ViVa Center — located at the old Compaq headquarters — received $40 million in C-PACE financing to revitalize its facility. Rendering courtesy of ViVa Center

A technology hub in Houston has fresh funding to drive tech advancement and data center growth.

Texas’ Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) program Lone Star PACE has arranged $40 million in C-PACE financing for the revitalization of ViVa Center in Houston to help support the development of data centers that revolve around the growth of AI.

“At ViVa Center, our commitment to technological innovation and forward-thinking design drives the integration of state-of-the-art building systems,” Freddy Vaca, president of VivaVerse Solutions said in a news release.

The facility is a turnkey data center that caters to hyper-scale users in cloud computing and AI.

VivaVerse Solutions’ ViVa Center is a 2.3-million-square-foot technology hub that was once Compaq headquarters, and also once owned by Hewlett-Packard Enterprise. The ViVa Center will offer 250 megawatts of power, a dedicated chilled water plant and a natural gas pipeline for energy generation with the new development. In addition, improvements will include LED lighting, advanced HVAC systems, energy-efficient windows, and high-efficiency plumbing upgrades.

“We are thrilled to have partnered with VivaVerse Solutions on this much-needed project,” Lee McCormick, president of Lone Star PACE said in a news release. “Demand for data center infrastructure has exploded amid a rise in data consumption and technological innovation, and it’s exciting to see C-PACE play a role in meeting that need.”

C-PACE gives access to property owners to long-term financing for energy and water conservation systems at commercial buildings at lower costs. The property owners can use C-PACE to finance building retrofits, recapitalizations , or new construction. Nuveen Green Capital served as a capital provider for the project. The project involves retrofitting an existing building with Phase 1 being scheduled for completion this fall.

“We are proud to expand our partnership with Lone Star PACE by providing $40 million in C-PACE capital to VivaVerse Solutions for the deep retrofit of their data center,” Sean Ribble, senior director of originations at Nuveen Green Capital, said in a news release. “ In a capital-constrained market, more owners and developers are recognizing the value of C-PACE as a flexible, cost-efficient financing solution for commercial real estate projects of all asset classes. We look forward to supporting many more C-PACE deals across Texas as the platform continues its expansion as a more mainstream financing option.”

Michelle Stansbury, vice president of innovation and IT applications at Houston Methodist, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast. Photo courtesy of Houston Methodist

Houston innovator powers health care innovation by collaboration — inside and outside of the hospital setting

HOUSTON INNOVATORS PODCAST EPISODE 202

It might surprise most to know that Houston Methodist doesn't have an innovation department within their hospital system — at least not one set up as you'd imagine, with a team specifically dedicated to innovation. Instead, Houston Methodist's Digital Innovation Obsessed People, or DIOP, consists of leaders across departments.

Michelle Stansbury is one of those leaders. As vice president of innovation and IT applications at Houston Methodist, she oversees the system's IT department and serves as a leader within its innovation efforts. This includes the Center for Innovation Technology Hub — which opened in 2020 in the Texas Medical Center location and opened its Ion outpost last week.

Stansbury explains on the Houston Innovators Podcast how effective this distribution of innovation responsibilities has been for Houston Methodist. With everyone having a seat at the table — operations knows the biggest problems that need solutions, IT knows how to deploy technology, etc. — implementation of new innovations has been sped up.

"If we partner together, we should be able to succeed fast or fail fast," she says on the show. "We've been able to find a solution, pilot it, and, if it works well, roll it out at a speed that most other organizations have not been able to do. It's been highly successful for us."

The newest way Houston Methodist is mixing up how it brings in innovative solutions to its team and patients is by taking its team outside of the Texas Medical Center and its hospitals in general. Now, Houston Methodist has a permanent tech hub in the Ion, owned and operated by Rice Management Company, on the lower level of the building, completely open to any of the Ion's visitors.

"We've always had a great partnership with Rice. This almost felt like an extension with Houston Methodist and our Rice collaboration with the Ion," Stansbury says. "Our main goals have been how can we utilize the talent that's housed out of that facility."

