Houston startup ecosystem ranked, new platform launches for entrepreneurs, and more trending innovation news

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Houston was named a top startup city — and more trending innovation news in Houston. Photo via Pexels

Editor's note:Let's roundup the most-read Houston innovation news from the week. Trending Houston tech and startup articles from InnovationMap and its daily newsletter included a few reports ranking Houston's innovative qualities, a new cohort of student startups, and more.

Report: Houston snags spot on worldwide ranking of top startup ecosystems in 2024

The Bayou City has made progress on an international ranking of startup ecosystems. Photo via Getty Images

Houston is moving up in the startup world.

The city rises to No. 48 on StartupBlink’s list of the world’s top startup ecosystems for 2024. That’s four spots higher than Houston’s No. 52 ranking on the 2023 list. StartupBlink is an economic research platform.

The Greater Houston Partnership recently noted the ascent of Houston’s ecosystem for startups.

“Houston’s tech scene has made many strides in recent years to set a foundation for startups to thrive, from founding to late stage, across industries,” the partnership says. “With a wealth of incubators coming online and a sharp uptick in venture capital funding, startups now have more landing spots and opportunity for growth in Houston than ever before.” Continue reading.

Rice accelerator names innovative second summer cohort

The 12-week program received a record number of applications, that spanned the campus' degree offerings. Photo via rice.edu

Rice University's Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, or Lilie, has named eight teams to the second cohort of the Lilie Summer Venture Studio.

The teams are focused on a range of innovative concepts, from health care solutions to running shoe design to automating recruiting from the NCAA Transfer Portal.

According to Rice, the 12-week program received a record number of applications, that spanned the campus' degree offerings.

“We are thrilled to see such a high level of interest and excitement from Rice students for a high-growth venture accelerator,” Kyle Judah, executive director of Lilie, said in a statement. “The diversity and creativity in this year's applications were truly inspiring, and we’re excited to support these promising ventures with the resources and mentorship they need to hit escape velocity and create the next generation of pillar companies for Houston, Texas and the world.” Continue reading.

Houston entrepreneurial community builder teams up with startup to provide AI-powered founder tools

The Cannon, a coworking community with locations across Houston, and nstAI, a newly launched suite of services for founders, announced a new partnership. Photo courtesy of The Cannon

A new Houston company has launched to provide a new platform of resources for entrepreneurs powered by artificial intelligence, and the new business already has its first partner.

The Cannon, a coworking community with locations across Houston, and nstAI, a newly launched suite of services for founders, announced a new partnership.

“The opportunity for The Cannon to partner with nstAI to bring a value-driven service offering to growth stage startup organizations is huge for our community. We are constantly looking for areas where we can support every startup, no matter where they are in their journey,” Jon Lambert, The Cannon’s CEO, says in a statement. Continue reading.

Houston-area schools score spots on of annual list of top universities for patents issued

The University of Houston — along with a couple of other Houston-area schools — made the cut of the top 100 schools for U.S. patents granted. Photo courtesy of UH.edu

The University of Houston System reigns as the patent king among colleges and universities in the Houston area.

A new list from the National Academy of Inventors puts UH in a 63rd-place tie — with 27 utility patents issued in 2023 — among 100 recognized schools. As the university explains, utility patents are among the world’s most valuable assets because they give inventors exclusive commercial rights to produce and use their technology.

Other schools in the Houston area that show up on the list are the Texas A&M University System, tied for 30th place with 66 patents, and Rice University, tied for 93rd place with 14 patents. Continue reading.

Texas organization grants over $40M to chemistry research in Houston and beyond

In all, the Welch Foundation on June 4 announced more than $40.5 million in academic research grants, equipment grants, and fellowships. Photo via Getty Images

Two local professors are among the newly announced recipients of funding from the Houston-based Welch Foundation, which finances chemical research projects.

The two professors are:

  • Jacinta Conrad, the Frank M. Tiller Professor in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at the University of Houston. Conrad will use her grant to investigate glass transition, a temperature change that affects polymers. She describes glass transition as one of the “most intriguing open problems in physical chemistry.”
  • James Shee, assistant professor in the Chemistry Department at Rice University. Shee will put his grant toward advancing theoretical chemistry.

