A Rice University course on fostering innovation at your company, investor Q&As, a summit for drone and robotics within the energy industry, and more online events not to miss this month. Getty Images

Virtual events at this point has become the new normal for Houston's innovation ecosystem. From interactive Q&As and virtual pitches to online courses and panels, here's what's in store for Houston entrepreneurs this month.

July 1 — The Ion Smart and Resilient Cities Accelerator Cohort 2 Demo Day

The Ion Smart and Resilient Cities Accelerator Cohort 2's Demo Day will be filled with sessions that speak to Cohort 2's themes of air quality, water purification, and cleantech efforts in Houston. These sessions will feature the work that is currently being done, and highlight the work that needs to be done.

Details: This event takes place Wednesday, July 1, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Learn more.

July 8 — HXTV'S HouTech Talks ft. AvidXchange

Tyler Gill and Chris Elmore of AvidXchange join HXTV for a live Q&A that will tackle the big questions on everyone's mind, like how founders should adjust in the face of the pandemic and what fundraising will look like once the pandemic loosens its grip.

Details: This event takes place Wednesday, July 8, from 1 to 2 pm. Learn more.

July 9 — Intro to Investing & Ask Me Anything with Dumb Money and Joshua Baer

Join Capital Factory as they walk you through the ins and outs of investing in startups, stocks, and more with guest speakers from Dumb Money.


Details: This event takes place Thursday, July 9, from 2 to 3:30 pm. Learn more.

July 11 — Enventure Basecamp: Business Building Workshop

Enventure's community-driven business building basecamp series returns this June to support a local innovator construct their healthcare venture. This month, BioVentures team DiaPacer is featured.

Details: This event takes place Saturday, July 11, from 9 a.m. to noon. Learn more.

July 14 — HXTV's VC Ask Me Anything Virtual Event featuring Plug and Play

In this virtual event, Neda Amidi, Milad Malek, and Payal Patel will share information about Plug and Play's investment activities and other plans in Houston.

Details: This event takes place Tuesday, July 14, from 5 to 6 p.m. Learn more.

July 14-16 — Energy Drone & Robotics Virtual Summer Summit

Ahead of its fall summit, Energy Drone & Robotics is bringing live industry keynotes, asset owner panels, moderated discussion groups, 1:1 meetings, demos and use cases with hardware, software and service solution providers virtually.

Details: This event takes place Tuesday, July 14, to Thursday, July 16. Learn more.

July 15 — Maintaining an Ecosystem in a Time of Uncertainty

At this event, General Assembly is hosting local leaders to discuss how they are coping with the COVID-19 devastation and what they're doing to maintain community and interaction within their groups.

Details: This event takes place Wednesday, July 15, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Learn more.

July 16 — HXTV's VC Ask Me Anything Virtual Event featuring Bowery Capital

Bowery Capital is an early-stage venture capital investor focused exclusively on founders looking to modernize business through technology. The live Q&A that will tackle the big questions on everyone's mind, like how founders should adjust in the face of the pandemic and what fundraising will look like once the pandemic loosens its grip.

Details: This event takes place Thursday, July 16, from 3 to 4 pm. Learn more.

July 16-17 — MassChallenge's Virtual Showcase

Hear from all 56 startups in the Houston cohort as well as the Boston, Austin, and Rhode Island cohorts. The showcase environment is a premier opportunity for hear directly from the founding teams and get a sneak peek at the future of business and technology. At the center of the event will be the startup demo booths where each company will actively pitch their mission and business to event guests.

Details: This event takes place Thursday, July 16, to Friday, July 17, from noon to 3 p.m. Learn more.

July 17 — Open Innovation and Problem-Solving in an Organization

Open innovation enables firms to leverage data, talent and expertise to rapidly generate new ideas, solve problems and find efficiencies. This Rice University course will help business leaders identify urgent and critical problems amenable to open innovation solutions and develop creative strategies and implementation through open innovation.

Details: This event takes place Friday, July 17, from 9 to 11 a.m. Learn more.

July 29 — Transition into Tech (For Oil and Gas Professionals)

What happens when you've realized it's time for a change? For many, it can be as simple as a new look, a new restaurant, or a trip out of town. But what about when it's your career and livelihood that needs to be revamped? This can happen for any number of reasons, but the challenges and questions remain the same - what's next and how do I get there?

Details: This event takes place Wednesday, July 29, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Learn more.

An innovative post office renovation, self-driving cars, and July business events were all among the trending stories for this week. Photo courtesy of Lovett Commercial

5 most popular innovation stories in Houston this week

What's Trending

Closing up on a holiday week, laptops are probably closed and phones put away to enjoy a long weekend. However, before you check out from the world, scroll through the trending innovation news highlights from the past week.

New technology gives this Houston hospital a competitive edge

A new prostate cancer treatment at Houston Methodist is enhancing the system's patient care. Getty Images

As the top ranking hospital in Texas and one of the biggest employers in Houston, Houston Methodist Hospital is poised to treat the thousands of Texan men who will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year.

Building on its legacy of delivering advanced cancer treatment, the healthcare giant is one of the first hospitals in the United States to offer men a benign approach to treating localized prostate cancer, using high intensity focused ultrasound, or HIFU. HIFU is a minimally invasive procedure that allows patients to maintain their quality of life with potentially fewer side effects. Read more.

