9 can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for June

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Don't miss these June events—from lightning pitches to a female-focused AI summit. Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images

Editor's note: From lightning pitches to a female-focused AI summit and energy conferences, there's still plenty to do as Houston settles into the summer. Here are the Houston business and innovation events you can't miss in June and how to register. Please note: this article might be updated to add more events.


June 3 – Founders Live Houston 

Watch five Houston founders present their 99-second pitches at Founders Live Houston. Competing teams include AyeDu (Vinita Gupta), Omniscale (Tony Hernandez-Ferman), AnswerPath (Chris Mullins), Katana.video (Sam Bhattacharyya) and TraceWrap (Laketta B.).

This event is Tuesday, May 3, at 5:30 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

June 4 – Center for Human Performance Research & Networking Event

Rice University and Houston Methodist's Center for Human Performance will host an event to support its work in the study of exercise physiology, injury prevention and rehabilitation. The organizations will share more information on seed grant opportunities, and the event will feature presentations from Rice and Houston Methodist leaders, networking sessions and a poster showcase.

This event is Wednesday, June 4, from 3-5:30 p.m. at the BioScience Research Collaborative at Rice University. Register here.

June 12 – Transition on Tap

Meet and hear lighting pitches from eight of Greentown Labs’ newest startup members. Attendees can network with entrepreneurs, investors, corporate leaders, philanthropists, students and other climate champions. Georgina Campbell Flatter, CEO of Greentown Labs, and Victor Martinez, Greentown's memberships manager, will also speak.

This event is Thursday, June 12, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Greentown Houston. Register here.

June 16-18 — Energy Drone & Robotics Summit

This three-day summit, the largest of its kind, will connect 1,500-plus leaders in the global energy/industrial robotics, drone and data sectors. Attendees will glean the latest ideas, use cases, best practices, tech and trends from a wide variety of robotics and drone industry experts.

This event begins June 16 at Woodlands Waterway Marriott. Register here.

June 17 – SGSF’s #SUPERGirlsInSTEM Summit, The Intersection of AI & Workforce

SUPERGirls SHINE Foundation is hosting a one-day summit for women ages 18-24 focused on the evolving intersection of AI and the STEM workforce. The conference will feature keynote speakers, panel discussions and hands-on workshops.

This event is Tuesday, June 17, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

June 18 – 2025 Obsidi BNXT: Juneteenth Tech Forum

Obsidi.com, an online platform launched by the Black Professionals in Tech Network (BPTN), will host a forum for high-performing Black and allied tech executives. The event offers networking opportunities, keynotes and panels that feature executives from Echelon Health Partners, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, SAP, Intuit and more.

The event is Wednesday, June 18, at NRG Center. Register here.

June 24 — Houston Methodist Leadership Speaker Series

Head to the Houston Methodist Tech Hub at Ion to hear the latest installment of the Houston Methodist Leadership Speaker Series. Trent Fulin, vice president and CEO at Houston Methodist Cypress Hospital, will discuss the new 105-acre campus and its first 100 days of patient care, followed by a Q&A.

This event is Tuesday, June 23, from 4:45-6 p.m. Register here.

June 25-26 – Carbon Capture Technology Expo and  Hydrogen Technology Conference & Expo North America

Tackling climate change is one of the biggest global challenges that requires immediate action, and many industrial sectors are now looking to new technology to help meet net-zero emission targets. The Carbon Capture Technology Expo is North America's leading event for carbon capture, utilization and storage. The expo offers opportunities to network with industry frontrunners and best-in-class solution providers.

This event begins June 25 at NRG Center. Click here to register. It is co-located with the Hydrogen Technology Conference & Expo North America. Expo passes are free.

June 26 – NASA Tech Talk

Every fourth Thursday of the month, NASA experts, including longtime engineer Montgomery Goforth, present on technology development challenges NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the larger aerospace community are facing and how Houston’s innovation community can leverage them. Stick around after for drinks and networking at Second Draught.

This event is Thursday, June 26, from 6-7 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

Tim Craine is co-founder and CTO of Intuitive Machines. Photo via intuitivemachines.com

Houston innovator discusses the power of a pivot and the future of the Space City

houston innovators podcast episode 208

It might surprise many to learn that publicly traded, NASA-backed Intuitive Machines, which has emerged as a commercial leader within lunar access technology development, had several pivots before finding its niche within space innovation.

