TMC names former JLABS leader as the director of the Innovation Institute

taking control

Tom Luby will run the Texas Medical Center's Innovation Institute. Courtesy of TMC

The Texas Medical Center didn't have to go very far to find its new Innovation Institute director. Tom Luby, who most recently served as the site head for Johnson & Johnson Innovation's JLABS @ TMC, has been hired for the position.

"I am very excited to begin the next chapter in my journey at TMC Innovation," Luby says in a release. "My time at JLABS @ TMC has shown me the tremendous opportunity there is to work with a host of talented people and companies here in Houston. Now, I'm ready to expand my role and help take TMC Innovation as a collective unit to the next level."

Luby replaces Erik Halvorsen, who left abruptly in December. According to LinkedIn, Halvorsen is now the chief business and strategy officer for Houston-based FAR Biotech, for which he previously served on the board of directors. Lance Black, associate director at TMCx, served as the director in the interim for the past few months.

Prior to JLABS, Luby was in Boston at Johnson & Johnson and served as the new ventures lead. He has 14 years of research and design experience in the Boston area.

TMC as an organization has a lot up its sleeves, says President and CEO Bill McKeon in a release, and he trusts Luby to take the lead on innovation.

"With major developments in 2018, including the announcement of the forthcoming TMC3 translational research campus, Texas Medical Center is now on the fast track to becoming the third coast for life sciences, and TMC Innovation is a critical component in the ultimate realization of this goal," says McKeon. "Tom Luby is an outstanding individual, and his proven track record working with startups in Boston and within the walls of JLABS @ TMC will serve him well as he leads us through the next evolutionary phase of the TMC Innovation Institute."

Luby will oversee the med center's accelerator program, TMCx, which is currently in the midst of its eighth cohort.

Houston has just been named an emerging life sciences hub by CBRE. The recognition took job growth and lab space into consideration for the ranking.

Among this week's top stories is a feature on a Houston-based startup aiming to be the Uber or Lyft of personal trainers. Courtesy of Kanthaka

5 most popular innovation stories in Houston this week

Now trending

Editor's note: Houston saw big shake ups at some major innovation institutions this week, which made for some trending stories. And, per usual, readers enjoyed learning about local entrepreneurs fighting the good fight with their organizations.

Station Houston announces its transition into becoming a nonprofit

Station Houston's stakeholders voted in favor of the organization transitioning to a nonprofit. Station Houston/Facebook

Houston's startup scene just got a little more accessible. Station Houston's stakeholders voted to transition the organization to nonprofit status from the C-corp status it currently holds. The status change is effective January 1, 2019, for the acceleration hub, which is based in downtown Houston. The news was announced to its members in an email sent on December 13. Read the full story here.

Houston entrepreneur creates a network to link up with other blockchain professionals

The Houston Blockchain Alliance aims to connect and educate tech professionals in town. Getty Images

Houstonians traveling around the country might covet other cities for their mountain scapes, beaches, or more mild summers, but Mahesh Sashital envied the fact that other major cities had developed networks and organizations focused on connecting and educating tech professionals. Houston, it seems, was late to the party.

So, he decided to make his own blockchain-focused organization, and a few months ago, he launched the Houston Blockchain Alliance. Read the full story here.

3 Houston energy innovators to know this week

These energy startup leaders are the reason Houston will keep its "energy capital of the world" title. Courtesy images

Houston's known as the energy capital of the world, but it won't stay that way if the city as a whole doesn't work toward innovation. These three professionals started their own companies to improve efficiency and promote ingenuity in their fields. From drones and AI to quicker pipeline data access, this week's three innovators to know are the future of the energy industry. Read the full story here.

TMC Innovation Institute leader leaves the organization

Erik Halvorsen has reportedly left his position at the TMC Innovation Institute. Courtesy of TMC

Erik Halvorsen, director of the Texas Medical Center's Innovation Institute, has left his position, according to multiple reports.

