10+ can't-miss virtual business and innovation events in Houston for November​

Where to be online

Log on to one of these informative online events happening throughout the rest of the month. Getty Images

November is usually the last busy month for business events before the end of the year and ahead of the holidays, and this year — even though events have pivoted to virtual gatherings — is no different.

From panels and ask-me-anything meetings to summits and startup competitions, here are over 10 Houston innovation events you can attend virtually via online meetings. This month in particular there's the return of The Houston Innovation Summit and the brand new awards program called, The Listies (nominate now for those). Be sure to register in advance, as most will send an access link ahead of the events.

November 5 — Dell Technologies Ask Me Anything

Dell Technologies is hosting an "Ask Me Anything" session for the Ion community. During this time, attendees can ask experts anything in regards to IT pain points during these times. Entrepreneurs may also use this time to brainstorm the back end IT Infrastructure of their business.

The event will take place online on Thursday, November 5, at 10 am. Register here.

November 5-6 — Greentown Labs Climatetech Summit

Join Greentown Labs for its first Climatetech Summit for a deep dive into scaling climate action. Across the two days, attendees will engage with Greentown's pillars of climate action — technology, finance, policy, and justice — discover groundbreaking startups and their climatetech solutions, learn from industry experts, and forge meaningful connections with entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders, policymakers, startup support organizations, and other climate champions.

The event will take place online on Thursday, November 5, and Friday, November 6. Register here.

November 10 — Igniting Leadership: The State of COVID Vaccines

Join Ignite Healthcare Network for a special night of discussion hosted by IGNITE Steering Committee member Susan Feigin Harris about the status of COVID19 vaccine development with Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, Co-director of Texas Children's Center for Vaccine Development.

The event will take place online on Tuesday, November 10, at 6 pm. Register here.

November 10-12 — Texas Life Sciences Forum

The Texas Life Science Forum is the premier life science event in Texas that brings together members from industry, emerging life science companies, academic, and investors. The 2020 event will be virtual and will still be the "must attend" event for anyone in the life science industry in Texas or affiliated with innovation at the life science academic institutions. This event represents an opportunity to meet investors, learn about promising life science companies, to learn about opportunities for entrepreneurs, investment professionals, big pharma, academics and business executives serving the life science industry.

The event will take place online on Tuesday, November 10, to Thursday, November 12. Register here.

November 12 — Plaza Tec: Funding Fundamentals

Though Latinx-owned businesses and startups make up at least 38 percent of businesses in the Houston area, there is still a lack of access to capital blocking growth and progress for Latinx founders.

In this discussion presented by The Ion, representatives from baMa and NextSeed will join together to discuss angel investing and crowdfunding options for Latinx founders and what challenges one might face when seeking capital.

The event will take place online on Thursday, November 12, at 5:30 pm. Register here.

November 12 — Women in Tech and Biz

If you're interested in hearing from some badass women in tech and business, come to the virtual Women in Tech + Biz event created by the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The event will be split into two sections — one focused on entrepreneurship and the other focusing more on software and engineering — followed by networking.

The event will take place online on Thursday, November 12, at 6 pm. Register here.

November 13 — Climathon 2020: Hacking Solutions to Houston’s Climate Challenges

On Earth Day this year, the City of Houston published its first Climate Action Plan. The plan is the culmination of thousands of volunteer time from industry professionals, policy stakeholders, and community advocates. Together the working groups have laid out a concise plan to address the climate challenges that Houston faces along with maintaining a leadership role in the energy transition. This year's Climathon will look to realize some of the goals of the plan through design sprints led by local subject matter experts in the areas of transportation, energy innovation, building optimization, and materials management.

The event will take place online on Friday, November 13, at 1 pm. Register here.

