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

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Check out these conferences, pitch events, networking, and more happening in Houston in the month of April. Photo via Getty Images

After a very busy March, Houston innovators might need to prepare for another month of networking opportunities. Here's a rundown of what all to throw on your calendar for April.

This article will be updated as more business and tech events are announced.

April 5-6 — Energy CEO Summit

Industry leaders and members of the Houston business community will discuss the evolution of the energy sector, Houston's pivotal role, and the critical events driving the change.

Center for Houston's Future CEO Brett Perlman will moderate a panel on Electrical Grid Trends at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 6.

The event is Tuesday and Wednesday, April 5-6, online or at Asia Society Texas Center (1370 Southmore Blvd.). Click here to register.

April 6 — 2022 PVAMU Industry Innovation Collaboration Day

This event is designed to provide an interactive platform for academicians, researchers, students, industries, and government agencies an opportunity to meet and share recent innovations, developments, and technology trends. Collaboration between the university and various industries needs to be nourished to enhance innovation development for the benefit of society.

The event is Wednesday, April 6, from 8:30 am to 5 pm at Prairie View A&M University-MSC Ballroom (155 L.W Minor St.). Click here to register.

April 6 — Enventure "Inspire" Seminar Series - With Dr. Santosh A. Helekar, MD, PhD

The "Inspire" Seminar Series was developed by Enventure to help students learn about the reality of working in the biotech and biomedical fields. The series consists of a number of events starring guest speakers coming from different areas in the biotech and biomedical industries.

This particular event will star Dr. Santosh A. Helekar, M.D., Ph.D. Participants attending this event will learn about the story of Dr. Helekar and his experiences from transitioning from grad school & academia into an inventor & his experiences and current role. In addition, there will be a final Q&A where the audience will be able to ask direct questions to Dr. Helekar.

The online event is Wednesday, April 6, from 6 to 7:30 pm. Click here to register.

April 7 — Low-Carbon Hydrogen Accelerator Kickoff

Together with Greentown Labs and the Urban Future Lab, EPRI and Shell recognize the need to accelerate the development and commercialization of low-carbon technologies required to enable economy-wide decarbonization. As leaders in the utilities and energy industries, respectively, with domain expertise, R&D facilities, and access to global customers, EPRI and Shell are uniquely positioned to lead this transformation in partnership with startups innovating at the cutting edge of low-carbon hydrogen.

The hybrid event is Thursday, April 7, from 5:30 to 8 pm at Greentown Labs (4200 San Jacinto St.) and streaming online. Click here to register.

April 7-9 — 2022 Rice Business Plan Competition

The 2022 Rice Business Plan Competition will be hosted in Houston at the Jones Graduate School of Business. This year, 42 teams have been invited to compete in the 22nd Annual Competition. The finals will be streamed online —watch on Saturday, April 9 on our YouTube. If you're a member, please visit our membership page to register to attend in-person.

The competition is held Thursday through Saturday, April 7-9, at Rice University (6100 Main St.) and streamed online. Click here to register.

April 12 — Energy & Energy 2.0 Council

As the Energy Capital of the World, Houston is the headquarters and the intellectual capital for virtually every segment of the energy industry including exploration, production, transmission, marketing, supply, and technology. This Council explores how Houston's largest industry continues to lead in this critical sector while also advancing innovation that supports the transition to a more efficient and sustainable, low-carbon future that also accommodates global demand growth.

The event is Tuesday, April 12, from 11:30 am to 1 pm at Partnership Tower (701 Avenida de las Americas, Suite 900). Click here to register.

April 12 — Softeq Venture Studio Demo Day (Q1 2022 Cohort)

The Softeq Venture Studio invested $125,000 in cash and services in each of the nine early-stage startups to help them refine their business model, build their technology, and prepare them to scale. In this capstone event, founders have seven minutes each to present their pitch deck, demo their product, outline their ask, and answer questions. And we need you there to evaluate them for investment (or at least support them).