TMC's medical device innovation team lead, Lance Black, was named as the interim replacement for Halvorsen, according to Xconomy. Black has been with TMC for almost two years. Read the full story here.

Get on-demand personal training from Houston-based app

Houston-based Kanthaka is the Uber or Lyft of personal training, and has recently expanded into the Austin market. Courtesy of Kanthaka

As a busy lawyer who traveled heavily for work, Sylvia Kampshoff found her workouts were often overlooked as she went from city to city, a casualty of long hours and a busy schedule. And, even though she did have a membership to a national gym with privileges at any of its locations, she hated the feeling of always being sold something and disliked that both the trainers and managers she worked with took very little interest in her personal needs and fitness goals.

She wanted something that allowed her to exercise with someone on her own schedule, and with people who valued customer service. That's how the idea for Kanthaka was born. Read the full story here.
Erik Halvorsen has reportedly left his position at the TMC Innovation Institute. Courtesy TMC

TMC Innovation Institute leader leaves the organization

TMC exited

Erik Halvorsen, director of the Texas Medical Center's Innovation Institute, has left his position, according to multiple reports.

TMC's medical device innovation team lead, Lance Black, was named as the interim replacement for Halvorsen, according to Xconomy. Black has been with TMC for almost two years.

Neither Halvorsen nor Black could not be reached for comment. This article will be updated as more information becomes available.

Halvorsen has lead the organization since 2015. Before that, he worked in various health technology focused roles in Boston. He oversaw TMC's accelerator program, TMCx. The program graduates around 20 companies per cohort, and there's two cohorts each year — one focused on medical devices, which just concluded with the Nov. 15 Demo Day, and the other, which is about to launch, focused on digital health. TMCx was recently given silver recognition from the Seed Accelerator Rankings Project.

In an interview with InnovationMap earlier this month, Halvorsen talked about his career and Houston's medical innovation ecosystem.

"One of the things that I knew moving to Houston from Boston was that the investment environment for life sciences wasn't as robust as Boston," he said in that interview. "I knew coming in that was going to be a bit of an issue. I also felt like we had the raw materials, that if we ran our program the right way and attracted those companies we needed, the dollars would flow. And that's really been the case."
These three entrepreneurs didn't see their careers coming. Courtesy photos

3 Houston innovators to know this week

Who's Who

The career paths of startup or innovation leaders isn't usually a direct path. All three of this week's innovators to know took a roundabout way to their current gigs, which included a leap of faith or two for each of them. If their winding careers are any indication, they've got more exciting leadership ahead.

Youngro Lee, CEO and co-founder of NextSeed

Courtesy of NextSeed

Starting off on Wall Street as a private equity lawyer, Youngro Lee knows money. And he knew when the Jobs Act went into effect several years ago, there was a huge opportunity for companies to raise money from non-accredited individual investors, rather than just the super wealthy private investors. He left his legal career to leverage this new law to start NextSeed, which is a platform for businesses to raise capital for from anybody. Read more here.

Jane Henry, founder and CEO of SeeHerWork

Courtesy of SeeHerWork

Jane Henry watched as her glove flew right off her hand when she was cleaning up after Hurricane Harvey — her house got three feet of mud, and she got the idea for her company. SeeHerWork goes above and beyond the normal "pink it and shrink it" approach to women's workwear. Henry wants to see female workers with better fitting safety gear. Read more here.

Erik Halvorsen, director of the TMC Innovation Institute

Courtesy of TMC

As a kid, Erik Halvorsen wanted to be a doctor — he even took the MCAT and was on track for med school. He decided to look into other avenues that combined his passion for medicine and his entrepreneurial spirit. As director of TMCx, he helps innovative medical technologies become standard practice in hospitals. Read more here.

Editor's note: Halvorsen reportedly left his position at TMC on December 13, 2018.
Erik Halvorsen is sparking a medical innovation revolution with TMCx. Courtesy of TMC

TMCx leader is ready for Houston's health care innovation ecosystem to fully bloom

MedTalk

Editor's note: Halvorsen reportedly left his position at TMC on December 13, 2018. The original article as it first published is below.

