Updated: 15+ can't-miss virtual business and innovation events in Houston for October

where to be online

Here's what interactive, virtual events to log on to this month. Getty Images

Every year, October is jam packed with tons of business events across Houston. Even in light of the pandemic, the shows must go on — online, that is.

From fireside chats and ask-me-anything meetings to summit and startup competitions, here are over 10 Houston innovation events you can attend virtually via online meetings. Be sure to register in advance, as most will send an access link ahead of the events.

Note: This post has been edited and republished to reflect new events.

October 5 — Introduction to the Latinx Startup Alliance

The Ion is hosting this fireside chat to allow attendees to learn what resources San Francisco-based Latinx Startup Alliance will bring to Houston and the importance of promoting opportunities and access for all Houstonians launching a tech startup and funding resources.

The event will take place online on Monday, October 5, at 5:30 pm. Register here.

October 6 — HXTV| VC Ask Me Anything Virtual Event ft Companyon Ventures

Houston Exponential is hosting a virtual ask-me-anything event with Companyon Ventures, which funds B2B software startups into their expansion-stage by injecting decades of startup and VC experience through operational hands-on investing.

The event will take place online on Tuesday, October 6, at noon. Register here.

October 6, 13, 20, & 27 — ABC's of Accelerators Series

Join The Ion for a series of virtual events throughout the month that tackle the ins and outs of startup accelerator programs.

The events will take place online on every Tuesday of the month at noon. Register here.

October 8 & 15 — Houston Low-Carbon Energy Innovation Summit

The Center for Houston's Future has put together two full days of programming centered around low-carbon innovation. Registration options $50 one-day passes or $75 two-day passes.

The event will take place online on Thursday, October 8, from 9 am to 1:30 pm, and Thursday, October 15, from 9 am to 3 pm. Register here.

October 14 — HXTV| VC Ask Me Anything Virtual Event ft IronSpring Ventures

Houston Exponential is hosting a virtual ask-me-anything event with IronSpring Ventures, a network-driven venture capital fund investing in digital industrial innovation.

The event will take place online on Wednesday, October 14, at noon. Register here.

October 14 — Pandemic Rising: The Threat to Female Ambition & Our Nation's Recovery

Join Sesh Coworking for a virtual town hall to discuss the impacts of the global pandemic and economic downturn on female career trajectory, female unemployment rates, increased childcare burdens and how the pandemic has thrust female equality in the workspace backwards by decades.

The event will take place online on Wednesday, October 14, at 1 pm. Register here.

October 14 — Core Conversations: Transition with Purpose

Join a Core Conversation with Brandy Guidry to learn how she leveraged her outreach and advocacy work to start consulting with startups.

The event will take place online on Wednesday, October 14, at 4 pm. Register here.

October 16 — Design Thinking for Tech and Innovation Workshop | Prototypes+User Testing

At this Ion Online event, learn some of the ways to prototype and identify features that will make up your MVP and usability testing techniques.

The event will take place online on Friday, October 16, at 11:30 am. Register here.

October 19 — PR 101 for Startups and Small Businesses

Want to generate press for your startup but have no budget? Join General Assembly for this PR 101 session to learn how to leverage PR strategies to grow your business. This session is ideal for startup founders and marketers and general enthusiasts who would like to learn PR strategies and tips. Our panelists will cover effective story telling, media relations, and content development.

The event will take place online on Monday, October 19, at 5 pm. Register here.

October 19-29 — Space Com Expo

We are dedicated to accelerating the global business of space. SpaceCom 2020's online event will feature eight days of unprecedented innovation, superior thought-leadership, and forward-thinking strategies all for free.

The event will take place online at various times from Monday, October 19, to Thursday, October 29. Register here.

October 20 — Houston, We Have a Leader: Fireside Chat with Head of JLABS @ TMC

Fiona Mack, the new regional head for JLABS @ TMC has landed in Space City, and she's sitting down with the one-any-only Melinda Richter, Global Head of JLABS, for a fireside chat on all things Lone Star State, JLABS and her Texas-sized plans for the future of JLABS @ TMC.

The event will take place online on Tuesday, October 20, at 11 am. Register here.