She explains that the new hub is an extension of the original hub in the TMC hospital, and that innovators who are interested in collaborating with Houston Methodist — especially those with solutions applicable to health care — can visit the Ion hub as an entry point.

Both hub locations showcase pilot technology Houston Methodist is working on, and that technology will then get deployed out into its hospital locations — and especially its Cypress hospital, which is being billed as being the "smart hospital of the future." The construction is underway and expected to deliver in 2025.

Stansbury shares more about this ninth location for Houston Methodist as well as more details on the new tech hub on the podcast. Listen to the interview here — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.

Houston is primed to become an energy tech hub amid ongoing energy transition.

Houston has what it takes to be a leading energy tech hub, says expert

GUEST COLUMN

As the energy capital of the world, Houston has been a long-time leader in the energy industry, particularly oil and gas. With cutting-edge research and technological breakthroughs, unique talent of energy veterans and engineering know-how, the city is swiftly developing into a booming energy technology hub.

Houston’s R&D, talent pool, energy infrastructure, and favorable business environment is fostering the growth of technology-driven energy initiatives. These factors differentiate Houston's energy tech ecosystem from other tech hubs in the U.S., in similar ways to how Silicon Valley has been known for technology and software and Boston and New York for biotech and fintech ecosystems, respectively.

Primarily, Houston's proximity to major energy players has played a crucial role in its evolution as an energy technology hub. Around 34 percent of all publicly traded oil and gas companies in the U.S. are headquartered in the city. Even the energy companies that are headquartered outside of Houston (e.g., Exelon, Duke Energy, and NextEra Energy) have established their energy transition headquarters and plants/infrastructure here. This proximity enables energy technology startups easy access to market, expertise, resources, and funding, fostering a vibrant ecosystem that supports their growth.

Moreover, with an expanding network of academic and commercial R&D activity, the city has become a rising hub of technological development. It currently houses more than 21 business research centers focusing on various aspects related to energy transition through design, prototype, and applied intelligence studios.

For instance, the Greater Houston Partnership, a key organization in promoting Houston’s economic growth, has been actively involved in positioning the city as a leader in the global energy transition space. Some of the notable green energy startups leading Houston’s energy transition are Sunnova, Solugen, Fervo Energy, Syzygy Plasmonics, Ionada, and Energy Transition Ventures.

The emergence of startup development organizations throughout the city, including workplaces, incubators, and accelerators, in recent years has fostered collaboration among founders, investors, and talent, thereby accelerating the rate of business formation and growth. Accelerators and incubators such as Halliburton Labs, Greentown Labs, The Ion District, and Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator are key supporters of innovation and entrepreneurship in Houston’s energy technology landscape.

In addition, government funding is catalyzing Houston’s growth in energy tech. Most prominently, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is likely to stimulate greater investment in solar and wind energy, charging infrastructure, and electric vehicles in Houston. It will support the city’s R&D institutions and technology developers in pioneering energy transition for carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCS/CCUS), hydrogen, and renewable fuels, resulting in a 13-fold increase in capital expenditure for infrastructure between 2024 and 2035.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) also focus on promoting and funding research and development of advanced energy technologies, many of which are coming out of Houston.

Further, Houston has a strong talent pool with a workforce of three million individuals and the fourth largest concentration of engineers in the US. In 2022, the growth rate of tech employment in the region was 3.5 percent while the national growth rate was 3.2 percent.

The energy industry, research institutions, and government are coming together in Houston to propel it to become a leader in energy technology. However, the city still has a ways to go: Houston needs to build more in non-traditional energy sectors (e.g. wind, solar, etc.), attract more entrepreneurs to start companies here, and get more investors to invest here. Having successful energy tech exits and reinvestment in new startups here would help.

Houston has tremendous potential to lead energy technology, and with the rapidly growing focus of research, businesses, and government policies on energy transition. The confluence of energy tech players coming together in Houston is driving its evolution as an energy tech hub, making it an exciting place for new technologies and businesses to develop and grow, and reinvest in Houston.