Erik Halvorsen describes himself as an impatient guy, which is why, rather than wait for Houston's medical startup culture to evolve to meet Boston's or Silicon Valley's, he's taking steps to change it now.

"The reality is Houston is not Boston or Silicon Valley, and it comes down to a couple things: access to capital and the pool of entrepreneurs running around," says Halvorsen, director of the TMC Innovation Institute.

But the Texas Medical Center is looking to change that in the health care sector with TMCx, its accelerator.

TMCx was recently given silver recognition from the Seed Accelerator Rankings Project. While it's an impressive feat, Halvorsen envisions TMCx rise through the ranks of that award over the next few years.

"For us, we're kind of competing with ourselves to be as good as we possibly can be."

TMCx graduates around 20 companies per cohort, and there's two cohorts each year — one focused on medical devices, which just concluded with the Nov. 15 Demo Day, and the other, which is about to launch, focused on digital health.

InnovationMap: How did you get your start in your industry?

Erik Halvorsen: From as young as I can remember, I wanted to be a medical doctor. Fast forward, all through undergraduate, I was pre-med. Took the MCAT, scored in the 99 percentile, but when it came time to apply to medical school, I chose not to. I ended up applying to a "tweener program" at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, and they had these master's programs where you would take all the first year's classes of medical school and do research in a particular discipline. I was doing research in biochemistry. I go through that whole program, and then I still wasn't sure I wanted to be a doctor or go to medical school, but I liked research. I got offered a full scholarship to do a Ph.D. program at the University of Virginia, but I didn't love being in the lab. I found an ad somewhere about an internship at the UVA Patent Foundation. It was basically taking early stage innovation, discoveries, and IP out of universities and medical centers and turning them into products, and what that's look like — whether it was startup companies or corporate partners, and that's when the lightbulb went off for me. I was really good at speaking the science to the business side, and then speaking the business and finance side to the scientists and doctors. The rest of my career became some version of playing in that in between space in helping translate ideas to ultimately get to the big companies and ultimately in the market to help patients.

IM: In your role at TMCx, you oversee the accelerator and what companies make it in. What does TMCx look for in its cohort?

EH: What we're looking for is what we think is cutting edge, and truly innovative addressing an unmet need. We consult with a lot of the hospitals here. I ask them what's keeping them up at night. That list helps me select the companies. If I see companies that are making cool products that meet one of these unmet needs in TMC, then I know that company will get traction if they were in town, and that's important.

IM: What's the process of picking the companies?

EH: We'll get 200 to 300 applications and interview about 75 companies for the 20 to 25 spots. When we interview, we get at what is their understanding of the current practice, competitive landscape, etc. It's also a good chance for us to glean a little bit of the personality of the teams we're bringing in. We learned a long time ago that we don't want to work with assholes. We go a long way to find the people who are in it for the right reasons. You have to be really smart and confident — you've got to be pretty self confident if you're think you're bringing a solution to a problem that no one has success doing before. But it has to be self confidence without arrogance.

IM: What's the economic impact of the accelerator?

EH: I think we're clearly a major piece of the Houston ecosystem. JLabs has 50 companies under their roof, and when you add TMCx and the coworking space, we have about 100 health care companies under our roof. When you think about the companies that came through our program, that's a total of 250 companies. Those companies are important to the ecosystem because they are out there telling the world about Texas, the medical center, and Houston. Their word of mouth is the reason we see the volume and the quality of the applications going up each year. A lot of our companies choose to stay in Houston.

IM: What sets TMCx apart from its competition?

EH: We don't take equity. That sets us apart. I think this is a major reason we've been able to attract companies that are more advanced — still startups, just far down the path. Those of the kinds of companies who would never consider an accelerator program that asks them to give up equity.

IM: Where does Houston's innovation sector have room for improvement?