In fact, as Co-Founder and CTO Tim Crain explains on this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast, the company was founded as a space-focused think tank. Crain, along with his co-founders CEO Steve Altemus and Chairman Kamal Ghaffarian, came together in 2013 to start Intuitive Machines, which recently moved into a $40 million headquarters in the Houston Spaceport.

"At the time, our thought was, 'let's take the best of human space flight engineering processes, disciplines, and know how, and look at how we might commercially deploy that for biomedical, energy, big data, and aerospace,'" Crain says on the show. "We wanted to look at how we use great engineering for some of the hard problems outside of NASA's aerospace sphere."

Crain describes the early years of IM as important to the company because the founders learned how to run a business and meet customers' needs and expectations — things he had little experience from his previous roles as a civil servant at NASA. But Crain says they never fell in love with any of the early technologies and ideas they developed — from long-range drones to precision drilling technologies.

Then, everyone's eyes were on returning to the moon. With this new vision, NASA created the Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program. As Crain explains, this evolution involved looking to hire companies to deliver scientific and developmental payloads to the moon. IM won three of the NASA contracts so far, representing three missions for NASA.

"We dipped our toe in the 'let's develop the moon' river and promptly got pulled all the way in," Crain says. "We left our think tank, broad, multi-sector efforts behind, and really pivoted at that point to focus entirely on NASA's CLPS needs. ... The timing really could not have been any better."

Later this month, Crain will discuss IM's journey in detail for a NASA Tech Talk at the Ion. If you're interested in learning more after listening to the podcast, click here to sign up for the free October 26 event.

With Crain's decades in the space industry, he's observed a resurgence lately, and that has directly impacted Houston's role in the industry.

"The future of Space City is really just beginning to move into a time of producing the hardware here and having Houstonians make the spacecraft, space systems, and the technologies that we use to explore and develop the solar system," Crain says on the show.

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TMC, Memorial Hermann launch partnership to spur new patient care technologies

medtech partnership

Texas Medical Center and Memorial Hermann Health System have launched a new collaboration for developing patient care technology.

Through the partnership, Memorial Hermann employees and physicians will now be able to participate in the TMC Center for Device Innovation (CDI), which will assist them in translating product innovation ideas into working prototypes. The first group of entrepreneurs will pitch their innovations in early 2026, according to a release from TMC.

“Memorial Hermann is excited to launch this new partnership with the TMC CDI,” Ini Ekiko Thomas, vice president of information technology at Memorial Hermann, said in the news release. “As we continue to grow (a) culture of innovation, we look forward to supporting our employees, affiliated physicians and providers in new ways.”

Mentors from Memorial Hermann, TMC Innovation and industry experts with specialties in medicine, regulatory strategy, reimbursement planning and investor readiness will assist with the program. The innovators will also gain access to support systems like product innovation and translation strategy, get dedicated engineering and machinist resources and personal workbench space at the CDI.

“The prototyping facilities and opportunities at TMC are world-class and globally recognized, attracting innovators from around the world to advance their technologies,” Tom Luby, chief innovation officer at TMC Innovation Factor, said in the release.

Memorial Hermann says the partnership will support its innovation hub’s “pilot and scale approach” and hopes that it will extend the hub’s impact in “supporting researchers, clinicians and staff in developing patentable, commercially viable products.”

“We are excited to expand our partnership with Memorial Hermann and open the doors of our Center for Device Innovation to their employees and physicians—already among the best in medical care,” Luby added in the release. “We look forward to seeing what they accomplish next, utilizing our labs and gaining insights from top leaders across our campus.”

Google to invest $40 billion in AI data centers in Texas

Google is investing a huge chunk of money in Texas: According to a release, the company will invest $40 billion on cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, with the development of new data centers in Armstrong and Haskell counties.

The company announced its intentions at a meeting on November 14 attended by federal, state, and local leaders including Gov. Greg Abbott who called it "a Texas-sized investment."

Google will open two new data center campuses in Haskell County and a data center campus in Armstrong County.

Additionally, the first building at the company’s Red Oak campus in Ellis County is now operational. Google is continuing to invest in its existing Midlothian campus and Dallas cloud region, which are part of the company’s global network of 42 cloud regions that deliver high-performance, low-latency services that businesses and organizations use to build and scale their own AI-powered solutions.