The event is Tuesday, April 12, from 5 to 7:30 pm at The Ion (4201 Main St.). Click here to register.

April 13 — Serving & Selling: Building your Brand, brought to you by Insperity

Find out how to solidify your brand, deliver exceptional service, and take your productivity to the next level, with Pete Hinojosa, CBPA.

The event is Wednesday, April 13, from 1:30 to 2:30 pm at The Cannon (1334 Brittmore Dr.). Click here to register.

April 14 — DivInc Happy Hour: Meet the Sports Tech Cohort

Meet DivInc's Sports Tech cohort at a happy hour hosted at The Ion on April 14. The companies accepted into the new cohort are slated to be announced on April 11.

The event is Thursday, April 14, at 5:30 pm at The Ion (4201 Main St.). Click here to register.

April 19 — State of Technology

The second annual Greater Houston Partnership event features business leaders discussing Houston's growth as a national leader in tech innovation and the many qualities the region possesses that support a robust tech ecosystem. Through a panel discussion, the event will also explore how Houston is uniquely enabling digital transformation across industries including energy, life sciences and healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, and aerospace.

The event is Tuesday, April 19, at 10 am to 1:30 pm at Hilton Americas (1600 Lamar St.). Click here to register.

April 20 — Spring 2022 D2K Showcase

Explore Rice University's D2K students’ end-of-semester projects covering a wide range of topics including computer vision, natural language processing, deep learning applications, web scraping, time series analysis, signal processing and more. Celebrate the impact they are making through data science and interact with Rice students and learn more about their projects in the poster session. Attendees can vote for their favorite project/team to compete for cash prizes.

The event is Wednesday, April 20, from 5 to 7 pm at Duncan Hall at Rice University (6100 Main St.). Click here to register.

April 20 — The H. Albert Napier Rice Launch Challenge Championships

Join Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and support Rice University student startups at the H. Albert Napier Rice Launch Challenge Championships on Wednesday, April 20. Six student finalists will pitch their ventures for the chance to win a share of $75,000+ in equity-free funding. Attendance is open to Rice students, Rice alumni, friends of Rice, and the whole Houston entrepreneurial community. Seats are limited, so get your tickets while you still can.

The event is Wednesday, April 20, from 5:30 to 9 pm at The Anderson-Clarke Center’s Hudspeth Auditorium (6100 Main St.). Click here to register.

April 21 — Greentown Houston's First Anniversary

A year after opening the Houston's first-ever climatetech startup incubator, Greentown Houston is home to over 60 startup members and 20 corporate partners. Join the green tech hub for a celebration of entrepreneurship, collaboration, and innovation, which together with the engineering strength and talent of the region’s energy industry will power Houston’s climate leadership. The day of festivities will include celebratory remarks, lightning pitches from some of our outstanding startups, a member showcase, networking, and more.

The event is Thursday, April 21, from 1 to 7 pm, at Greentown Houston (4200 San Jacinto St.) or livestreaming online. Click here to register.

April 27 — Engage VC: Revolution

Revolution is a D.C.-based investment firm focused on investing in entrepreneurs building transformative companies outside of Silicon Valley. With $1.7 billion of capital commitments across portfolio companies including Houston-based Goodfair and relationships in 60+ startup communities, Revolution is dedicated to creating meaningful results for companies outside of the Bay Area. And they are coming to Houston. Join HX Venture Fund to hear Tige Savage, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Revolution Ventures, David Hall, Managing Partner at Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, and Martin Simoncic, President B2B at PROS discuss Revolution's perspective on venture investing, current and future trends, and how Houston fits in among other topics.

The event is Wednesday, April 27, at 8:30 to 10 am at The Ion (4201 Main St.). Click here to register.
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Why the banking biz is ripe for innovation, according to this Houston founder

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After our doctor and our child’s school, a bank is an institution with which we share the relationship that is most personal and vital to our well-being in this world. Some might put a good vet third, but other than that, no private entity is more responsible for escorting us to a healthier and happier outcome over the course of our lives.

