University of Houston launches new collaborative program for startups in Houston, Gulf Coast Region

ready to grow

A new program launched by two UH-based organizations will help early-stage startups commercialize, apply for grants, and more. Photo via UH.edu

Two University of Houston organizations have partnered up to further support early-stage startups in the Gulf Coast Region.

The university announced this month that its UH Technology Bridge and the UH Texas Gulf Coast Small Business Development Center are now accepting applications for a new, collaborative program that will help innovators and entrepreneurs develop a pitch or commercialization plan. The program will also guide participants in applying for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants and other investments.

Applications are open to those with the university and across the region.

"We are excited to partner with the University of Houston Technology Bridge to provide this valuable support to early-tech startups in the Texas Gulf Coast region," Steven Lawrence, director of the UH Texas Gulf Coast SBDC Network, says in a statement. "Our program is designed to help innovators take their ideas to the next level and prepare for success in the marketplace."

"Our goal is to help innovators turn their ideas into successful businesses, and this partnership will help us achieve that goal," Tanu Chatterji, Associate Director of Startup Development at UH, echoes in the news release.

The UH Texas Gulf Coast SBDC Network is one of 14 SBDCs in the Texas Gulf Coast Region that's part of UH's C.T. Bauer College of Business and funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The centers provide no-cost and affordable business training and advising.

The UH Tech Bridge focuses on providing research and development space to UH-affiliated startups and entrepreneurs. The 15-building complex and its 31,000 square feet of incubator space houses more than 20 small companies and startups that provide internship and learning opportunities for UH students, along with several federally funded research centers and institutes.

Earlier this year, the Tech Bridge received a $2.875 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The grant is slated to benefit the UH Industry & International Innovation Hub and will establish The Deck Innovation & Coworking Center.

Ramanan Krishnamoorti, the vice president of energy and innovation at the University of Houston who oversees the UH Technology Bridge, spoke with the Houston Innovators Podcast earlier this summer about UH's plans to build a central campus hub for innovation and the need to encourage more innovation and entrepreneurship.
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UH's C. T. Bauer College of Business will house the newly launched Healthcare Business Institute. Photo via Getty Images

University of Houston introduces institute to bring business solutions to health care industry

medical biz

The University of Houston announced this month that it has now launched its new Healthcare Business Institute, which will work with medical and business leaders as well as students to find solutions to pressing issues in the health care industry, such as high costs, access to care and new innovative technologies.

The institute will be part of the university's C. T. Bauer College of Business and led by Ravi Aron, research director and professor of health care strategy and technology in the Bauer College Department of Decision & Information Sciences, and Dr. Edward Kroger, the administrative director of the center.

“Providers are facing increasingly limited reimbursement from the U.S. government, insurers and employers. The industry is, therefore, struggling with finding new ways to increase value by improving quality and decreasing cost,” Aron says in a statement. “This is complicated by the fact that the industry is the most heavily regulated in the country. While policy, regulations and the government all have roles to play, efficient care delivery also requires businesses–small, medium, large and startups-to play a significant role in delivering effective and efficient care.”

The institute plans to bring together stakeholders from device makers and pharmaceutical companies to angel investors and educators to address many of these issues. Faculty and partners will release impactful research on topics such as hospital operations, new health care technologies, AI and machine learning in hospital contexts, emerging financial models in health care and a number of other topics.

Research will be shared in a new practitioner-facing Knowledge Portal that will feature a journal, editorials, and other media components like blogs, videos and audio.

The HBI will also have an educational component, with formal degree-based and shorter non-degree tracts, as well as a masters program related to health care leadership. Multiple executive education programs are also in the works.

“This unique combination of researchers, educationists and students will also benefit by connecting to perhaps the world’s most diversified health care ecosystem,” Aron says in the statement.

And Houston is the right place to house such an institute, says Bauer College Dean and Cullen Distinguished Chair Professor Paul A. Pavlou.

