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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Houston researchers develop material to boost AI speed and cut energy use

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A team of researchers at the University of Houston has developed an innovative thin-film material that they believe will make AI devices faster and more energy efficient.

AI data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and use large cooling systems to operate, adding a strain on overall energy consumption.

“AI has made our energy needs explode,” Alamgir Karim, Dow Chair and Welch Foundation Professor at the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UH, explained in a news release. “Many AI data centers employ vast cooling systems that consume large amounts of electricity to keep the thousands of servers with integrated circuit chips running optimally at low temperatures to maintain high data processing speed, have shorter response time and extend chip lifetime.”

In a report recently published in ACS Nano, Karim and a team of researchers introduced a specialized two-dimensional thin film dielectric, or electric insulator. The film, which does not store electricity, could be used to replace traditional, heat-generating components in integrated circuit chips, which are essential hardware powering AI.

The thinner film material aims to reduce the significant energy cost and heat produced by the high-performance computing necessary for AI.

Karim and his former doctoral student, Maninderjeet Singh, used Nobel prize-winning organic framework materials to develop the film. Singh, now a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University, developed the materials during his doctoral training at UH, along with Devin Shaffer, a UH professor of civil engineering, and doctoral student Erin Schroeder.

Their study shows that dielectrics with high permittivity (high-k) store more electrical energy and dissipate more energy as heat than those with low-k materials. Karim focused on low-k materials made from light elements, like carbon, that would allow chips to run cooler and faster.

The team then created new materials with carbon and other light elements, forming covalently bonded sheetlike films with highly porous crystalline structures using a process known as synthetic interfacial polymerization. Then they studied their electronic properties and applications in devices.

According to the report, the film was suitable for high-voltage, high-power devices while maintaining thermal stability at elevated operating temperatures.

“These next-generation materials are expected to boost the performance of AI and conventional electronics devices significantly,” Singh added in the release.

Houston to become 'global leader in brain health' and more innovation news

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Editor's note: The most-read Houston innovation news this month is centered around brain health, from the launch of Project Metis to Rice''s new Amyloid Mechanism and Disease Center. Here are the five most popular InnovationMap stories from December 1-15, 2025:

1. Houston institutions launch Project Metis to position region as global leader in brain health

The Rice Brain Institute, UTMB's Moody Brain Health Institute and Memorial Hermann’s comprehensive neurology care department will lead Project Metis. Photo via Unsplash.

Leaders in Houston's health care and innovation sectors have joined the Center for Houston’s Future to launch an initiative that aims to make the Greater Houston Area "the global leader of brain health." The multi-year Project Metis, named after the Greek goddess of wisdom and deep thought, will be led by the newly formed Rice Brain Institute, The University of Texas Medical Branch's Moody Brain Health Institute and Memorial Hermann’s comprehensive neurology care department. The initiative comes on the heels of Texas voters overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure to launch the $3 billion, state-funded Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (DPRIT). Continue reading.

2.Rice University researchers unveil new model that could sharpen MRI scans

New findings from a team of Rice University researchers could enhance MRI clarity. Photo via Unsplash.

Researchers at Rice University, in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have developed a new model that could lead to sharper imaging and safer diagnostics using magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. In a study published in The Journal of Chemical Physics, the team of researchers showed how they used the Fokker-Planck equation to better understand how water molecules respond to contrast agents in a process known as “relaxation.” Continue reading.

3. Rice University launches new center to study roots of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

The new Amyloid Mechanism and Disease Center will serve as the neuroscience branch of Rice’s Brain Institute. Photo via Unsplash.

Rice University has launched its new Amyloid Mechanism and Disease Center, which aims to uncover the molecular origins of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other amyloid-related diseases. The center will bring together Rice faculty in chemistry, biophysics, cell biology and biochemistry to study how protein aggregates called amyloids form, spread and harm brain cells. It will serve as the neuroscience branch of the Rice Brain Institute, which was also recently established. Continue reading.

4. Baylor center receives $10M NIH grant to continue rare disease research

BCM's Center for Precision Medicine Models has received funding that will allow it to study more complex diseases. Photo via Getty Images

Baylor College of Medicine’s Center for Precision Medicine Models has received a $10 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health that will allow it to continue its work studying rare genetic diseases. The Center for Precision Medicine Models creates customized cell, fly and mouse models that mimic specific genetic variations found in patients, helping scientists to better understand how genetic changes cause disease and explore potential treatments. Continue reading.

5. Luxury transportation startup connects Houston with Austin and San Antonio

Shutto is a new option for Houston commuters. Photo courtesy of Shutto

Houston business and leisure travelers have a luxe new way to hop between Texas cities. Transportation startup Shutto has launched luxury van service connecting San Antonio, Austin, and Houston, offering travelers a comfortable alternative to flying or long-haul rideshare. Continue reading.

Texas falls to bottom of national list for AI-related job openings

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For all the hoopla over AI in the American workforce, Texas’ share of AI-related job openings falls short of every state except Pennsylvania and Florida.

A study by Unit4, a provider of cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for businesses, puts Texas at No. 49 among the states with the highest share of AI-focused jobs. Just 9.39 percent of Texas job postings examined by Unit4 mentioned AI.

Behind Texas are No. 49 Pennsylvania (9.24 percent of jobs related to AI) and No. 50 Florida (9.04 percent). One spot ahead of Texas, at No. 47, is California (9.56 percent).

Unit4 notes that Texas’ and Florida’s low rankings show “AI hiring concentration isn’t necessarily tied to population size or GDP.”

“For years, California, Texas, and New York dominated tech hiring, but that’s changing fast. High living costs, remote work culture, and the democratization of AI tools mean smaller states can now compete,” Unit4 spokesperson Mark Baars said in a release.

The No. 1 state is Wyoming, where 20.38 percent of job openings were related to AI. The Cowboy State was followed by Vermont at No. 2 (20.34 percent) and Rhode Island at No. 3 (19.74 percent).

“A company in Wyoming can hire an AI engineer from anywhere, and startups in Vermont can build powerful AI systems without being based in Silicon Valley,” Baars added.

The study analyzed LinkedIn job postings across all 50 states to determine which ones were leading in AI employment. Unit4 came up with percentages by dividing the total number of job postings in a state by the total number of AI-related job postings.

Experts suggest that while states like Texas, California and Florida “have a vast number of total job postings, the sheer volume of non-AI jobs dilutes their AI concentration ratio,” according to Unit4. “Moreover, many major tech firms headquartered in California are outsourcing AI roles to smaller, more affordable markets, creating a redistribution of AI employment opportunities.”

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