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Michael Torosian is a partner in the corporate practice in the San Francisco office of Baker Botts. He is outside general counsel to emerging companies and their investors and advisors at all stages.

The Center for Innovation at Houston Methodist has opened its new Technology Hub to showcase its efforts to advance digital health. Natalie Harms/InnovationMap

Photos: Houston Methodist opens new hub to showcase health tech of the future

what's next for health care?

Houston Methodist is regularly exploring new digital health technologies, but, until recently, lacked a proper space to demonstrate their vision for the future of health care. Now, with the Center for Innovation's Technology Hub, the hospital has just that.

The tech hub opened earlier this month in Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. The 3,500-square-foot tech testing ground was renovated from an 18-room patient wing and showcases new digital health technologies like virtual reality, ambient listening, wearables, voice control, and more.

"Basically this space is like a laboratory for digital health innovations," says Josh Sol, administrative director of Innovation and Ambulatory Clinical Systems at Houston Methodist. "It's an opportunity to bring doctors, administrators, and subject matter experts to talk through what digital health could be at Houston Methodist."

The tech hub has re-imagined the experiences patients have and demonstrated the effect technology can have in various experiences — from the waiting room or outpatient care to at-home health and a voice control-optimized patient room. There's a virtual reality demo room that showcases the hospital's use of VR for distraction therapy, as well as for a doctor to demonstrate a surgical procedure for his or her patient.

"Part of this space is to change culture within the organization to promote this type of technology and really grow it because we think we can have some really positive impacts with our patients with these collaboration tools.

The space also features coworking space for industry experts — like Amazon or Microsoft — to come in to co-create, Sol says. Houston Methodist was also the first hospital in Houston to sign up for Apple Health's beta program.

Tours are open to industry professionals, vendors, and staff.

"We're excited for what the future can bring with this space," Sol tells InnovationMap.

Click through the slideshow to see some of the tech hub's rooms and the technology featured.

An interactive space

Natalie Harms/InnovationMap

The purpose of the new tech hub is to allow visitors to interact with technology Houston Methodist is exploring, as well as to tell the story of the hospital's innovations and its patients. The screen upon entry to the hub is one of the only 8K touch-screen monitors and allows a viewer to tap through to see a layout of the hub as well as to hear a story of one of Methodist's patients.

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CultureMap Emails are Awesome

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

WHERE TO BE

From networking meetups to pitch competitions, November is filled with opportunities for Houston innovators. Here's a roundup of events you won't want to miss out on so mark your calendars and register accordingly.

Note: This post might be updated to add more events.

Featured event: November 14 — Houston Innovation Awards

Celebrate Houston innovation at InnovationMap's 2024 Houston Innovation Awards on November 14 at TMC Helix Park. Click here to read about the finalists. Secure your tickets below.


November 4 - 5 — In-Space Physical AI Workshop

The Rice University Office of Innovation, in partnership with NASA, Purdue University and the Ion District, will host the In-Space Physical AI Workshop. The event will bring together industry leaders, startups, government agencies and researchers to explore the cutting edge of AI in space exploration. Workshop sessions will cover a range of topics in physical AI ⎯ robots or systems that apply AI to autonomously sense, interact with and adapt to their environment using complex computational, sensory and motor abilities to perform challenging real-world tasks.

This event begins Monday, November 4, from 8 am to 8:30 pm at the Ion. Click here to register.

November 6 — Waste to Work: Transforming Waste into Valuable Resources

This event will delve into innovative strategies and technologies that transform waste materials into valuable resources, driving sustainability and economic growth. Topics will include innovative technologies in waste conversion, policy and regulation, economic opportunities in waste management, success stories from around the world, and trends and predictions.

This event is Wednesday, November 6, from 3 to 6 pm at the Cooley University Life Center at UTHealth Houston. Click here to register.

November 7 — Bots & Brews

This event is the fall meetup for the H-town robotics, drones, geospatial, data & AI crowd, hosted by the Energy Drone & Robotics Coalition. Leaders from energy/engineering asset owner/operators, service companies, tech solution providers, startups & investors in the energy and industrial robotics/drone/data & AI community come together to catch up and talk about real-world solutions, projects and deployments.