“Technology, data, and AI are enabling unprecedented advances in medicine, and Houston’s impressive health care network presents an exciting opportunity for a Healthcare Business Institute,” Pavlou says in the release. “Not only is Houston home to the Texas Medical Center, UH is the only university in Houston that includes a large number of health care researchers at the Bauer College of Business, a world-ranked health law program at the UH Law Center, a computer science department with many distinguished research faculty, and a new College of Medicine."

“The opportunity for meaningful collaboration among health care researchers, industry leaders, and students through HBI will be a tremendous asset for Houston with the potential for local, national and global impact,” he continues.

Earlier this summer, UH announced plans to open a 70,000-square-foot innovation hub next to the M.D. Anderson Library on UH's main campus in 2025. It's slated to house a makerspace, the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship, the Energy Transition Institute, innovation programs, and Presidential Frontier Faculty labs and offices.
The University of Houston will construct a new hub for innovation on its main campus. The building is planned to be adjacent to the M.D. Anderson Library. Photo via uh.edu

University of Houston plans to build new central campus innovation hub

coming soon

Over a year ago, the University of Houston got the greenlight from the state of Texas to create a central hub for innovation on campus, Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president of energy and innovation at the University of Houston, tells InnovationMap.

“We asked the state two years ago for appropriations to create an innovation hub at the University of Houston,” Krishnamoorti says on this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast. “We are now in the process of creating an innovation hub central to the campus at the University of Houston."

While the project is still in its early stages, the university has revealed some details on the building, which is slated to open in 2025 next to the M.D. Anderson Library on UH's main campus. It will be around 70,000 square feet and will house a makerspace, the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship, the Energy Transition Institute, innovation programs, and Presidential Frontier Faculty labs and offices.

“This would be a space that would look at innovation across all areas — arts, social sciences, STEM, business,” Krishnamoorti says. “We’re going to build this innovation hub as a central place of gathering for everything innovation on campus."

One of the aspects of the hub Krishnamoorti says he's excited about is the makerspace.

"Students can come in there and make, create, and visualize their dreams," Krishnamoorti says, explaining that this will be accessible to all students. "This could be everything from clever art to architectural designs to a widget for a STEM-related target they are working on."

In addition to creating lab space for further research and innovation, the hub will be a convening spot — both for the university's campus as well as the greater Houston business community. Krishnamoorti says a goal of this project is to be able to bring in subject matter experts from industry and have them spend time with on campus with students.

"There's all this talent that's out there — but we don't give them a place to come in and engage the future generations," Krishnamoorti says. "This is an effort to provide a venue to create those unexpected, unanticipated collisions, create a talent pipeline, engage with experts, and build activities that will very quickly de-bottleneck some of the biggest challenges we have in the innovation space."

Currently, UH is calling for support from perspective and existing donors for the project.

The UH Innovation Hub is in its early stages. Photo via uh.edu


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Houston-based, NASA-founded cleantech startup closes $12M seed round

Fresh Funds

Houston-based Helix Earth Technologies has closed a $12 million Seed 2 funding round to scale manufacturing of its energy-efficient commercial HVAC add-on technology.

Veriten, a Houston-based energy investment firm, led the round. Rua Ventures, Carnrite Ventures, Skywriter LLC and Textbook Ventures also participated.

Helix Earth—which was founded based on NASA technology, spun out of Rice University and has been incubated at Greentown Labs—is developing high-efficiency retrofit dehumidification systems that aim to reduce the energy consumption of commercial HVAC units. The company reports that its technology can lead to "healthier indoor air, lower energy bills, reduced building maintenance, and more comfortable spaces for building owners and occupants."

"Building owners are dealing with rising energy costs, uncontrolled humidity, and aging infrastructure with no viable, cost-effective path forward. We are in the field today solving these problems for commercial customers, and this capital puts us on an aggressive path to scale,” Rawand Rasheed, Helix Earth co-founder and CEO, said in a news release.

“The strength of this round reinforces our team's conviction that we can transform innovation-starved sectors with transformational solutions that deliver order-of-magnitude improvements to owners and operators, for both their bottom line and the environment,” Rasheed added.

