Interactive Houston innovation event pivots to virtual platform for engaging discussions

ready to fight?

Digital Fight Club is making its triumphant Houston return next week. Have you gotten your virtual tickets? Photo by Emily Jaschke/InnovationMap

In 2019, Houston innovators went head to head for the first Houston Digital Fight Club. While COVID-19 postponed a repeat match-up, the organizers have teamed up to put on a virtual event like none other.

Dallas-based Digital Fight Club, which first premiered in 2016, was founded by Michael Pratt who wanted the event structure to be intentionally different from your run-of-the-mill tech networking events. In Digital Fight Club, two innovation specialists "fight" against one another, with a referee steering the conversation, and the audience is involved and votes in real time for the winner.

The event came to Houston two years ago, presented by Accenture, and the two organizations wanted to be able to replicate the high-energy event online for 2021. (Note: InnovationMap is on the steering committee for the event.)

"We as Accenture are stoked to bring back Digital Fight club to our amazing city where provocative Houston topics will be debated by some of H-Town's most brilliant minds," says Accenture Houston Innovation Hub's Jessica Guerrero, who serves as the associate hub director.

The previous Houston event covered innovative topics, such as artificial intelligence, the future of primary care, and technology's hold on humans. Check out overheard moments and photos from the last event.

"Houston's well deserved reputation as an innovation city is the perfect ingredient for Digital Fight Club," Pratt tells InnovationMap. "What better forum to see the best minds debate the most pressing issues in business and technology."

Through the work of the two teams, Digital Fight Club will return to Houston on Tuesday, October 26, at 7 pm, virtually. Tickets are $20 per person and can be purchased online. This year's topics and fighters includes:

  • Energy Transition: What technology is king to get us there? Fighters: Moji Karimi, CEO of Cemvita Factory, vs Trevor Best, CEO of Syzygy Plasmonics
  • Space Race: Who will lead space commercialization? Fighters: Trent Martin, vice president of aerospace at Intuitive Machines, vs Steve Gonzalez, partner at Seldor Capital (retired NASA)
  • Digital Divide: The greatest barrier to bridging the divide? Fighters: Ashley DeWalt, managing director of DivInc, vs Jesse Martinez, co-founder of LatinX Startup Alliance
  • Sweet Teams are Made of This: The post-pandemic employee experience. Fighters: Brad Deutser, CEO of Deutser, vs Joe Alapat, CEO of Liongard
  • Innovation in a Virtual World: Impossible? Fighters: Lawson Gow, founder of The Cannon, vs Robert Pieroni, director of economic development at Central Houston Inc.

Each fighter will open with 45 seconds each, followed by two 30 seconds rebuttals each. Referees will have a chance to ask a follow up, then each fighter will respond for 15 seconds. Referees include:

  • Mary Beth Gracy, managing director of Accenture's Houston office
  • Scott Gale, executive director of Halliburton Labs
  • Sam Gunderson, director of partnership development at NASA
  • Elizabeth Haines McGee, director of innovation and engagement at Intel
  • Steve Rader, deputy director of collaborative innovation at NASA

Clearly, you shouldn't expect your average business event call. The platform that's hosting the event allows for attendees to join "rooms" with friends, coworkers, and more. Within the rooms, you can chat about the fighter's argument and even respond with emojis. You can even throw a tomato at a fighter you disagree with.

"As an attendee get ready to move beyond the traditional Zoom call and be immersed in an interactive environment where you can cheer on your favorite fights or even show your disagreement with digital tomatoes, all from your own virtual pink couch," Guerrero says. "So grab your favorite humans, come attend this entertaining experience and witness the throw down."

The virtual edition of Digital Fight Club first took place in Dallas. Now the interactive event is coming to Houston. Photo courtesy of Accenture

Houston's first Digital Fight Club will be November 20 at White Oak Music Hall. Courtesy of Digital Fight Club

Accenture and InnovationMap team up to bring innovative high-energy event to Houston for the first time

total knock out

The Houston innovation ecosystem has seen its fair share of panels. Whether the discussion is focused on digital health care or investing, it's structured the same way. However, one organization has redesigned what a typical innovation networking and panel event needs to look like, and Houston gets to see the Digital Fight Club in action in November.

Michael Pratt came up with the idea for Digital Fight Club as a way to liven up technology-focused events and networking opportunities. The plan was to pit two specialists against one another, with a referee steering the conversation. The audience is involved too and can vote in real time for the winner of the, for lack of a better word, debate.

"The notion of crazy fun wild entertainment was kind of in the back of our minds, but it exploded in that way more than we predicted it would," Pratt says.

Since Pratt premiered the concept in Dallas, where he is based, in 2016, he put on three more in Dallas and even hosted one in Boston in October 2018. The sixth Digital Fight Club will be hosted in Houston and presented by Accenture and InnovationMap, at White Oak Music Hall on November 20.

Brian Richards, managing director at Accenture and Houston Innovation Hub director, says he wanted to bring the concept to Houston because it's directly in line with what the city needs.

"We were just inspired by how completely different from a panel that it really brings out these core beliefs," Richards tells InnovationMap. "We thought it would be a great way to help spark the innovation community here in Houston."

The topics of discussion for the Houston edition include cybersecurity, future of the workforce, tech in oil and gas, health tech, and more. The event is structured very deliberately, Pratt tells InnovationMap. Five different 10-minute discussions take place between two fighters and a referee — all experts in their own ways on the topic at hand and selected by the event's partners and sponsors. Usually, the referees are a bit more senior with years of experience in an industry, and the fighters tend to be high-energy entrepreneurs.