Every year, the foundation provides annual grants totaling at least $100,000 to support chemistry research being carried out by full-time faculty members at colleges, universities, and other educational institutions in Texas. Continue reading.

Here's how Houston ranked on a global list of leading cities — and more trending innovation news in Houston. Photo via Getty Images

How Houston ranks as global leader, digital health co. raises pre-seed, and more trending innovation news

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Editor's note:Let's roundup the most-read Houston innovation news from the week. Trending Houston tech and startup articles from InnovationMap and its daily newsletter included a few reports ranking Houston and its influential companies, new funding for a digital health care platform, and more.

Report ranks Houston as a top global city — with one thing holding it back

Houston could have ranked higher on a global report of top cities in the world if it had a bit more business diversification. Photo via Getty Images

A new analysis positions the Energy Capital of the World as an economic dynamo, albeit a flawed one.

The recently released Oxford Economics Global Cities Index, which assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the world’s 1,000 largest cities, puts Houston at No. 25.

Houston ranks well for economics (No. 15) and human capital (No. 18), but ranks poorly for governance (No. 184), environment (No. 271), and quality of life (No. 298). Continue reading.

Houston innovator raises pre-seed funding for health care staffing platform

Ayoade Joy Ademuyewo founded Lokum last year to create a solution to better connecting medical specialists with health care facilities nationwide. Photo courtesy of Lokum

A Houston health care innovator is celebrating an oversubscribed round of pre-seed funding to improve on her startup's unique staffing platform.

Ayoade Joy Ademuyewo founded Lokum last year to create a solution to better connecting medical specialists with health care facilities nationwide. The new platform, which cuts out the middleman and lowers staffing costs, raised $700,000 in pre-seed funding that will go toward further development of the technology.

"Healthcare organizations spend $26 billion annually to support a crippling dependence on third-party agencies for connecting with clinical staff," Ademuyewo says in a news release. "Technological solutions that are pointed precisely to streamline and strengthen the relationships between highly specialized clinicians and their future employers are vital to alleviating this detrimental dependance, and central to our mission. Continue reading.

Houston businesses score spots on prestigious list of most influential companies

Five companies with connections to Houston have made it on this year’s 100 most influential companies by Time magazine. Photo via Getty Images

Five companies with strong ties to Houston have been named among this year’s 100 most influential companies by Time magazine.

To come up with the fourth annual list, Time solicited nominations and polled in-house contributors and correspondents, along with external experts. Editors at Time then evaluated each company based on factors such as impact, innovation, ambition, and success.

“The result is a diverse group of 100 businesses helping chart an essential path forward,” the magazine says. Continue reading.

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

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

Here are over 10 can't-miss events for Houston innovators in June. Photo courtesy of Rice University

From networking meet-ups to expert speaker summits, June 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. Continue reading.

University of Houston lab report breakthrough in cancer-detecting technology

This uniquely Houston technology is an AI program that allows scientists to understand the functions of cells by evaluating cell activation, killing, and movement. Photo via Getty Images

T-cell immunotherapy is all the rage in the world of fighting cancer. A Houston company’s researchers have discovered a new subset of T cells that could be a game changer for patients.

CellChorus is a spinoff of Navin Varadarajan’s Single Cell Lab, part of the University of Houston’s Technology Bridge. The lab is the creator of TIMING, or Time-lapse Imaging Microscopy In Nanowell Grids. It’s a visual AI program that allows scientists to understand the functions of cells by evaluating cell activation, killing, and movement.

Last month, Nature Cancer published a paper co-authored by Varadarajan entitled, “Identification of a clinically efficacious CAR T cell subset in diffuse large B cell lymphoma by dynamic multidimensional single-cell profiling.” Continue reading.