METRO launches self-driving shuttle, Data Gumbo hires new exec, and more Houston innovation news

METRO launches a driver-less route, Houston biotech company raises millions, and more quick innovation news. Courtesy of METRO

So much Houston innovation news — so little time. In order to help keep in touch with all the news happening among startups and technology in Houston, we're hitting the highlights in this innovation news roundup. Read more.

10+ can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for July

From enlightening talks to networking opportunities, here's where you need to be in July. Getty Images

If you were hoping that business events would slow down for the summer, keep hoping. While you're probably getting plenty of OOO emails during your daily communications, there's no shortage of face-to-face opportunities within Houston business and innovation. Read more.

Houston to be home to one of the world's largest rooftop gardens after downtown post office's renovations

Post Houston will be site of one of the world's largest rooftop gardens. Photo courtesy of Lovett Commercial

Downtown Houston will soon have one of the largest rooftop gardens and farms in the world, thanks to the innovative reimagining of a forgotten structure. The Barbara Jordan Post Office, the massive government building nestled in the Theater District, will be transformed into a bustling, dynamic, mixed-use complex that's meant to become the city's new urban ecosystem.

At an official groundbreaking, Lovett Commercial revealed the plans for the more than 550,000-square-foot building, which was formerly the epicenter of the city's mail system from 1936 to 2014. The post office will fittingly become Post Houston and will house a concert venue, retail and office concepts, restaurants, bars, an international market hall, and a flexible co-working space.

Hospitality startup adds a new luxe approach to Houston's apartment rental market

Lodgeur provides its guests with hotel luxury with room to breathe. Courtesy of Lodgeur

In 2018, Houston set a new tourism record with 22.3 million visitors to the city. That same year, Sébastien Long was finishing his Cambridge thesis on home-sharing companies like Airbnb and falling in love with a classmate. When the couple moved to Houston after graduation, Long brought his ideas with him, and that's how Lodgeur was born.

Lodgeur works as an upscale home-sharing startup that offers luxury apartments in midtown and downtown Houston for nightly rent. It doesn't replace Airbnb; customers can browse through and book the properties through the familiar website. Read more.

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Mark Cuban calls AI ‘the greater democratizer’ for young entrepreneurs

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Texas billionaire Mark Cuban—whose investment portfolio includes Houston-based Holliball, a startup that makes and sells large inflatable holiday ornaments—believes AI is leveling the playing field for budding low-income entrepreneurs.

At the recent Clover x Shark Tank Summit in Las Vegas, the Shark Tank alum called AI “the greater democratizer.”

Cuban told Axios that free and low-cost AI tools enable disadvantaged teenagers to compete with seasoned professionals.

“Right now, if you’re a 14- to 18-year-old and you’re in not-so-good circumstances, you have access to the best professors and the best consultants,” Cuban said. “It allows people who otherwise would not have access to any resources to have access to the best resources in real time. You can compete with anybody.”

While Cuban believes AI is “the great democratizer” for low-income young people, low-income workers still face hurdles in navigating the AI landscape, according to Public Works Partners, an urban planning and consulting firm. The firm says access to AI among low-income workers may be limited due to cost, insufficient digital literacy and infrastructure gaps.

“Without adequate resources and training, these workers may struggle to adapt to AI-driven workplaces or access the educational opportunities necessary to acquire new skills,” Public Works Partners said.

Texas 2036, a public policy organization focused on the state’s future, reported in January AI jobs in Texas are projected to grow 27 percent over the next decade. The number 2036 refers to the year when Texas will celebrate its bicentennial.

As for the current state of AI, Cuban said he doesn’t think the economy is witnessing an AI bubble comparable to the dot-com bubble, which lasted from 1998 to 2000.

“The difference is, the improvement in technology basically slowed to a trickle,” Cuban said of the dot-com era. “We’re nowhere near the improvement in technology slowing to a trickle in AI.”

CPRIT hires MD Anderson official as chief cancer prevention officer

new hire

The Austin-based Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which provides funding for cancer research across the state, has hired Ruth Rechis as its chief prevention officer. She comes to CPRIT from Houston’s University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she led the Cancer Prevention and Control Platform.

Before joining MD Anderson, Rechis was a member of the executive leadership team at the Livestrong Foundation, an Austin-based nonprofit that supports people affected by cancer.

“Ruth has widespread connections throughout the cancer prevention community, both in Texas and across the nation,” CPRIT CEO Kristen Doyle said in a news release. “She is a long-term passionate supporter of CPRIT, and she is very familiar with our process, programs, and commitment to transparency. Ruth is a terrific addition to the team here at CPRIT.”

Rechis said that by collaborating with researchers, policymakers, public health leaders and community partners, CPRIT “can continue to drive forward proven prevention strategies that improve health outcomes, lower long-term costs, and create healthier futures for all.”

At MD Anderson, Rechis and her team worked with more than 100 organizations in Texas to bolster cancer prevention initiatives at clinics and community-based organizations.

Rechis is a longtime survivor of Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the lymph nodes, which are part of a person’s immune system.