Top hospitals, accelerator's new leader, and more trending Houston innovation news
Editor's note:Another week has come and gone, and it's time to round up the top headlines from the past few days. Trending Houston tech and startup news on InnovationMap included the top hospitals in Texas, key facts about Houston's innovation ecosystem, Activate Houston names its local leader, and more.
Houston hospitals soar on annual list ranking best in Texas
These Houston hospitals are the best in Texas and beyond. Photo via tmc.edu
Houston Methodist Hospital now shares its status as the state’s best hospital with Dallas’ UT Southwestern Medical Center.
In U.S. News & World Report’s latest ranking of Texas hospitals, Houston Methodist and UT Southwestern share the No. 1 spot. Last year, Houston Methodist was the lone holder of first-place honors in Texas.
The Houston Methodist system comprises a primary care facility within the Texas Medical Center and six community hospitals across the region. In all, Houston Methodist operates more than 2,600 patient beds and employs more than 29,700 people. Read more.
Exclusive: New-to-Houston hardtech accelerator names local leader
Jeremy Pitts has been named the inaugural Houston managing director for Activate. Photo via LinkedIn
An organization that promotes early-stage innovation within the hardtech space has named one of the founding entrepreneurs of Greentown Labs as its local Houston lead.
Activate named Jeremy Pitts as the Houston managing director this month. The nonprofit, which announced its new Houston program earlier this year, was founded in Berkeley, California, in 2015 to bridge the gap between the federal and public sectors to deploy capital and resources into the innovators creating transformative products.
For Activate Houston, the challenge is to focus on finding and supporting innovators within the energy sector. Read more.
Annual report highlights Houston's big innovation wins across tech, life science, space, VC funding, and more
The Greater Houston Partnership's annual Houston Facts report recently released. Here's what to know across the city's five most innovative sectors. Photo via Getty Images
Houston, a city known for its energy legacy, is rapidly transforming into a diverse hub of innovation, life science, technology, and aerospace, according to the 2023 Houston Facts report, released by the Greater Houston Partnership. Read more.
Houston 3D printing company lands funding from NASA
NASA doled out funding to 12 startups — and one from Houston makes the cut. Photo courtesy of re:3D
Houston-based re:3D Inc was recently one of 12 innovative companies from around the country to be granted Phase II awards from a NASA small business initiative, the space giant announced earlier this week.
The grants of up to $850,000 are awarded to early-stage, high-risk technology concepts that could be commercialized for use in space and on Earth as part of NASA's SBIR Ignite pilot, which is part of NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.
The program was launched to support emerging companies "whose end customers may not be only NASA but are still creating technology that NASA cares about,” Jason L. Kessler, program executive for the NASA SBIR/STTR program, says in a previous statement. And it aims to attract companies that have not yet worked with NASA.
The concepts from the cohort have applications in climate resilience, low-cost solar cells and active debris remediation. Re:3D Inc.'s project looks to develop a recycling system that uses a 3D printer to turn thermoplastic waste generated in orbit into functional and useful objects, according to the project's proposal. Read more.
Houston-Dallas high-speed bullet train gets back on the rails thanks to potential Amtrak partnership
Texas Central Partners hopes to partner with Amtrak on high-speed trains in Texas. Rendering courtesy of Texas Central
In the latest chapter in the saga of the high-speed bullet train between Houston and Dallas, Amtrak is now involved.
According to a press release, Texas Central Partners and Amtrak are exploring a partnership to work together on the proposed Dallas-Houston high-speed rail project that's been under consideration for more than a decade.
Amtrak has cooperated with Texas Central on various initiatives since 2016 and the two entities are now evaluating a potential partnership to determine the line's viability. Read more.
- Houston 3D printing company lands funding from NASA ›
- Houston-Dallas high-speed bullet train gets back on the rails thanks to potential Amtrak partnership ›
- Annual report highlights Houston's big innovation wins across tech, life science, space, VC funding, and more ›
- Exclusive: New-to-Houston hardtech accelerator names local leader ›
- Houston hospitals soar on annual list ranking best in Texas ›