November 16-20 — The Houston Innovation Summit

The Houston Innovation Summit — THIS — celebrates Houston's innovation ecosystem during Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW). THIS responds to 2020 with a special focus on the intersection of Impact and Innovation, spotlighting Houstonians at the forefront of education, ecosystems, inclusion, and policy. Join Impact Hub Houston and Houston's startup and small business community for a week of exciting programs and connect with the thinkers, doers, makers and innovators driving Houston forward.

The event will take place online on Monday, November 16, to Friday, November 20. Register here.

November 17 — Struggles and Bubbles: Pivoting during a Pandemic

Join General Assembly Houston to listen to a panel of startup founders who will share their journey and entrepreneurial struggles, and what it really takes to launch a startup during global pandemic, and scale a startup.

The event will take place online on Tuesday, November 17 at 5 pm. Register here.

November 17-19 — Capital Factory's Texas Startup Roadshow

For the first time, Capital Factory is taking its roadshow online. For three days, the organization will be introducing investors to the various innovative cities across the Lone Star State.

Houston will be the city of focus on Wednesday, November 18.

The event will take place online on Tuesday, November 17, to Thursday, November 19. Register here.

November 20 — The Listies

Let's toast to the entrepreneurial spirit of Houston in a time when celebrating victories is more important than ever. Introducing the Listies, brought to you Houston Exponential and InnovationMap, commemorating the launch of HTX TechList, Houston's innovation discovery platform.

The event will take place online on Friday, November 20, at 3 pm. Register here.

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Walmart expands drone delivery service to 8 new Houston-area stores

Now Landing

More Walmart delivery drones are now buzzing around Houston-area skies.

In January, Walmart launched its drone delivery service in partnership with Wing at five locations in the Houston area. The retail giant just added eight more stores to its Houston-area drone delivery network.

Wing says the expansion makes drone delivery available to more than 1 million residents of the Houston area. “Many can now bypass notorious Houston traffic to get everyday Walmart essentials delivered by drone in minutes,” Wing said in a release.

The eight Walmart stores that joined the drone delivery network are:

  • 13003 Tomball Pkwy. Houston
  • 12353 FM 1960 Rd. West, Houston
  • 2901 Riley Fuzzel Rd., Spring
  • 20310 U.S. Highway 59, New Caney
  • 1025 Sawdust Rd., Spring, TX 77380
  • 13484 Northwest Fwy., Houston, TX
  • 13750 East Fwy., Houston
  • 3506 Highway 6 South, Houston

Stores where drone delivery was already available are:

  • 14215 FM 2100 Rd., Crosby
  • 1313 N. Fry Rd., Katy
  • 15955 FM 529 Rd., Houston
  • 255 FM 518, Kemah
  • 6060 N. Fry Rd., Katy

Houstonians can learn whether their address is eligible for drone delivery from a Walmart store by visiting wing.com/walmart. Drone-delivered orders can be placed on the Walmart app, the Wing app, or at Walmart.com.

Once an order is ready, it’s loaded onto a delivery drone. The drone then flies up to 60 mph and at a cruising altitude of about 150 feet to reach the customer’s home. The average flight takes less than 5 minutes.

Once it arrives at the customer’s home, the drone stops, hovers at roughly 23 feet, and lowers the order via a tether. Wing says its drones gently lower orders to the ground to protect fragile items like eggs and coffee.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

TMC expands Korea BioBridge, welcomes 12 biotech companies to Houston

welcome to hou

The powerful partnership between Texas Medical Center (TMC) innovation and the world of Korean biotech advancement is already growing in scope. Just six months after the new TMC Republic of Korea BioBridge was first announced, 12 new companies from the Republic of Korea will establish on-site presences in Houston to further collaboration between the two nations and medical industries.

The expansion comes from a new agreement between TMC and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI). William McKeon, president and CEO of Texas Medical Center, applauded the move and predicted it would benefit both Houston and Korea immensely.