October 21 — Diversity Investor Academy's panel on cleantech

The Diversity Investor Academy has announced a panel will be discussing the latest reports published, the trends in Cleantech, and how it could affect early-stage investment from different perspectives: startups, BA, and VC.

The event will take place online on Wednesday, October 21, at 2 pm. Register here.

October 22 — MassChallenge 2020 Virtual Awards

MassChallenge Texas's Houston Cohort will reveal its top companies of 2020 at MCTX's first virtual awards. Cohorts from Austin, Boston, and Rhode Island will also be represented, and headliners for the event include Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global, and Linda Pizzuti Henry, managing director of the Boston Globe, and Chris Denson of Innovation Crush will be the host.

Click here to see the Houston finalists.

The event will take place online on Thursday, October 22, at 4 pm. Register here.

October 22 — How to Start a Startup: Heath Butler, Mercury Fund

Learn how to identify problems, needs, and trends worth pursuing and then how to create and evaluate possible solutions to these problems.

The event will take place online on Thursday, October 22, at 5:30 pm. Register here.

October 26-28 — 2020 Ken Kennedy Institute Data Science Conference

Now in its fourth year, the Ken Kennedy Institute Data Science Conference is a research, development, and innovation (RD&I) gathering, bringing together university and research labs (technology developers), key industry verticals (technology consumers), and IT industry (technology providers) that are looking at opportunities created by advances in AI, data analytics, machine learning and deep learning. It is structured to facilitate engagement and networking across all of these boundaries. The conference is specifically interested in highlighting use-cases that translate data to knowledge enabled by data and fueled by advances in data analytics, machine learning, deep learning, and AI.

The event will take place online on Monday, October 26, to Wednesday, October 28. Register here.

October 27-29 — ATCE Startup Village 

In addition to the Energy Startup Competition, the event will include expert presentations and table discussions. Participants will have opportunities to ask questions and hear advice from investors, industry representatives and veteran entrepreneurs. ATCE Startup Village is a partnership between the Society of Professional Engineers and the Rice Alliance.

The event will take place online on Tuesday, October 27, to Thursday, October 29. Register here.

October 28 — Venture Development Series #3: No Coding Required

In the last of its Venture Development Lilie workshop series, the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will build upon the themes covered in previous events and show participants how to create low fidelity prototypes without spending a dollar or knowing how to write a single line of code.

The event will take place online on Wednesday, October 28, at 4 pm. Register here.

October 29 — Ignite Madness finals

Female-led health tech founders face off in a startup competition like none other. Catch the first round bracket on October 22 at 9:30 am, or just tune in to the finals to see who takes the win (and, more importantly, the investment prizes).

The event will take place online on Thursday, October 29, at 6 pm. Register here.

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Mark Cuban calls AI ‘the greater democratizer’ for young entrepreneurs

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Texas billionaire Mark Cuban—whose investment portfolio includes Houston-based Holliball, a startup that makes and sells large inflatable holiday ornaments—believes AI is leveling the playing field for budding low-income entrepreneurs.

At the recent Clover x Shark Tank Summit in Las Vegas, the Shark Tank alum called AI “the greater democratizer.”

Cuban told Axios that free and low-cost AI tools enable disadvantaged teenagers to compete with seasoned professionals.

“Right now, if you’re a 14- to 18-year-old and you’re in not-so-good circumstances, you have access to the best professors and the best consultants,” Cuban said. “It allows people who otherwise would not have access to any resources to have access to the best resources in real time. You can compete with anybody.”

While Cuban believes AI is “the great democratizer” for low-income young people, low-income workers still face hurdles in navigating the AI landscape, according to Public Works Partners, an urban planning and consulting firm. The firm says access to AI among low-income workers may be limited due to cost, insufficient digital literacy and infrastructure gaps.

“Without adequate resources and training, these workers may struggle to adapt to AI-driven workplaces or access the educational opportunities necessary to acquire new skills,” Public Works Partners said.

Texas 2036, a public policy organization focused on the state’s future, reported in January AI jobs in Texas are projected to grow 27 percent over the next decade. The number 2036 refers to the year when Texas will celebrate its bicentennial.

As for the current state of AI, Cuban said he doesn’t think the economy is witnessing an AI bubble comparable to the dot-com bubble, which lasted from 1998 to 2000.