TMC announces its second cohort for its UK accelerator — and more trending innovation news in Houston. Photo courtesy of TMC

TMC names UK cohort, lawsuit against Houston fintech co. gets dismissed, and more trending innovation news

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Editor's note:Let's roundup the most-read Houston innovation news from the week. Trending Houston tech and startup articles from InnovationMap and its daily newsletter included a new cohort for a TMC accelerator, a win for a Houston fintech company, a NASA-backed space program at UH, and more.

16 digital health, medical device companies selected for UK, TMC accelerator

The Texas Medical Center has named its second cohort for its United Kingdom-focused health tech accelerator. Photo via TMC

For the second time, an accelerator backed by the United Kingdom and hosted by Texas Medical Center Innovation has named 16 companies to its new cohort.

In partnership with Innovate UK, TMC named the new cohort companies in an announcement this week. The companies are divided into two categories — digital health and medical device — and cover a wide range of specialties, from diagnostics and AI monitoring to non-surgical management and more.

The accelerator launched last year with its inaugural cohort with the mission of helping companies make their United States expansion by way of the TMC. Continue reading.

Houston college lands $5M NASA grant to launch new aerospace research center

The five-year grant from NASA will go toward creating the NASA MIRO Inflatable Deployable Environments and Adaptive Space Systems Center at UH. Photo via UH.edu

The University of Houston was one of seven minority-serving institutions to receive a nearly $5 million grant this month to support aerospace research focused on extending human presence on the moon and Mars.

The $4,996,136 grant over five years is funded by the NASA Office of STEM Engagement Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) Institutional Research Opportunity (MIRO) program. It will go toward creating the NASA MIRO Inflatable Deployable Environments and Adaptive Space Systems (IDEAS2) Center at UH, according to a statement from the university.

“The vision of the IDEAS2 Center is to become a premier national innovation hub that propels NASA-centric, state-of-the-art research and promotes 21st-century aerospace education,” Karolos Grigoriadis, Moores Professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of aerospace engineering at UH, said in a statement. Continue reading.

Judge dismisses case from former Trump officials suing Houston fintech platform

It's a win for Hello Alice. Photo courtesy Cayce Clifford/Hello Alice

A Houston fintech company is celebrating the dismissal of a lawsuit from former Trump Administration officials.

Last year, America First Legal sued Houston-based Hello Alice and its partner, Progressive Insurance, alleging that their program to award 10 $25,000 grants to Black-owned small businesses constitutes racial discrimination. AFL was founded by former Trump Administration adviser Stephen Miller and features a handful of other former White House officials on its board.

The case has been dismissed by a federal judge in Ohio, who said that the “Plaintiffs fail to allege any injury in fact that would support their standing to seek either retrospective or prospective relief," according to a news release from Hello Alice. Continue reading.

Houston investors back new platform for retail traders looking to follow financial influencers

CashPool is a new mobile platform that gives everyday investors the opportunity to derive influence from the investment strategies and trades made by trusted and influential stock traders. Photo via joinmypool.co

As anyone who witnessed the impact Gamestop's meme stock had on the country already realizes, influential investors can drive momentum within the financial sector. And one company with fresh funding from a Houston firm is betting on that exactly.

CashPool is a new mobile platform that gives everyday investors the opportunity to derive influence from the investment strategies and trades made by trusted and influential stock traders who have built substantial followings on social media platforms. By allowing retail traders the chance to join social media influencers’ various “pools” on its platform, CashPool is primed to change the way the masses acquire wealth.

This is the kind of algorithmic trading aimed at a new generation of investors that gets the attention of early-stage venture capital funds like Houston-based Ten X Labs, a pre-seed angel fund that recently invested in CashPool to help the trading platform continue its mission of transforming the investment landscape. Continue reading.

Innovative coastline project on Bolivar Peninsula receives federal funding

Known as Ike Dike, the proposed project received federal funding from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Photo courtesy

The Galveston’s Coastal Barrier Project recently received federal funding to the tune of $500,000 to support construction on its flood mitigation plans for the area previously devastated by Hurricane Ike in 2008.