EH: One of the things that I knew moving to Houston from Boston was that the investment environment for life sciences wasn't as robust as Boston. I knew coming in that was going to be a bit of an issue. I also felt like we had the raw materials, that if we ran our program the right way and attracted those companies we needed, the dollars would flow. And that's really been the case.

Another area we have to grow is international collaborations. We already have a high percentage of international applicants, but now we're trying to build these biobridges to other ecosystems where we can collaborate on two areas: research and innovation commercialization.

IM: What all are you excited about seeing from TMC3?

EH: I think it's really unique to Houston to bring all of these elements together in what I think is a well-designed manner. It will really transform the city. You're going to have big industry down there — a lot of those conversations are still ongoing. I mean, 116,000 medical employees and 10 million patients a year, these big health care companies want to be close to that.

This will be another way we can accelerate what we learn in the lab to treatment for patients. I'm really excited about it, and I think the startup companies we continue to bring to Houston and nurture in the TMC Innovation Institute will be a major part of bridging that gap between research and discovery to the big companies that will bring that product to market.

IM: What advice do you have for health-related startup companies?

EH: There are plenty of studies that have been done that have shown that the main reason companies fail is that there's no market for their product — and that's industry agnostic, but it's definitely true in health care. What we spend a lot of time in our program is helping the companies evaluate that and understand what their product market is — and really validating that people are going to use it and, more importantly, people are going to pay for it.

My advice would be not to just assume there's a need. Go figure out how to validate that it's a better technology and that people will use it and buy it.

------

Portions of this interview have been edited.
TMCx was nationally recognized by Seed Accelerator Rankings Project. Courtesy of TMCx

TMCx receives national award for unique startup accelerator program

x marks the spot

The Texas Medical Center has once again received national acclaim — this time, for its innovation.

Seed Accelerator Rankings Project selected TMCx for a "Silver" distinction in its 2018 awards. SARP evaluated accelerators' success and selected 25 honorees in four categories — Platinum Plus, Platinum, Gold, and Silver. The distinction is aimed to help startups navigate accelerators and find the ones of quality.

SARP objectively measures the impact of these accelerator programs, says Erik Halvorsen, director of the TMC Innovation Institute. There simply isn't non-biased information about accelerators out there. Most startups are forced to rely on marketing materials from the programs.

"One of the things I say often is, 'If you see one accelerator, you've seen one accelerator,' meaning they are all different," Halvorsen says. "There are so many out there, and it can be confusing for startups who think they are all the same."

Now in its fifth year, SARP collected sensitive information, such as fundraising and valuations, and evaluated each accelerator to select the top 25.

The TMCx accelerator program has two cohorts a year, alternating between digital health and medical device focuses. Currently, TMCx has 23 medical device companies participating in the accelerator. Halvorsen says what sets TMCx apart is its focus on medicine, but also the fact that the accelerator doesn't take equity of its companies. Other programs require anywhere from 3 to 7 percent equity in the company in exchange for participation.

"I think this is a major reason we've been able to attract companies that are more advanced — still startups, just further down the path. Those are the kinds of companies who would never consider an accelerator program that asks them to give up equity."

This is the first year TMCx has made it on to the SARP listing, but Halvorsen says it won't be the last.

"I love the fact that there's still a couple levels above where we're ranked, so we definitely have something to shoot for as we grow and improve our program," he says. "For us, we're kind of competing with ourselves to be as good as we possibly can be."

TMCx's fall cohort participants showcase their work in a final presentation called Demo Day, which is on November 14.

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ExxonMobil announces $100B carbon-capture hub for Houston area

greener thinking

In a move that would be a gamechanger for Houston, oil and gas giant ExxonMobil envisions creating a $100 billion carbon-capture hub along the Houston Ship Channel.

ExxonMobil foresees the Houston Ship Channel being the site of an "innovation zone" for carbon capture and storage. In a blog post on the ExxonMobil website, Joe Blommaert, the Houston-based president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, says Houston would be "the perfect place" for the project because:

  • The ship channel is home to dozens of refineries and petrochemical plants.
  • The geological formations in the Gulf of Mexico could "safely, securely, and permanently" store tons of carbon emissions under the sea floor, according to the blog post. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates the storage capacity along the U.S. Gulf Coast could handle 500 million metric tons of CO2.