The event is Thursday, November 7, from 5:30 to 7:45 at The Cannon West. Click here to register.

November 8 — Tech Fest Live

The UH Technology Bridge will be buzzing with students, industry leaders, innovators, and tech enthusiasts as they come together to celebrate the future of technology and innovation. There will be exciting panel discussions, interactive exhibits, and networking opportunities in the fields of digital media, energy, AI and entrepreneurship.

This event is Friday, November 8, from 8 am to 4 pm at UH Technology Bridge. Click here to register.

November 12 — The New Majority Summit

1863 Ventures, a D.C.-based accelerator and venture capital firm, is focused on advancing New Majority entrepreneurs—those historically marginalized or underrepresented—towards greater wealth and success. This immersive program centers on the essential skills and insights needed to transition into becoming an effective CEO.

Throughout the event, registrants will delve into key topics, including the entrepreneurial mindset, understanding one's customer base, establishing scalable processes, financial management strategies, and effective fundraising techniques. Prepare to be inspired and empowered after hearing from 1863 CEO Melissa Bradley, founder & CEO of LAMIK Beauty Kim Roxie, co-founder of Donna's Recipe Gina Woods and more.

This event is Tuesday, November 12, from 8:30 am to 5 pm at the Ensemble Theatre. Click here to register.

November 12 — Software Day at the Ion: Blockchain 2.0: Innovating Across Industries

Software Day is a monthly series driving the support, inspiration, and connections needed to help startups on their path to rapid, sustainable growth. Each month, software day will include office hours (by application), a keynote session, and networking. This software day is moderated by Samantha Lewis, partner at Mercury. Panelists include the former CEO of BBVA Compass, Manolo Sanchez and Ian Epstein, co-CEO ProfitR, global head of capital markets and distribution at republic.

This event is Tuesday, November 12, from 3:30 to 7 pm at the Ion. Click here to register.

November 13 — Envision 2024

Learn how companies in the ecosystem of the largest medical center in the world are addressing challenges head-on, meet some of our entrepreneurs, and network. This event is presented in partnership with Innovate UK and BioInnovation Institute.

This event is Wednesday, November 13, from 1 to 5 pm at TMC Innovation Factory. Click here to register.

November 14 — State of the Texas Medical Center

The Greater Houston Partnership's State of the Texas Medical Center returns. William F. McKeon, President and CEO of the Texas Medical Center, will deliver an annual address, discussing the tremendous progress in discovery and life sciences at the world's largest medical center. New to this year's State of the Texas Medical Center, is a dynamic pitch competition, the TMC Innovation Pitch Tank.

This event is Thursday, November 14, from 11 am to 1:30 pm at Hilton Americas. Click here to register.

November 15 — 2024 ERG Symposium

This event, hosted by Houston Methodist, will include a keynote from Shona Pinnock, VP of DEI for Peloton as well as insights from other local organizations such as HESS, Houston Methodist, TDECU, Greystone and more. These experts will share how ERGS are impacting business goals, enhancing company culture and employee engagement and will provide valuable insights and actionable takeaways to help organizations maximize the effectiveness of ERGs.

This event is Friday, November 15, from 9 am to 1 pm at The Westin Houston Medical Center. Click here to register.

November 19 — A Texas Talk: Reflecting on the Past, Envisioning the Future

Center for Houston’s Future’s signature fall event, Dinner and Conversation presented by Harvey-Cleary, will feature an exciting conversation between two important Texas voices. Stephen Harrigan, the award-winning author of 12 fiction and non-fiction books, will appear in conversation with Sonal Shah, CEO of the Texas Tribune, who has a long record of social impact work across multiple sectors.

This event is Tuesday, November 19, from 6 to 9 pm at the River Oaks Country Club. Click here to register.