The bank vault is a traditional symbol of security and prosperity, and not just for our pennies. We safeguard possessions in banks that are so important we don’t even trust keeping them in our own houses. Wills, birth certificates, and the precious family heirlooms of countless families are held in safety deposit boxes behind those giant vault doors, and banks have been the traditional guardians not only of our wealth but our identity and future as well.

The importance of relationship banking

Faith and confidence in our banks is so fundamental to the customer relationship that it has evolved into a unique and otherwise unthinkable arrangement for any good capitalist in a healthy marketplace: banks pay us to be their customers. Imagine a doctor offering you $20 for trusting them to give you a colonoscopy and you’re on the road to understanding the sacrosanct union between bank and customer.

In fact, this trust is so deeply anchored in the American psyche that a new generation of digital banking companies has sprung up on the idea that it doesn’t need to exist in physical reality. The fintech industry has exploded in the last decade, and today, over 75 percent of Americans are engaged in online banking in one form or another. Every single one of those 200 million customers are taking for granted that they will be well served, despite having no personal guidance through any of the financial products and services that these online entities provide.

Benefits of fostering relationships with banking customers

In the late 90s and early 2000s brick-and-mortar banks realized that greater personalized care for their customers was going to be a critical point of competition. The in-person experience is an opportunity to offer advice and incentives for a wide range of products and financial management assistance. It’s rooted in an incredibly simple axiom that is taking hold in every aspect of modern society: everyone benefits if we all get along better.

There’s a lot of statistical traction behind this theory. Customers who report they are “financially healthy” are down 20 percent over the last year, which means people are looking for guidance. 73 percent of customers who visit a local bank branch report having a personal relationship with their bank, while only 53 percent say the same of their digital institution. Most importantly, although many digital banks are offering similar products and services to their real-world counterparts, customer engagement remains very low.

It starts with your products

The truth is, today’s bank customers still want that same personal relationship their great-grandparents had before they engage with deeper financial products and services. They believe it makes them more financially successful, and confirm that human connections and economic prosperity go hand-in-hand.

Products that are Challenging for Digital Markets

Residential mortgages, for example, are an $18 trillion dollar industry that deals in durations longer than most digital banking services have even existed. The perception of continuity and stability is highly valued by clients in the mortgage relationship. Today, most customers feel that only comes with a handshake and a smile from an employee who has to fit in a meeting before they pick their kids up from school.

While digital firms have proven themselves capable of offering savings and checking services, most have fallen flat on the mortgage front because of the premium on personal relationships. Loyalty is the reward for time, service, and shared experience, and financial institutions that cannot provide that package for their customers are never going to access a deeper and more meaningful portfolio of services.

Finding Well-suited Products for Digital Finance

The message for the digital finance world is as clear as it is pressing. The future of the industry will revolve around more personalized experiences, interactions, and long-term products. At the same time, the American public has embraced digital banking, and we are looking at a new generation of bank users who may never walk through a branch door in their life.

In order to compete, the digital industry will need to identify and develop a range of long-term products and services that make sense for customers in today’s environment. Mortgages may be out of the question, but the safety deposit box holds great promise for industry in-roads. Optimal services for deeper, more personal customer engagement include things like:

  • Legacy and estate planning
  • Will preparation and safeguarding
  • Preservation of cherished photos and videos
  • Important personal data storage


Because these things are product-based, they are well suited to the digital ecosystem. The cryptocurrency industry and modern online banking have solidified consumer confidence in the digital bank vault, and there is a great deal of faith in the perpetuity of electronic documents and storage.

The IRS estimates that upwards of 90 percent of Americans are E-filing their taxes and that only comes with a widespread belief that our highly sensitive information can and will be preserved and protected by digital architecture.

Secure your future

Digital banking firms that want to thrive in the upcoming decades are going to need to innovate in long-term financial planning products that bring their customers into a closer, more personal relationship with them.

The finance world will continue to change and develop, but the hopes, fears, and dreams of people trying to build and secure a better future for themselves and their children will remain the same for tomorrow’s customers as they were for their parents and grandparents.