"People that are founders and at that stage of their careers have no shortage of opinions, and that makes for great fighters," Pratt says.

Once the fight is over and the audience has decided the winner, conversations can continue at an after party. Pratt says he's e seen some pretty successful networking after his events, which is something that Richards is excited to bring to Houston.

"One of the things we've been trying to drive here in Houston is collisions — the ability to get our corporates, our investors, our startup founders to collide," Richards says. "We believe this is a way to help create that density of collisions and this is a format that helps spark that in an organic way."

Here's an example of what a Digital Fight Club match up looks like:

Digital Fight Club: Dallas 2019: Fight #3: Silence: To digitally disconnect or notwww.youtube.com

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Houston falls from top 50 in global ranking of 'World's Best Cities'

Rankings & Reports

Houston is no longer one of the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious annual report by Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing firm Resonance Consultancy.

The newest "World's Best Cities" list dropped Houston from No. 40 last year to No. 58 for 2026.

The experts at Resonance Consultancy annually compare the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of at least 1 million residents or more based on the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity. The firm additionally collaborated with AI software company AlphaGeo to determine each city's "exposure to risk, adaptation capacity," and resilience to change.

The No. 1 best city in the world is London, with New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Madrid (No. 5) rounding out the top five in 2026.

Houston at least didn't rank as poorly as it did in 2023, when the city surprisingly plummeted as the 66th best city in the world. In 2022, Houston ranked 42nd on the list.

Despite dropping 18 places, Resonance Consultancy maintains that Houston "keeps defying gravity" and is a "coveted hometown for the best and brightest on earth."

The report cited the Houston metro's ever-growing population, its relatively low median home values ($265,000 in 2024), and its expanding job market as top reasons for why the city shouldn't be overlooked.

"Chevron’s shift of its headquarters from California to Houston, backed by $100 million in renovations, crowns relocations drawn by record 2024 Port Houston throughput of more than four million containers and a projected 71,000 new jobs in 2025," the report said.

The report also draws attention to the city's diversity, spanning from the upcoming grand opening of the long-awaited Ismaili Center, to the transformation of several industrial buildings near Memorial City Mall into a mixed-use development called Greenside.

"West Houston’s Greenside will convert 35,000 square feet of warehouses into a retail, restaurant and community hub around a one-acre park by 2026, while America’s inaugural Ismaili Center remains on schedule for later this year," the report said. "The gathering place for the community and home for programs promoting understanding of Islam and the Ismaili community is another cultural jewel for the country’s most proudly diverse major city."

In Resonance Consultancy's separate list ranking "America's Best Cities," Houston fell out of the top 10 and currently ranks as the 13th best U.S. city.

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas also saw major declines in their standings for 2026. Austin plummeted from No. 53 last year to No. 87 for 2026, and Dallas fell from No. 53 to No. 78.

"In this decade of rapid transformation, the world’s cities are confronting challenges head‑on, from climate resilience and aging infrastructure to equitable growth," the report said. "The pandemic, long forgotten but still a sage oracle, exposed foundational weaknesses – from health‑care capacity to housing affordability. Yet, true to their dynamic nature, the leading cities are not merely recovering, but setting the pace, defining new paradigms of innovation, sustainability and everyday livability."

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Waymo self-driving robotaxis will launch in Houston in 2026

Coming Soon

Houston just cleared a major lane to the future. Waymo has announced the official launch of its self-driving robotaxi service in the Bayou City, beginning with employee-only operations this fall ahead of a public launch in early 2026.

The full rollout will include three Texas cities, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, along with Miami and Orlando, Florida. Currently, the company operates in the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, with service available in Austin and Atlanta through Uber.

Before letting its technology loose on a city, Waymo first tests the routes with human drivers. Once each locale is mapped, the cars can begin driving independently. Unique situations are flagged by specialists, and engineers evaluate performance in virtual replicas of each city.

“Waymo’s quickly entering a number of new cities in the U.S. and around the world, and our approach to every new city is consistent,” explained the announcement. “We compare our driving performance against a proven baseline to validate the performance of the Waymo Driver and identify any unique local characteristics.”

The launch puts Waymo ahead of Tesla. Elon Musk’s Austin-based carmaker has made a lot of hullabaloo about autonomy being the future of the company, but has yet to launch its service on a wide scale.

Waymo started testing San Antonio’s roadways in May as part of a multi-city “road trip,” which also included Houston. The company says its measured approach to launches helps alleviate local concern over safety and other issues.

“The future of transportation is accelerating, and we are driving it forward with a commitment to quality and safety,” Waymo wrote. “Our rigorous process of continuous iteration, validation, and local engagement ensures that we put communities first as we expand.”

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Shipley Donuts launches AI-powered ordering assistant

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Popular Houston-born doughnut chain Shipley Donuts has added a first-of-its-kind AI-powered assistant to its online ordering platform.

The new assistant can create personalized order recommendations based on individual or group preferences, according to a news release from the company. Unlike standard chatbox features, the new assistant makes custom recommendations based on multiple customer factors, including budgetary habits, individual flavor preferences and order size.

"We're not just adding AI for the sake of innovation — we're solving real customer pain points by making ordering more intuitive, personalized and efficient," Kerry Leo, Shipley Vice President of Technology, said in the release.

The system also works for larger events, as it can make individual orders and catering recommendations for corporate events and meetings by suggesting quantities and assortments based on group size, event type and budget.

According to Shipley, nearly 1 in 4 guests have completed orders with the new AI technology since it launched on its website.

“The integration of the AI ordering assistant into our refreshed website represents a significant leap forward in how restaurant brands can leverage technology to enhance the customer experience,” Leo added in the release.

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