Known as Ike Dike, the proposed project includes implementing the Galveston Bay Storm Surge Barrier System, including eight Gulf and Bay defense projects. The Bolivar Roads Gate System, a two-mile-long closure structure situated between Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula, is included in the plans and would protect against storm surge volumes entering the bay.

The funding support comes from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and will go toward the preconstruction engineering and design phase of Ecosystem Restoration feature G-28, the first segment of the Bolivar Peninsula and West Bay Gulf Intracoastal Waterway Shoreline and Island Protection. Continue reading.

CPRIT doled out fresh funding to Houston institutions — and more trending innovation news in Houston. Photo via tmc.edu

Top stories: CPRIT doles out $22M to Houston institutions, brainy new AI tech, and more

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Editor's note:Let's roundup the most-read Houston innovation news from the week. Trending Houston tech and startup articles from InnovationMap and its daily newsletter included fresh funding from CPRIT, a health tech startup's series A, and more.

Houston health care institutions receive $22M to attract top recruits

The grants, which are between $2 million to $6 million each, are earmarked for recruitment of prominent researchers. Photo via Getty Images

Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine has received a total of $12 million in grants from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas to attract two prominent researchers.

The two grants, which are $6 million each, are earmarked for recruitment of Thomas Milner and Radek Skoda. The Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) announced the grants May 14. Continue reading.

Houston startup secures $10M to expand into rural communities

Dr. Toby Hamilton has secured $10 million to grow his company. Photo via tmc.edu

A Houston company that is working on a value-based model for primary care has fresh funding to support its mission.

Hamilton Health Box announced the completion of a $10 million series A funding round led by 1588 Ventures with participation from Memorial Hermann Health System, Impact Ventures by Johnson & Johnson Foundation, Texas Medical Center Venture Fund, and the Sullivan Brothers.

Founded in 2019 by Dr. Toby R. Hamilton, the company will use the funding to fuel its expansion into rural areas to help assist those living in Health Professional Shortage Areas, or HPSAs. Continue reading.

Houston researchers create AI model to tap into how brain activity relates to illness

BrainLM is now well-trained enough to use to fine-tune a specific task and to ask questions in other studies. Photo via Getty Images

Houston researchers are part of a team that has created an AI model intended to understand how brain activity relates to behavior and illness.

Scientists from Baylor College of Medicine worked with peers from Yale University, University of Southern California and Idaho State University to make Brain Language Model, or BrainLM. Their research was published as a conference paper at ICLR 2024, a meeting of some of deep learning’s greatest minds.

“For a long time we’ve known that brain activity is related to a person’s behavior and to a lot of illnesses like seizures or Parkinson’s,” Dr. Chadi Abdallah, associate professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor and co-corresponding author of the paper, says. Continue reading.

Houston family's $20M donation drives neurodegeneration research

The Belfer family, led by oil tycoon Robert Belfer, had donated an additional $20 million to the Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium. Photo via mdanderson.org

Neurodegeneration is one of the cruelest ways to age, but one Houston family is sharing its wealth to invigorate research with the goal of eradicating diseases like Alzheimer’s.

This month, Laurence Belfer announced that his family, led by oil tycoon Robert Belfer, had donated an additional $20 million to the Belfer Neurodegeneration Consortium, a multi-institutional initiative that targets the study and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

This latest sum brings the family’s donations to BNDC to $53.5 million over a little more than a decade. The Belfer family’s recent donation will be matched by institutional philanthropic efforts, meaning BNDC will actually be $40 million richer. Continue reading.

Booming Houston suburb, other Texas towns among the fastest-growing U.S. cities in 2023

Here's how Texas towns stacked up on a new population report. Photo via Getty Images

One Houston suburb experienced one of the most rapid growth spurts in the country last year: Fulshear, whose population grew by 25.6 percent, more than 51 times that of the nation’s growth rate of 0.5 percent. The city's population was 42,616 as of July 1, 2023.

According to U.S. Census Bureau's Vintage 2023 Population Estimates, released Thursday, May 16, Fulshear — which lies west of Katy in northwest Fort Bend County - ranked No. 2 on the list of fastest-growing cities with a population of 20,000 or more. It's no wonder iconic Houston restaurants like Molina's Cantina see opportunities there.