It is up to the digital finance industry to adapt and develop to provide the customers of today—and tomorrow— with these invaluable services and securities.

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Emily Cisek is the founder and CEO of The Postage, a tech-enabled, easy-to-use estate planning tool.

How a Houston med device startup pivoted to impact global health and diagnostics

HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 153

In the span of a couple years, a Houston startup went from innovating a way for patients with degenerative eye diseases to see better to creating a portable and affordable breath-based diagnostics tool worthy of a prestigious grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

Steradian Technologies, founded in 2018, set out to create human super-sight via proprietary optics. In early 2020, the company was getting ready to start testing the device and fundraising. Then, the pandemic hit, knocking the company completely off course.

Co-founder and CEO of the company, Asma Mirza, says on this week's Houston Innovators Podcast that the Steradian co-founders discussed how their optic technology could detect diseases. Something just clicked, and the RUMI device was born.

"We are from Houston, Texas, which is one of the most diverse and accessible cities in the country, and we were having trouble with basic diagnostic accessibility. It was taking too long, it was complicated, and people were getting sick and didn't know if they were positive or negative," Mirza says on the show. "That's when we pivoted the company and decided we were going to pivot the company and use optics to detect diseases in breath."

Fast forward two years and the company has been recognized by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with a grant to sport the development of the tool — which costs about the same price as a latte to make. The impact for global health is huge, Mirza says, allowing for people to test their breath for diseases from their own homes in the same time it takes to take your temperature.

"You blow into a cartrige and we're able to take the air from your breath into a liquid sample," Mirza says, explaining how the device uses photons to produce quick results. "It's wild that we still don't have something like that yet."

She shares more details about the grant and the future applications for the technology — as well as the role Houston and local organizations have had on the company — on the podcast. Listen to the interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.


Houston cleantech company sees shining success with gold hydrogen

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Houston-based cleantech startup Cemvita Factory is kicking things into high gear with its Gold Hydrogen product.

After successfully completing a pilot test of Gold Hydrogen in the oil-rich Permian Basin of West Texas, Cemvita has raised an undisclosed amount of funding through its new Gold H2 LLC spin-out. The lead investors are Georgia-based equipment manufacturer Chart Industries and 8090 Industries, an investment consortium with offices in New York City and Los Angeles.

Gold Hydrogen provides carbon-neutral hydrogen obtained from depleted oil and gas wells. This is achieved through bioengineering subsurface microbes in the wells to consume carbon and generate clean hydrogen.

Cemvita says it set up Gold H2 to commercialize the business via licensing, joint ventures, and outright ownership of hydrogen assets.

“We have incredible conviction in next-generation clean hydrogen production methods that leverage the vast and sprawling existing infrastructure and know-how of the oil and gas industry,” Rayyan Islam, co-founder and general partner of 8090 Industries, says in a news release.

Traditional methods of producing hydrogen without greenhouse gas emissions include electrolysis powered by renewable sources like wind, solar or water, according to Cemvita. However, production of green hydrogen through normal avenues eats up a lot of energy and money, the startup says.

By contrast, Cemvita relies on depleted oil and gas wells to cheaply produce carbon-free hydrogen.

“The commercialization and economics of the hydrogen economy will require technologies that produce the hydrogen molecule at a meaningful scale with no carbon emissions. Gold H2 is leading the charge … ,” says Jill Evanko, president and CEO of Chart Industries.

Investors in Cemvita include Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, an investment arm of Houston-based Occidental Petroleum, as well as BHP Group, Mitsubishi, and United Airlines Ventures.

Oxy Low Carbon Ventures and United Airlines Ventures are financing Cemvita’s work on sustainable jet fuel. United Airlines operates a hub at George Bush Intercontinental Airport Houston.

Founded by brother-and-sister team Moji and Tara Karimi in 2017, Cemvita uses synthetic biology to turn carbon dioxide into chemicals and alternative fuels.

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