Irving-based ExxonMobil, which employs more than 12,000 people in the Houston area, says the project could capture and store about 50 million metric tons of CO2 annually by 2030. By 2040, that number could rise to 100 million metric tons.

"We could create an economy of scale where we can reduce the cost of the carbon dioxide mitigation, create jobs, and reduce the emissions," Blommaert tells the Reuters news service.

In a news release, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner applauds the ExxonMobil plan.

"This proposal by ExxonMobil is the type of bold ambition and investment we will need to meet our climate goals and protect our communities from climate change," Turner says. "ExxonMobil's proposal represents a significant step forward for the energy industry, and I hope it brings more companies to the table to help Houston lead a global energy transition."

Turner notes that the Houston area is home to some of the largest emitters of carbon in the U.S., adding that everyone has "a responsibility and role to play in decarbonization."

Blommaert says the project would require public and private funding, along with "enhanced regulatory and legal frameworks that enable investment and innovation." According to Politico, ExxonMobil wants the federal government to kick in tax breaks or to set carbon-pricing policies to help get the project off the ground.

Politico reports that the Biden administration isn't considering ExxonMobil's idea as it prepares a climate-change package.

"Meanwhile, environmental groups and many Democrats have slammed carbon-capture proposals as a climate strategy, saying the only way to permanently reduce greenhouse gas pollution is a wholesale switch away from fossil fuels," Politico says.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency maintains that carbon capture and storage "are critical for putting energy systems around the world on a sustainable path." Achieving net-zero goals "will be virtually impossible" without carbon capture and storage, the group says.

ExxonMobil announced creation of its Low Carbon Solutions business unit in February as part of its push to invest $3 billion in lower-emission energy initiatives through 2025. Low Carbon Solutions initially will focus on technology for carbon capture and storage. The business unit is exploring opportunities along the Gulf Coast, as well as in Wyoming, Belgium, the Netherlands, Qatar, Scotland, and Singapore.

Last year, ExxonMobil hit the pause button on a $260 million carbon-capture project in Wyoming due to fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Bloomberg news service.

In a December report, the Global CCS Institute, a think tank, said 65 commercial carbon-capture projects were in various stages of development around the world.

"Climate ambition, including efforts to decarbonize industry, has not been curtailed despite the adversities faced in 2020," Brad Page, CEO of the institute, says in a news release about the report. "We're continuing to see an upward trajectory in the amount of CO2 capture and storage infrastructure that is being developed. One of the largest factors driving this growth is recognition that achieving net-zero emissions is urgent yet unattainable without CO2 reductions from energy-intensive sectors."

Newly appointed innovation leader calls for more health care collaboration in Houston

HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 80

Allison Post is a professional dot connector for the Texas Heart Institute. Located in the Texas Medical Center and founded in 1962, THI has long had a history of innovation — from Denton Cooley, THI's founder, performing the first artificial heart implementation in 1970.

Now, Post — who was appointed to a newly created position of manager of innovation partnerships — is focused on working with THI's latest generation of cardiac health innovators. She works internally to foster and support THI's brightest inventors as well as externally to make sure the institute is bringing in the best new technologies out there to its patients.

"The whole mission of the Texas Heart Institute is to help our patients. If that means that someone else has an incredible idea we want to jump onboard and bring it to people," Post says in this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast.

Post, who has a bioengineering background and has worked on both sides of the table as an entrepreneur and a startup mentor, is looking to support breakthrough cardiac innovations within stem cells, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and more. And unfortunately, the cardiac health space has an increasing need to develop new health care solutions.

"Because of the growing burden of heart disease, heart failure, coronary artery disease, the unfortunately long list of things that can go wrong with someone's heart means the pressing need for therapies is just growing," she says on the show. "We're trying to keep up and break into things that people haven't done a lot of work on, such as women's heart health."

