A dozen Houston companies will take the stage next month for a pitch competition during the World Petroleum Congress at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

In all, 32 innovators have been selected to make presentations at the World Petroleum Congress' first-ever Innovation Zone. Presented by ConocoPhillips, the Innovation Zone will let startups showcase their solutions to challenges facing the energy sector. The winner of the pitch competition will receive the inaugural Energy Innovator Award.

The World Petroleum Congress is set for December 5-9.

The 12 Houston companies chosen for the Innovation Zone are:

• CeraPhi Energy, whose technology helps companies transition to clean energy.
• Chainparency, whose blockchain technology digitizes and secures records shared throughout the supply chain.
• Criterion Energy Partners, an exploration and production company whose energy projects are co-located with commercial and industrial customers to promote emission reductions and improve operating efficiencies.
• CruxOCM, whose technology powers autonomous control rooms in heavy industrial settings.
• dataVediK, whose AI and machine learning technology fuels performance optimization, energy transition, and carbon footprint reduction at energy companies.
• DrillDocs, whose software allows real-time analysis of activity at onshore and offshore drilling rigs.
• Hess, an oil and gas exploration and production company that will show off technology enabling autonomous fracturing. (Hess is one of the sponsors of this year's World Petroleum Congress.)
• Ionada Carbon Solutions, a producer of carbon capture systems.
• Nesh, a creator of subject-matter avatars.
• Oilify, whose WhaleShark technology advances the process of separating gas and solids.
• Sourcenergy, which specializes in upstream energy and water intelligence supported by AI and machine learning.
• Water Lens, whose mobile system provides lab-quality tests for over 30 water quality factors.

"For more than a century, innovation has enabled our industry to keep pace with the growing demand for safe and reliable energy," W.L. "Bill" Bullock Jr., executive vice president and chief financial officer of ConocoPhillips, said in an August news release. The Innovation Zone will shine a spotlight on "innovations that can propel our industry's purposeful journey through the energy transition and into the future," he added.