“Korea has established itself as a global leader in biohealth innovation, with a growing pipeline of breakthrough technologies across digital health, biotechnology, and medical devices,” McKeon said in the news release. “Through the TMC Korea BioBridge, we are creating a direct connection between Korea’s innovators and the world’s largest medical city. This collaboration between TMC and KHIDI provides companies with a place to establish a presence, build strategic relationships, engage with leading clinicians and researchers, and accelerate the path toward commercialization and patient impact in the United States.”

The companies that will be in residence at the TMC Innovation Factory include Ardens Lifescience, whose new CAROL device is currently in human trials tackling lung cancer by using the airway network as electrodes to perform bronchoscopic ablation; stem cell-based gene therapy firm CELLeBRAIN, currently working on neurological disorders and solid cancers; and Wellysis, the developer of the S-Patch wearable cardiac monitoring device.

Additional companies include:

  • Antigravity
  • ARPI
  • CTCELLS
  • elecell
  • HUVER Inc.
  • Hutom
  • ORGANOIDSCIENCES
  • YOUTH BIO GLOBAL
  • Seoul Medical Informatics Intelligence Lab Inc.

“This collaboration establishes a strong foundation for connecting Korea’s biohealth innovation ecosystem with world-class clinical and innovation resources in the United States,” Younghun Jeong, executive director of the KHIDI, added in the news release. “Through partnerships with Texas Medical Center and the Korean-American Medical Association Texas, we look forward to fostering meaningful collaboration among innovators, clinicians, and industry leaders while creating new opportunities for clinical validation, commercialization, and global growth. KHIDI remains committed to expanding global partnerships that support biohealth innovation, clinical collaboration, commercialization, and international growth.”

This is the seventh international strategic partnership for the TMC. It launched its first BioBridge with the Health Informatics Society of Australia in 2016. It launched its TMC Japan BioBridge, focused on advancing cancer treatments, last year. It also has BioBridge partnerships with the Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark and the United Kingdom.

24 Houston-based companies named best places to work by U.S. News

Best Places to Work

A new U.S. News & World Report ranking of the best employers has named 95 Texas companies among the best companies to work in the South, and two dozen of them are based right here in the Houston metro.

U.S. News' prestigious "2026-2027 Best Companies to Work For" ratings examine 3,900 public and privately owned companies across 14 industries to help employees and job seekers make decisions about workplaces that may be a good fit.

Each company is rated on a scale of 1-5 across six metrics: quality of pay and benefits; work-life balance and flexibility; job and company stability; physical and psychological comfort; belongingness and esteem; and career opportunities and professional development.

"Job seekers' definitions of 'best' evolve with their needs," said Carly Chase, vice president of Careers at U.S. News. "From new grads in the AI era and seasoned pros seeking a career change, to HR leaders researching organizational trends, the ratings are a central hub that highlights businesses that U.S. News found effectively support their staff."

The number of employers headquartered in the Houston area that made the cut for 2026-2027 has skyrocketed over previous years. A total of 24 local public and private companies made the list this year, up from 16 companies in 2024 and 11 in 2025.

The highest concentration of top employers is located in Houston proper (20), followed by two companies in The Woodlands and one each in Kingwood and Spring.

A few familiar names Houstonians will recognize include petroleum corporation Occidental (Oxy), oil and gas giant Chevron, electrical engineering and manufacturing company Powell Industries, and home builder David Weekley Homes.

Here are the remaining best Houston-based companies to work for:

  • PROS, Houston
  • EOG Resources, Houston
  • Targa Resources, Houston
  • TechnipFMC, Houston
  • Cheniere, Houston
  • DXP, Houston
  • Comfort Systems USA, Houston
  • Corebridge, Houston
  • Baker Hughes, Houston
  • KBR, Houston
  • CenterPoint Energy, Houston
  • Phillips 66, Houston
  • S&B, Houston
  • Cornerstone Home Lending, Houston
  • Farouk, Houston
  • Hines, Houston
  • Insperity, Kingwood
  • HPE, Spring
  • Sterling Infrastructure, The Woodlands
  • LGI Homes, The Woodlands
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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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