnovationMap stories published March 16-30, 2026:

1. Kinder leads 19 Houstonians on Forbes' World's Billionaires List 2026

Kinder leads 19 Houstonians on Forbes' World's Billionaires List 2026Pictured: Nancy and Richard Kinder, the richest Houstonian, according to the Forbes 400. Photo by Michelle Watson/Catchlight Group

According to Forbes, there has “never been a better time to be a billionaire” than in 2026, and the publication's newest World’s Billionaires List has revealed the 19 Houston billionaires that have risen among the wealthiest worldwide. Kinder Morgan chairman Richard Kinder surpassed hospitality honcho Tilman Fertitta as the richest billionaire in Houston, ranking No. 232 on the global list with an estimated net worth of $13 billion. His net worth has grown by $2.4 billion since last year. Continue reading.

2. 6 Houston entrepreneurs land on coveted Inc. Female Founders 500 list

Houston founders Laureen Meroueh, LaToshia Norwood, Sassie Duggleby, Nina Magon, Stephanie Murphy and Lauren Rottet were named to Inc. Magazine's 2026 Female Founders 500. Photos via LinkedIn and company websites

Six Houston female entrepreneurs and innovators were named to the 2026 Female Founders 500 list. The annual list compiled by Inc. Magazine recognizes female founders based in the U.S. who have built businesses that have moved their industries forward. The group collectively generated approximately $12.3 billion in 2025 revenue and $12.2 billion in funding to date, according to Inc. Five Houstonians were named to the list last year. Continue reading.

3. Texas ranks as the No. 13 most innovative state in 2026 study

WalletHub assigns Texas a No. 13 ranking for innovation among the states. Photo via Getty Images

During a SXSW reception March 12 at the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, Gov. Greg Abbott hailed Texas as the No. 1 state for innovation. Personal finance website WalletHub doesn’t see it that way, though. A new study from WalletHub assigns Texas a No. 13 ranking for innovation among the states and the District of Columbia. D.C. comes out on top, followed by Massachusetts, California, Colorado and Washington. Mississippi appears at the bottom of the list. Continue reading.

4. Rice to lead Space Force tech institute under $8.1M agreement

Rice University will lead a new U.S. Space Force-backed consortium to fast-track breakthrough remote sensing technologies. Photo via Getty Images

Rice University has signed an $8.1 million cooperative agreement to lead the U.S. Space Force University Consortium/Space Strategic Technology Institute 4 (SSTI). The new entity will be known as the Center for Advanced Space Sensing Technologies (CASST) at Rice and will focus on developing innovative remote sensing technologies. Continue reading.

5. Houston startup is off to the races with its innovative running shoes

Veloci Running was founded by a Rice University cross country runner. Photo via velocirunning.com

Despite Houston’s reputation as a sneaker town, there are few actual shoe companies headquartered in the Bayou City. One that is up and running is Veloci Running, an innovative enterprise that combines the founder’s history as a track runner for Rice University with the realities of running in a changing world. Continue reading.

12 winners named at CERAWeek clean tech pitch competition in Houston

top teams

Twelve teams from around the country, including several from Houston, took home top honors at this year's Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition at CERAWeek.

The fast-paced event, held March 25, put on by Rice Alliance, Houston Energy Transition Initiative and TEX-E, invited 36 industry startups and five Texas-based student teams focused on driving efficiency and advancements in the energy transition to present 3.5-minute pitches before investors and industry partners during CERAWeek's Agora program.

The competition is a qualifying event for the Startup World Cup, where teams compete for a $1 million investment prize.

PolyJoule won in the Track C competition and was named the overall winner of the pitch event. The Boston-based company will go on to compete in the Startup World Cup held this fall in San Francisco.

PolyJoule was spun out of MIT and is developing conductive polymer battery technology for energy storage.

Rice University's Resonant Thermal Systems won the second-place prize and $15,000 in the student track, known as TEX-E. The team's STREED solution converts high-salinity water into fresh water while recovering valuable minerals.

Teams from the University of Texas won first and second place in the TEX-E competition, bringing home $25,000 and $10,000, respectively. The student winners were:

Companies that pitched in the three industry tracts competed for non-monetary awards. Here are the companies named "most-promising" by the judges:

Track A | Industrial Efficiency & Decarbonization

Track B | Advanced Manufacturing, Materials, & Other Advanced Technologies

  • First: Licube, based in Houston
  • Second: ZettaJoule, based in Houston and Maryland
  • Third: Oleo

Track C | Innovations for Traditional Energy, Electricity, & the Grid

The teams at this year's Energy Venture Day have collectively raised $707 million in funding, according to Rice. They represent six countries and 12 states. See the full list of companies and investor groups that participated here.

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This article originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

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