The South still dominates the nation's growth, even as America’s Northeast and Midwest cities are rebounding slightly from years of population drops. The census estimates showed 13 of the 15 fastest-growing cities in the U.S. were in the South — eight in Texas alone. Continue reading.

Rice University celebrated the ground breaking of its new project — and more trending news from this week. Photo via Rice.edu

Rice's $54.5M business school expansion, Houston named a top life science hub, and more top innovation news

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Editor's note:Let's roundup the most-read Houston innovation news from the week. Trending Houston tech and startup articles from InnovationMap and its daily newsletter included a ranking of top life science hubs, the groundbreaking of Rice University's business school expansion, and more.


Houston recognized for its workforce among top life science cities

Houston — home to the Texas Medical Center — has made the cut for top life science metros. Photo via Getty Images

Of the top 25 United States metros ranked as the best for life science, Houston came in at lucky No. 13.

CommercialCafe issued a report this month ranking the top 25 U.S. cities for life science, factoring in volume of life science patents, number of life science establishments, size of workforce, educational institutions, office market, and more.

Houston stood out on the report for a few metrics. It might not be surprising, as Houston is home to the world's largest medical center, but the city boasts the 10th largest workforce with 5,100 workers employed in industry related occupations, the report found. Click here to continue reading.

Houston university breaks ground on $54.5M project to expand business school

The new building, which will be integrated with McNair Hall at Rice University, will deliver in 2026. Rendering via Rice.edu

Rice University broke ground last week on an innovative $54.5 million building for the Jones Graduate School of Business that is designed to be built around the current structure and also integrate with McNair Hall.

The 112,000-square-foot building aims to support Rice Business as it continues to grow while centralizing the university's new undergraduate business education and entrepreneurship programs. It's slated to be completed by spring 2026.

“We are energized by the momentum of our innovative new programs, the addition of new faculty and students and a fresh outlook on the future,” Peter Rodriguez, dean of the Jones Graduate School of Business, says in a statement. “Our commitment is to attract more talented and innovative students, faculty and staff to Rice, who will further improve our programs and research capabilities. This wonderful new facility is critical to fulfilling that commitment.” Click here to continue reading.

UH experts join $10M initiative advancing biopharmaceutical manufacturing

Richard Willson (center) and his team are working to develop a mix-and-read antibody measurement system that uses fluorescent materials to determine the amount of antibody present in a sample. Photo via UH.edu

An engineering project at the University of Houston has been selected to join a $10 million effort to bring biopharmaceutical manufacturing into the future. The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) chose the lab of Richard Willson, Huffington-Woestemeyer Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UH, as one of eight development projects that it will fund.

Willson and his team are working to develop a mix-and-read antibody measurement system that uses fluorescent materials to determine the amount of antibody present in a sample. The funding for this project is $200,000. This is the first grant UH has received from NIIMBL.

“In the course of the manufacturing processes, it's important to know the concentration of antibody in your sample and this measurement needs to be made many times in a typical manufacturing process,” said Willson in a press release. Click here to continue reading.

How this community-focused coworking concept plans to continue growth around Houston and beyond

Jon Lambert, CEO of The Cannon, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss the growth of The Cannon, including its newest location. Photo courtesy of The Cannon

For the past five years as CEO, Jon Lambert has faced some challenges leading The Cannon — from navigating a global pandemic to the subsequent evolved real estate market. But now, the coworking and community building company is poised for even more growth — especially with its ninth location opening up this month — thanks to its community-driven mission.

The Cannon Memorial opens its doors on Monday, May 13, with a week of free coworking and events. And while the new space, developed in partnership with MetroNational, is open for leasing, Lambert says on the Houston Innovators Podcast the first and foremost, The Cannon is a community.

"The Cannon wasn't created as a real estate play — we got into coworking because as we started supporting the community and asking the question of, 'what can we do for you?,' one of the highlights was, 'hey, we need space to work,'" he says on the show. "For us, we were going to provide space because that's one of the key needs of this community.