Another factor in Post's role, which she's had since last fall, is to bring THI further into both the TMC's innovation efforts as well as the greater Houston innovation ecosystem — as well as beyond. To her, Houston has a huge opportunity to lead health care innovation.

"It makes no sense that we aren't the health care leaders yet in med tech development. It should not be Boston, San Francisco, or Minneapolis. It should be Houston," Post says. "We have everything we need to do it. We just need to bring it all together."

The key to getting there, she says, is further collaboration. If there's one thing the world has learned about health care innovation from COVID-19, it's that when experts are rallying behind and collaborating on solutions, the speed of development is much faster.

"The more minds we have the better the solutions I going to be," she says.

Post says that she hopes her work at THI can inspire other institutions to collaborate ‚ since everyone has the same goal of helping patients.

"I only see just phenomenal things for Houston, and what I really want is for the Texas Medical Center to become even more interconnected. We've got to be able to transfer ideas and thoughts and intentions seamlessly between these institutions and right now there are a lot of barriers," Post says. "And I really think Texas Heart is hopefully going to serve as an example of how to take down those barriers."

Post shares more about what she's focused on and where THI is headed on the episode. Listen to the full interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.

New Houston accelerator supporting BIPOC in aerospace announces inaugural cohort

out of this world

A new accelerator program that is focused on aerospace innovation and supporting entrepreneurs who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color has announced its first cohort.

The Ion's Aerospace Innovation Accelerator for Minority Business Enterprises, or AIA for MBEs, has named the four companies that well be a part of its inaugural cohort. The 12-week program will guide the entrepreneurs through the development of their innovations, the growth of their businesses, and the development of relationships with mentors, corporate partners, and stakeholder networks.

"Aerospace contains a myriad of dimensions and by demystifying the industry in the form of the AIA for MBEs, we are able to build a more inclusive innovation ecosystem," says Christine Galib, senior director of programs at The Ion, in a news release. "It's our goal to not only support participants to be successful, but to open the playing field for other minority business enterprises hoping to enter the space."

The program's existence was possible through a partnership with NASA's Johnson Space Center, DivInc, and The Ion — as well as a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency.

Here are the four companies to take part in the cohort, according to the release:

  • Axialnics Systems Inc., led by Vincent Mbuvi, is an aerospace technology platform developing a Disc-wing Rotor Aircraft Concept, which takes-off as a helicopter, carries as much payload as an airplane and flies just as fast beyond the range of typical helicopters. The innovation solves runway inefficiencies and enhances military efficiency.
  • Boozed Beverages LLC, led by Damyanna Cooke and Jim Luu, specializes in intelligent vending in the liquor industry. The company provides a contactless, AI-driven cocktail making and dispensing vending machine, for locations such as weddings and events, sporting venues, festivals, restaurants, and nightclubs and lounges.
  • NANCo Aero, led by Shern Peters, provides urban air vehicles and drones to commercial, small business, government, and nonprofit organizations. It is working to develop the first Hybrid Personal Air Vehicle capable of transporting a family over the city of Houston.
  • Stratos Perception LLC, led by Rube Williams, develops artificial intelligence solutions for space systems to benefit human productivity, safety, and enterprise. It is also developing an intelligent transducer, a tool that can monitor and control multiphase flow, for use in space such as lunar water extraction and waste processing.

The hub and its associated accelerator will be housed at The Ion when it opens up later this year — along with the organizations other accelerators — but the program is being launched virtually on Wednesday, April 21, at noon.

"The Aerospace Innovation Hub came from the idea that the aerospace industry is well-known in Houston but for many people, particularly underrepresented communities, there have been barriers in entering the aerospace industry," says Jan E. Odegard, executive director of The Ion, in the release. "By offering mentorship, introduction to capital and training opportunities, with significant backing from Microsoft, The Ion is working to remove the barriers."

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