After a successful overseas festival in Sydney, Australia, SXSW will head to London in 2025. Photo courtesy of SXSW

Get ready to see triple in 2025: South by Southwest (SXSW) is heading across the pond for its first-ever conference in London in June 2025.

According to a press release, the new European festival and conference will aim to showcase London's "status as a global meeting place." Much like the original Austin festival, SXW London will occupy dozens of galleries, clubs, and other event venues throughout Shoreditch – located in east London – for its conference sessions, exhibitions, film screenings, activations, music showcases, and much more.

"SXSW London will build on Austin's incredible legacy, presenting an event that underpins why SXSW is the go-to destination for professionals and creatives seeking meaningful connections, unexpected experiences and ideas that can help shape the world," said SXSW London managing director Randel Bryan in the release.

SXSW held its first overseas festival in Sydney, Australia in 2023; The festival counted more than 287,000 attendees, encouraging leadership and organizers to expand further outside of the U.S.

London was a clear-cut choice thanks to the city's diversity, economy, and innovation. The release said the United Kingdom's cultural and creative industries alone generate £125 billion (over $156 billion), with more than half of that revenue coming from London.

Sadiq Kha, the mayor of London, said in a statement that he was inspired to facilitate a partnership with SXSW after visiting Austin during the 2018 festival.

"This is a historic opportunity for London to once again bring the world’s most exciting talent together as part of our mission to build a better and more prosperous London for everyone," Kha said.

While official festival dates are still under wraps, the release says badges are expected to go on sale in October 2024. More information about SXSW London 2025 can be found on sxswlondon.com.

------

This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Two Houston companies will be pitching at SXSW in March hoping to win their categories and take home "Best of Show." Marie Ketring/via sxsw.org

2 Houston companies named pitch finalists for SXSW 2019

Headed to ATX

In two months, a couple Houston companies will be packing their bags and headed for Austin, where they will pitch their startups at the 11th annual SXSW Pitch event. SXSW announced the 50 finalists on Wednesday.

A total of six Texas companies — two from Houston and four from Austin — will be presenting to a live audience and panel of judges at the March 9 to 10 competition. There are 10 categories, each with one winner, as well as an overall "Best of Show" winner.

Houston-based Fluidity Technologies will be presenting as its drone controller, FT Aviator, has been named a finalist in the Hyper-Connected Communities category. Fluidity is lead by CEO Scott Parazynski, a former NASA astronaut, pilot, and physician. The FT Aviator has the potential to revolutionize drone technology. The joystick-like controller is based off movement in space, Parazynski says, and is less prone to user error by someone not as well trained in drone operation.

"I've flown aircraft and spacecraft," Parazynski says in an InnovationMap article about the company. "But none allowed for the precision of motion I was looking for. None prevented unintended motion."

The other Houston company selected as a finalist is Zibrio SmartScale, which is in the Health and Wearable category. The company is all about balance. Its product, a smart scale that tracks balance, aims to reduce dangers that come with poor balance — injuries, deaths, and costs from falls. Katharine Forth leads the company as CEO and founder. The company was a member of TMCx's 2015 medical devices cohort.

SXSW's competition this year has expanded to include new categories and has seen an increase in startups.

"We have seen a 42 percent rise in applicants coming out of last year's event, and we couldn't be more thrilled to see such an impressive increase in the value of SXSW Pitch among the tech industry's most innovative startups," says SXSW Pitch Event Producer Chris Valentine in the release. "In addition to the creation of the new AI and blockchain categories, we've also expanded our advisory board to highlight geographic, gender, and racial inclusion – accelerating our desire to represent the world's most innovative and successful leaders in all areas of technology."

It's not just in the finalists that Houston is represented — two advisers are from the Bayou City. Mariam Jacob, of Allergy and Asthma Clinics of Houston, will be a pre-event coach, and Gabriella Rowe, CEO of Station Houston, will be an on-site coach.

Ad Placement 300x100
Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Houston named ‘star’ metro for artificial intelligence in new report

eyes on AI

A new report declares Houston one of the country’s 28 “star” hubs for artificial intelligence.

The Houston metro area appears at No. 16 in the Brookings Institution’s ranking of metros that are AI “stars.” The metro areas earned star status based on data from three AI buckets: talent, innovation and adoption. Only two places, the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, made Brookings’ “superstar” list.

According to Brookings, the Houston area had 11,369 job postings in 2024 that sought candidates with AI skills, 210 AI startups (based on Crunchbase data from 2014 to 2024), and 113 venture capital deals for AI startups (based on PitchBook data from 2023 to 2024).

A number of developments are boosting Houston’s AI profile, such as:

Brookings also named Texas’s three other major metros as AI stars:

  • No. 11 Austin
  • No. 13 Dallas-Fort Worth
  • No. 40 San Antonio

Brookings said star metros like Houston “are bridging the gap” between the two superstar regions and the rest of the country. In 2025, the 28 star metros made up 46 percent of the country’s metro-area employment but 54 percent of AI job postings. Across the 28 metros, the number of AI job postings soared 139 percent between 2018 and 2025, according to Brookings.

Around the country, dozens of metros fell into three other categories on Brookings’ AI list: “emerging centers” (14 metros), “focused movers” (29 metros) and “nascent adopters” (79 metros).

Innovation Labs @ TMC set to launch for early-stage life science startups

moving in

The Texas Medical Center will launch its new Innovation Labs @ TMC in January 2026 to better support life science startups working within the innovation hub.

The 34,000-square-foot space, located in the TMC Innovation Factory at 2450 Holcombe Blvd., will feature labs and life science offices and will be managed by TMC. The space was previously occupied by Johnson & Johnson's JLABS @TMC, a representative from TMC tells InnovationMap. JLABS will officially vacate the space in January.

TMC shares that the expansion will allow it to "open its doors to a wider range of life science visionaries," including those in the TMC BioBridge program and Innovation Factory residents. It will also allow TMC to better integrate with the Innovation Factory's offerings, such as the TMC Health Tech accelerator, TMC Center for Device Innovation and TMC Venture Fund.

“We have witnessed an incredible demand for life science space, not only at the TMC Innovation Factory, but also on the TMC Helix Park research campus,” William McKeon, president and CEO of the TMC, said in a news release. “Innovation Labs @ TMC enables us to meet this rising demand and continue reshaping how early-stage life science companies grow, connect, and thrive.”

“By bringing together top talent, cutting-edge research, and industry access in one central hub, we can continue to advance Houston’s life science ecosystem," he continued.

The TMC Innovation Factory has hosted 450 early-stage ventures since it launched in 2015. JLABS first opened in the space in 2016 with the goal of helping health care startups commercialize.