"Our measurement of success is not the buildings we have or the occupancy even — it's what's the success of the companies that are part of the community," he continues. Click here to continue reading.


Here's what it takes to be a middle class earner in Houston in 2024

The study's findings are shedding light on further growing financial stress and affordability struggles throughout the U.S., likely heightened by inflation and cost of living increases. Photo via Getty Images

No one wants to hear that they aren't making enough money to be considered "middle class," but those income ceilings are getting more difficult to maintain year after year across the Houston area. And a new report has revealed The Woodlands has the No. 10 highest income ceiling for American middle class earners in 2024.

According to the 2024 edition of SmartAsset's annual "What It Takes to Be Middle Class in America" report, middle class households in The Woodlands would need to make between $91,548 and $274,670 a year to be labeled "middle class." Additionally, the suburb's median middle class household income comes out to $137,335 a year.

The report used a variation of Pew Research's definition of a middle class household, stating the salary range is "two-thirds to double the median U.S. salary." To determine income limits, the report analyzed data from the Census Bureau's 2022 one-year American Community Survey. New to the 2024 report, SmartAsset widened its analysis of income data from 100 to 345 of the largest American cities. Click here to continue reading.

Here's what news InnovationMap readers were most interested in this week. Photo via Getty Images

$1.5B fund closes, Houston's EY finalists, The Cannon opens new location, and more trending innovation news

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Editor's note:Let's roundup the most-read Houston innovation news from the week. Trending Houston tech and startup articles from InnovationMap and its daily newsletter included an energy transition company securing its second fund, news of The Cannon Memorial's opening, and more.

17 Houston entrepreneurs named finalists in annual regional competition

The 17 finalists are competing for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Gulf South Award. Photo via Getty Images

Entrepreneurs from the Houston area have been named finalists for one of the region’s most prestigious business awards.

The 17 finalists are competing for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Gulf South Award. The Gulf South region includes parts of Texas, along with Louisiana and Mississippi.

An independent panel of judges selected the 48 finalists. Contenders were evaluated based on their demonstration of building long-term value through factors such as entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, and impact. Continue reading.

Photos: The Cannon announces opening of newest location in Memorial

Introducing — The Cannon Memorial, which is opening its doors on Monday, May 13. Photo courtesy of The Cannon

The Cannon is gearing up to open its latest location featuring coworking and community events and programming.

The coworking concept, which announced The Cannon Memorial earlier this year, will officially open the new location on Monday, May 13, with a full week of community-focused events. The new location was developed in partnership with MetroNational, the real estate developer behind 300-acre mixed-use development in West Houston.

“MetroNational has long been recognized for offering exceptionally located, high quality, well amenitized office space,” says Anne Marie Ratliff, vice president of Asset Management at MetroNational, in a news release. “The Cannon Memorial diversifies our existing office portfolio to provide flexible space solutions for the evolving needs of the business community.” Continue reading.

Houston investment firm closes $1.5B fund to fuel energy transition

EnCap is ready to deploy growth capital to advance the energy transition. Photo via Getty Images

A Houston-based energy transition-focused growth capital firm announced the close of its second fund to the tune of $1.5 billion.

EnCap Energy Transition's Fund II, or EETF II, was created to invest in solutions to decarbonize the power industry, and invest in low carbon fuels and carbon management.This second energy transition fund follows EnCap Energy Transition Fund I, a $1.2 billion fund that deployed capital to seven material portfolio company investments and four fund realizations with Broad Reach Power, Jupiter Power, Triple Oak, and Paloma Solar & Wind.

Previously, the company made investment commitments to five portfolio companies through EETF II, including Bildmore Renewables, Linea Energy, Parliament Solar, Power Transitions, and Arbor Renewable Gas. Continue reading.

Houston health tech startup scores $2.5M SBIR grant to advance unique cell therapy AI technology

CellChorus created a visualization AI program that helps scientists to better understand the functioning of cells, including their activation, killing and movement. Photo via Getty Images

A Houston biotech company just announced a new award of $2.5 million.