“The difference is, the improvement in technology basically slowed to a trickle,” Cuban said of the dot-com era. “We’re nowhere near the improvement in technology slowing to a trickle in AI.”

Houston's top innovators and startups for 2025 and more news to know

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Editor's note: We're looking back at the top Houston innovation news for the first half of October 2025, including the big reveal of our 2025 Houston Innovation Awards finalists. Here are the five most-read InnovationMap stories from Oct. 1-15, 2025:

1. Announcing the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards finalists

Meet the finalists for the Houston Innovation Awards, taking place Nov. 13. Graphic via Gow Media

InnovationMap is proud to reveal the finalists for the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards. Taking place on November 13 at Greentown Labs, the fifth annual Houston Innovation Awards will honor the best of Houston's innovation ecosystem, including startups, entrepreneurs, mentors, and more. This year's finalists were determined by our esteemed panel of judges, comprised of past award winners and InnovationMap editorial leadership. Continue reading.

2. 5 minority-founded Houston startups shine as Innovation Awards finalists

These five minority-founded businesses stood out to the judges for the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards. Photo via marsmaterials.tech

Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the nation, and that trend carries over into its innovation and startup ecosystem. As part of the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards, our Minority-founded Businesses category will honor an innovative Houston startup founded or co-founded by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ representation. Five minority-founded businesses have been named finalists for the 2025 award. The finalists range from a wearable health tech device company to a clean chemical manufacturing business to a startup with a lunar mission. Continue reading.

3. 2 UH projects named finalists for $50M fund to shape future of Gulf Coast

One project involves the innovative recycling of wind turbines into seawall and coastal habitats. Courtesy rendering

Two University of Houston science projects have been selected as finalists for the Gulf Futures Challenge, which will award a total of $50 million to develop ideas that help benefit the Gulf Coast. Sponsored by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Gulf Coast Research Program and Lever for Change, the competition is designed to spark innovation around problems in the Gulf Coast, such as rising sea levels, pollution, energy security, and community resiliency. The two UH projects beat out 162 entries from organizations based in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Continue reading.

4. 3 Houston-area companies appear on Fortune’s inaugural AI ranking

Spring-based ExxonMobil ranks within the top 10 on the new Fortune AIQ 50 ranking. Photo via Getty Images.

Three companies based in the Houston area appear on Fortune’s inaugural list of the top adopters of AI among Fortune 500 companies. The Fortune AIQ 50 ranking is based on ServiceNow’s Enterprise AI Maturity Index, an annual measurement of how prepared organizations are to adopt and scale AI. To evaluate how Fortune 500 companies are rolling out AI and how much they value AI investments, Fortune teamed up with Enterprise Technology Research. The results went into computing an AIQ score for each company. Continue reading.

5. 10+ can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for October

From the fourth annual Tejano Tech Summit to the first-ever Ion Family Tech Festival, here's what not to miss this month. Image courtesy the Ion

Houston's October calendar is packed with informative and impactful events—plus a few fun ones, too. From the fourth annual Tejano Tech Summit to the first-ever Ion Family Tech Festival, here's what not to miss and how to register.Continue reading.

CPRIT hires MD Anderson official as chief cancer prevention officer

new hire

The Austin-based Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which provides funding for cancer research across the state, has hired Ruth Rechis as its chief prevention officer. She comes to CPRIT from Houston’s University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she led the Cancer Prevention and Control Platform.

Before joining MD Anderson, Rechis was a member of the executive leadership team at the Livestrong Foundation, an Austin-based nonprofit that supports people affected by cancer.

“Ruth has widespread connections throughout the cancer prevention community, both in Texas and across the nation,” CPRIT CEO Kristen Doyle said in a news release. “She is a long-term passionate supporter of CPRIT, and she is very familiar with our process, programs, and commitment to transparency. Ruth is a terrific addition to the team here at CPRIT.”

Rechis said that by collaborating with researchers, policymakers, public health leaders and community partners, CPRIT “can continue to drive forward proven prevention strategies that improve health outcomes, lower long-term costs, and create healthier futures for all.”

At MD Anderson, Rechis and her team worked with more than 100 organizations in Texas to bolster cancer prevention initiatives at clinics and community-based organizations.

Rechis is a longtime survivor of Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the lymph nodes, which are part of a person’s immune system.
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