Let’s catch up with the latest innovation news from Texas.
—The Houston Technology Center has tapped Lori Vetters, a longtime commercial banker and civic leader, to become its next CEO. Vetters takes over the 17-year-old incubator from Walter Ulrich, a business consultant who led the center for nearly a decade. During that time, the innovation ecosystem has grown beyond the center to include accelerators and programs specializing in healthcare, general technology, and cleantech.
—West Texas cotton farmers say they are seeing higher yields, thanks to a microbial treatment made by a Boston-based agtech startup. Indigo presented the data last week at the Beltwide Cotton Conference in Dallas, saying yields increased by 11 percent on plants in 50,000 acres in Texas and other states using the product. The company says it will conduct such analyses on an annual basis.
—The Dallas Entrepreneur Center has opened four new branches in south Dallas, aiming to cater to new demographics of entrepreneurs. “We just want to make sure Dallas is the best place possible for any entrepreneur, regardless of age, race, or gender,” said Trey Bowles, the DEC’s founder and CEO, in a press release. “We’re leveling the playing field.” The southern sector of Dallas is home to a large African-American and Hispanic population. These branches, called the Southern Dallas Entrepreneur Network, will be led by Michelle Williams, who was most recently president of the Dallas-Fort Worth Urban League Young Professionals organization.
—We have “Five Questions For … ” Rakesh Agrawal, founder and CEO of Snapstream, a Houston media tech startup. An avid mentor to (and investor in) young entrepreneurs, Agrawal talks about a key lesson his father taught him, his “anti-portfolio,” and what he couldn’t live without if stranded on a desert island.
—Author Margot Lee Shetterly shines the spotlight on the previously