CellChorus, a spinoff of the Single Cell Lab at the University of Houston, announced the fresh funding, which comes from an SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH) through its National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).

CellChorus is the business behind a technology called TIMING, which stands for Time-lapse Imaging Microscopy In Nanowell Grids. It’s a visualization AI program that helps scientists to better understand the functioning of cells, including their activation, killing and movement. Continue reading.

Houston makes top 10 list of metros with most millionaires

Must be nice to have a seven-figure income. Photo via Getty Images

Anew population analysis has unveiled an exclusive view into how the elite live in the U.S., including a surprising discovery that Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land has the No. 9 highest concentration of millionaire households in the country.

The study by online real estate marketplace Point2Homes compared household data among millionaires in the 30 biggest U.S. metropolitan areas, including four Texas metros, between 2017 and 2022.

The report found that the number of U.S. households that earned at least $1 million a year more than quadruped within the five-year period, with the highest concentration of millionaire households located in the New York-Newark-Jersey City area across New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Continue reading.

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Houston's Texas Medical Center wins prestigious global award recognizing leaders in life science innovation

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Last month, a global organization honored innovation leaders in life sciences, and the Texas Medical Center was among the recipients of the prestigious awards program.

The 18th annual Prix Galien Awards Gala awarded TMC Innovation with the win in the "Incubators, Accelerators and Equity" category. The Galien Foundation created the awards program in 1970 in honor of Galien, the father of medical science and modern pharmacology. Alongside TMC, the other winners represented biotech, digital health, startups, and more.

"We are super proud of this distinction," Tom Luby, director of TMC Innovation says at Envision 2024 last month, crediting the TMCi team and TMC leadership for the award. "We lean on a lot of advisers and experts — people who volunteer their time to work with startups. Without (them), we would not have been successful."

Luby explains that a Prix Galien Award holds a Nobel Prize level of significance for the community.

TMCi was named a finalist in August, and competed against programs from Cedars-Sinai, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, TechConnect, and more.

"The Awards Committee is honored to witness the exceptional dedication and creativity of our nominees as they turn visionary ideas into transformative solutions for patients worldwide," says Michael Rosenblatt, chair of the Prix Galien USA Awards Committee, in a news release. "Their unwavering commitment to advancing patient care is truly commendable, and we are honored to celebrate their outstanding contributions to global health."

The award is displayed at TMC Innovation's office, located in the medical center at 2450 Holcombe Blvd.

Houston energy transition tech SPAC goes public through IPO

BLANK CHECK

Houston-based CO2 Energy Transition Corp. — a “blank check” company initially targeting the carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) sector — closed November 22 on its IPO, selling 6 million units at $10 apiece.

“Blank check” companies are formally known as special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). A SPAC aims to complete a merger, acquisition, share exchange, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination in certain business sectors. CO2 Energy Transition will target companies valued at $150 million to $250 million.

Each CO2 Energy Transition unit consists of one share of common stock, one warrant to purchase one share of common stock at a per-share price of $11.50, and the right to receive one-eighth of a share of common stock based on certain business conditions being met.

The IPO also included the full exercise of the underwriter’s option to buy 900,000 units to cover over-allotments. Kingswood Capital Partners LLC was the sole underwriter.

Gross proceeds from the IPO totaled $69 million. The money will enable the company to pursue CCUS opportunities.

“Recent bipartisan support for carbon capture legislation heavily emphasized the government’s willingness to advance and support technologies for carbon capture, utilization, storage, and other purposes as efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions [continue],” Co2 Energy Transition says in an October 2024 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Brady Rogers is president and CEO of CO2 Energy Transition. He also is CEO of Carbon Capture Development Co., a Los Angeles-based developer of direct air capture (DAC) technology, and president of Houston-based Antelope Energy Partners LLC, a provider of oil and gas services.

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This article originally ran on EnergyCapital.