November 21 — Visionary Voices: A Fireside Chat with Dan Ammann, President of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions

In this fireside chat, Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions, will discuss ExxonMobil’s plans in advancing a thoughtful energy transition by delivering the critical energy and products the world needs and reducing their own and others’ greenhouse gas emissions. He’ll talk about Low Carbon Solutions’ transformative projects and investments aimed at bringing lower-emission technologies like hydrogen, lithium, and carbon capture and storage to market, making them accessible to carbon-intensive industries worldwide.

This event is Thursday, November 21, from 8 to 10 am at the Ion. Click here to register.

Overheard: Houston's top energy transition founders explain their biggest challenges

Houston Innovation Awards

From finding funding to navigating the pace of traditional oil and gas company tech adoption, energy transition companies face their fair share of challenges.

This year's Houston Innovation Awards finalists in the Energy Transition category explained what their biggest challenge has been and how they've overcome it. See what they said below, and make sure to secure your tickets to the Nov. 14 event to see which of these finalists win the award.

"The evolving nature of the energy industry presents opportunities to solve some of our industry's greatest challenges. At Amperon we help optimize grid reliability and stability with the power of AI demand forecasting."

Sean Kelly, CEO of Amperon, an AI platform powering the smart grid of the future

"The biggest challenge in leading an energy transition-focused startup has been balancing the urgency for sustainable solutions with the slow pace of change in traditional industries like oil and gas. Many companies are cautious about adopting new technologies, especially when it comes to integrating sustainability initiatives. We overcame this by positioning our solutions not just as environmentally friendly, but as tools that improve safety, efficiency, and cost savings. By aligning our value proposition with their operational goals and demonstrating real, measurable benefits, we were able to gain traction and drive adoption in industries that are traditionally resistant to change."

— Dianna Liu, CEO of ARIXTechnologies, an integrated robotics and data analytics company that delivers inspection services through its robotics platforms

"Scaling up production of hard tech is a major challenge. Thankfully, we recruited top-notch talent with experience in technology scale-up and chemical processes. In addition, we've begun building partnerships with some of the world's largest chemical manufacturers in our space who are excited to be a part of our journey and could rapidly accelerate our go to market strategy. We have significant demand for our product as early as 2025, so partnering with these companies to scale-up will bring our technology to market years ahead of doing it alone."

— Matthew Dawson, CEO of Elementium Materials, a battery technology with liquid electrolyte solutions

"Our pyrolysis reactor is a proprietary design that was developed during Covid. We ran simulations to prove that it works, but it was not easy to test it in a pilot facility, let alone scaling it up. We managed ... to run our pilot plant studies, while working with them remotely. We proved that our reactor worked and produced high quality products. Later, we built our own pilot plant R&D facility to continue running tests and optimizing the process. Then, there was the challenge of scaling it up to commercial size. ... We put together a task force of four different companies to come together to design and build this complex reactor in record time."

— Vibhu Sharma, CEO of InnoVentRenewables, a startup with proprietary continuous pyrolysis technology that converts waste tires, plastics, and biomass into valuable fuels and chemicals

"Energy storage and geothermal power generation are capital-intensive infrastructure projects, requiring investors with a deep commitment and the patience in terms of years to allow the technology to be developed and proven in the field. One challenge is finding that niche of investors with the vision to join our journey. We have succeeded in raising our $30 million series A with these types of investors, whom we’re confident will continue the journey as we scale."

— Cindy Taff, CEO of SageGeosystems, an energy company focused on developing and deploying advanced geothermal technologies to provide reliable power and sustainable energy storage solutions regardless of geography

"The biggest challenge we've faced has been to bring together massive independent power producers on one side who are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into grid infrastructure with multi- national tech giants on the other that don't have experience working much with energy storage. As a startup with only four employees, gaining credibility with these players was critical. We overcame this hurdle by becoming the preeminent thought leader on storage emissions, through publishing white papers, discussing the issues on podcasts, and (more)."

— Emma Konet, CTO of TierraClimate, a software provider that helps grid-scale batteries reduce carbon emissions

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This article originally ran on EnergyCapital.