Energy demands

Google is committed to responsibly growing its infrastructure by bringing new energy resources onto the grid, paying for costs associated with its operations, and supporting community energy efficiency initiatives.

One of the new Haskell data centers will be co-located with — or built directly alongside — a new solar and battery energy storage plant, creating the first industrial park to be developed through Google’s partnership with Intersect and TPG Rise Climate announced last year.

Google has contracted to add more than 6,200 megawatts (MW) of net new energy generation and capacity to the Texas electricity grid through power purchase agreements (PPAs) with energy developers such as AES Corporation, Enel North America, Intersect, Clearway, ENGIE, SB Energy, Ørsted, and X-Elio.

Water demands

Google’s three new facilities in Armstrong and Haskell counties will use air-cooling technology, limiting water use to site operations like kitchens. The company is also contributing $2.6 million to help Texas Water Trade create and enhance up to 1,000 acres of wetlands along the Trinity-San Jacinto Estuary. Google is also sponsoring a regenerative agriculture program with Indigo Ag in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and an irrigation efficiency project with N-Drip in the Texas High Plains.

In addition to the data centers, Google is committing $7 million in grants to support AI-related initiatives in healthcare, energy, and education across the state. This includes helping CareMessage enhance rural healthcare access; enabling the University of Texas at Austin and Texas Tech University to address energy challenges that will arise with AI, and expanding AI training for Texas educators and students through support to Houston City College.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

TMCi names 11 global startups to latest HealthTech Accelerator cohort

new class

Texas Medical Center Innovation has named 11 medtech startups from around the world to its latest HealthTech Accelerator cohort.

Members of the accelerator's 19th cohort will participate in the six-month program, which kicked off this month. They range from startups developing on-the-go pelvic floor monitoring to 3D-printed craniofacial and orthopedic implants. Each previously participated in TMCi's bootcamp before being selected to join the accelerator. Through the HealthTech Accelerator, founders will work closely with TMC specialists, researchers, top-tier hospital experts and seasoned advisors to help grow their companies and hone their clinical trials, intellectual property, fundraising and more.

“This cohort of startups is tackling some of today’s most pressing clinical challenges, from surgery and respiratory care to diagnostics and women’s health," Tom Luby, chief innovation officer at Texas Medical Center, said in a news release. "At TMC, we bring together the minds behind innovation—entrepreneurs, technology leaders, and strategic partners—to help emerging companies validate, scale, and deliver solutions that make a real difference for patients here and around the world. We look forward to seeing their progress and global impact through the HealthTech Accelerator and the support of our broader ecosystem.”

The 2025 HealthTech Accelerator cohort includes:

  • Houston-based Respiree, which has created an all-in-one cardiopulmonary platform with wearable sensors for respiratory monitoring that uses AI to track breathing patterns and detect early signs of distress
  • College Station-based SageSpectra, which designs an innovative patch system for real-time, remote monitoring of temperature and StO2 for assessing vascular occlusion, infection, and other surgical flap complications
  • Austin-based Dynamic Light, which has developed a non-invasive imaging technology that enables surgeons to visualize blood flow in real-time without the need for traditional dyes
  • Bangkok, Thailand-based OsseoLabs, which develops AI-assisted, 3D-printed patient-specific implants for craniofacial and orthopedic surgeries
  • Sydney, Australia-based Roam Technologies, which has developed a portable oxygen therapy system (JUNO) that provides real-time oxygen delivery optimization for patients with chronic conditions
  • OptiLung, which develops 3D-printed extracorporeal blood oxygenation devices designed to optimize blood flow and reduce complications
  • Bengaluru, India-based Dozee, which has created a smart remote patient monitor platform that uses under-the-mattress bed sensors to capture vital signs through continuous monitoring
  • Montclair, New Jersey-based Endomedix, which has developed a biosurgical fast-acting absorbable hemostat designed to eliminate the risk of paralysis and reoperation due to device swelling
  • Williston, Vermont-based Xander Medical, which has designed a biomechanical innovation that addresses the complications and cost burdens associated with the current methods of removing stripped and broken surgical screws
  • Salt Lake City, Utah-based Freyya, which has developed an on-the-go pelvic floor monitoring and feedback device for people with pelvic floor dysfunction
  • The Netherlands-based Scinvivo, which has developed optical imaging catheters for bladder cancer diagnostics
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