Maynard Holt, Veriten’s founder and CEO, said that the investment firm is tripling its investment in Helix Earth.

"The team has built breakthrough technology with real applicability across multiple industries,” Holt said in the release. “Their first product will have an immediate and measurable impact on our energy system, and they are already pursuing adjacent innovations to help heavy industries operate more efficiently and with less waste. This is a well-rounded team with a proven track record of strong execution and disciplined capital management.”

Helix Earth also closed a $5.6 million seed funding round in 2024, led by Veriten.

Last year, the company secured a $1.2 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant and won in the Smart Cities, Transportation & Sustainability contest at the 2025 SXSW Pitch Showcase. Rasheed was also named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Energy and Green Tech list for 2025.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapital HTX.com.

Texas earns 22nd 'best state for business' title as GDP hits $2.9T

booming economy

The Texas business sector recently received a double dose of good news.

For the 22nd consecutive year, Chief Executive magazine named Texas the best state for business. In tandem with that achievement, preliminary new estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show the size of Texas’ economy jumped to $2.9 trillion in 2025, up by a nation-leading growth rate of 2.5 percent compared with the previous year.

Speaking about the Chief Executive honor, Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas benefits from pro-growth policies, a strong workforce, strategic investments in education, training for high-demand skills and the presence of critical infrastructure.

“Texas is where businesses innovate and where opportunity abounds. … We will continue to move at the speed of business as we build a more prosperous Texas for generations to come,” the governor says.

An annual Chief Executive survey of CEOs, presidents and business owners determines which state is the best for business. Texas has landed at No. 1 every year since Chief Executive launched the ranking.

“Truly, this is an incredible run that Texas has going,” says Christopher Chalk, publisher of Chief Executive. “CEOs are a tough group to please, and yet year after year Texas continues to earn the top spot—no small feat.”

It’s also no small feat for a state to notch annual gains in its gross domestic product (GDP), a measurement of economic power based on the value of goods and services produced each year.

With an estimated GDP of $2.9 trillion last year, Texas maintains its position as the eighth-largest global economy compared with the nations of the world, based on preliminary estimates from the International Monetary Fund.

In reference to Texas’ GDP growth, Abbott says the Lone Star State is “the premier destination for job creators from across the country and world. We will keep attracting world-class investment, create jobs, and expand opportunity for Texans for generations to come.”

UH med school granted $2M gift to offer student scholarships

scholarship gift

A new scholarship endowment aims to support students in the University of Houston’s recently established medical school.

The University of Houston’s Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine received a planned estate gift commitment estimated at $2.1 million to establish the Bob Diehl and Teresa Evans Diehl Scholarship Endowment. The scholarship will assist full-time medical students who demonstrate financial need and meet academic standards.

“Endowed scholarships like this do more than ease the burden of tuition—they empower our students to focus on learning, leadership and compassionate care,” Jonathan McCullers, UH vice president of health affairs and dean of the Fertitta College of Medicine, said in a news release. “We are deeply grateful to the Diehls for their vision and commitment to expanding access to health care through education.”

The endowment aims to provide annual scholarship support for students enrolled in the Fertitta College of Medicine. The gift also aligns with the university's fundraising initiative focused on expanding opportunities for students, known as Can’t Stop Houston: The Centennial Campaign, which works to expand research ahead of UH’s 100th anniversary next year.

The Diehls are both graduates from UH, and Bob Diehl spent 38 years working at UPS.

“It brings me happiness to know that my endowment will make a difference in young people's lives and in the communities that will need those future doctors,” he said in the release.

The Fertitta College of Medicine welcomed its inaugural class of 30 students in 2020 and expects classes to grow to 120 students in the coming years, according to UH. The university believes scholarship opportunities will be crucial for students to pursue medical education despite financial challenges.

“The Diehl family’s generosity will open doors for talented future physicians who are called to serve our communities but may otherwise face financial barriers to pursuing a medical education,” McCullers added.

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