Mastering control room management for smoother critical infrastructure operations

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Control room management (CRM) systems play an integral role in ensuring the safe and efficient remote operations of automated processes for the world's most critical infrastructures (CI). If anything goes wrong with these CIs, the risks are major: loss of life or catastrophic environmental disasters. For this reason, rigorous regulatory requirements are crucial.

CRM systems give operators the ability to automate and take control of CI processes, giving operators situational awareness and real-time visibility of remote assets. This minimizes the need for manual work and inspection, and scales a company's ability to safely manage many assets over a large geographical area from one control room.

Most CI have to handle hazardous material in some, if not all, of their operational areas. Though different by industry, regulations and oversight are extremely necessary.

ICS (Industrial Control Systems) and CRM tools are key components of real-time monitoring for advanced warning and emergency alarming. The combination of a “green, amber, red” alert on the screen of an operator's control console will prompt them to respond, and potentially lead to following emergency shut-down response procedures. Training and testing of the control systems and their related standards, procedures, and activities are all recorded in a system of record in compliance with regulatory requirements.

Current challenges
One of the biggest challenges is the ability to easily aggregate the data from the many different systems and integrate them with the operator's daily activity and responses to the many notifications they receive. This makes it difficult for handover, when a new control room operator comes in fresh to take over from the operator coming off duty. Ensuring a clean and clear handover that encompasses all the pertinent information, so that the new operator can take over the console with ease and clarity, is much more difficult than some would imagine.

Another issue is the sheer volume of data. When you have thousands of sensors streaming data, it is not unrealistic for a console to receive a few thousand data points per second. Performance and continuity are priorities on a CI control room console(s). So there is no room for error — meaning there is no room for big (quite literally) data.

All of this means that real-time data must be pushed off the operational and process control network and moved into an area where there are no controls, but big data can be stored to produce big-data analytic capabilities, enabling AI, machine learning, and other data science.

Controller/operator fatigue is also an issue. Manual tracking, documenting, and record-keeping increases fatigue, leading to more mistakes and omissions.

Opportunities for improvement
The Houston-based Tory Technologies, Inc.is a corporation specializing in advanced software applications, creating and integrating various innovative technologies, and providing solutions for control room management and electronic flow measurement data management.

Tory Technologies, Inc. can help with the auto population of forms, inclusion of historical alarms and responses, and easy handover of control with active/open issues highlighted, making for an easier transition from one operator to the next.

"CRM is essential for keeping operations safe and efficient in industries where mistakes can lead to serious problems," says Juan Torres, director of operations - MaCRoM at Tory Technologies, Inc. "While many control rooms have worked hard to meet compliance standards, challenges remain that can affect performance and safety. It's not enough to just meet the basic rules; we need to go further by using smarter tools and strategies that make CRM more than just compliant, but truly effective."

Shaun Six, president of UTSI International, notes that, "CRM solutions are scalable. A smart integration with relevant systems and related data will reduce 'white noise' and increase relevance of data being displayed at the right time, or recalled when most helpful."

The future state
Offering CRM as a service for non-regulated control rooms will give economies of scale to critical infrastructure operators, which will allow dispatching, troubleshooting, and network monitoring so operators can focus on more value-add activities.

It can also virtualize network monitoring, ensuring that field machines and edge computers are compliant with industry and company standards and are not exposed to external threats.

Even better: Much of this can be automated. Smart tools can look through each device and test that passwords are changed, configurations are secure, and firmware/software has been properly patched or safeguarded against known exploits.

The sheer volume of data from these exercises can be overwhelming to operators. But a trained professional can easily filter and curate this data, cutting through the noise and helping asset owners address high-risk/high-probability exploits and plan/manage them.

Ultimately, the goal is to make control rooms efficient, getting the right information to the right people at the right time, while also retaining and maintaining required documents and data, ensuring an operators “license to operator” is uninterrupted and easily accessible to external parties when requested or needed.

Integrating smart CRM systems, network monitoring tools, and testing/validating processes and procedures are all easily accessible with current technological capabilities and availability, letting operators focus on the task at hand with ease and peace of mind.

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