HOUSTON (April 8, 2019) – Artificial Intelligence (AI) is dumb, and humans are smarter than AI; we just have to accelerate our imagination and use our bodies, which have the energy of seven atomic bombs, to transform the challenges of today into the breakthroughs of tomorrow, according to Mike Mathews, VP of Technology and Innovation for Oral Roberts University and moderator of the third annual Houston Open Innovation Conference (HOIC) on March 28 at Houston Exponential.
Leaders, thinkers and innovators from across industry, government and academic sectors recently connected at HOIC for an open exchange of ideas and sharing of best practices, challenges and success stories. Lone Star College (LSC), the City of Houston and the Energy Conference Network (ECN) hosted the unique platform that drew more than 100 attendees who listened and interacted with speakers including Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner; Rice University President David Leebron; President & CEO of Precision Task Group, Inc. Massy Villarreal; and Associate Director of the Texas Medical Center Innovation Institute Lance Black.
Other key figures included: VIP CEO Sonia Clayton; Blue Lance CEO Umesh Verma; City of Houston’s Director of Education Juliet Stipeche and Director of Innovation Jesse Bounds; Station Houston CEO Gaby Rowe; Houston Exponential Executive Director Russ Capper; NASA-JSC Deputy Director Steve Rader; Marathon Oil Head of Innovation Edwin Suarez; Impact Hub Houston CEO Grace Rodriguez; Startup Aggieland Accelerator Co-founder Shelly Brenckman; Shell US & Canada Regional Manager Haibin Xu; Greater Houston Partnership Economic Development Senior Vice President Susan Davenport; and another 100 influencers and leaders.
HOIC’s focus on innovation is more relevant now than ever as Houston is beginning to attract much needed capital investment to fuel the new technologies of the future and to build an ecosystem for startups as well as strengthen economic prosperity for the city.
“We’ve traveled all over talking about technology and innovation,” said Turner. “We meet here at a time when Houston’s innovation and technology ecosystem is flourishing like never before. Traditional silos between and within industry, government and academia are breaking in favor of collaboration, partnerships and open innovation. And the results are already being felt; the world is taking notice of Houston.”
During his keynote address, Mayor Turner pointed to three key ingredients to making Houston a world-class innovation hub: the city’s diversity – the most diverse city in the world with one out of every four Houstonians being foreign born; talent – Houston is home to a lot of smart people with the ability to innovate, which is a longstanding tradition of the area; and a city that works together - an attribute to leverage for attracting capital investment and accelerating the pace of innovation.
“Houston must be in the conversation,” said Turner. “Houston’s history is to face our challenges head on – whether that’s responding to (an historic weather event) like Hurricane Harvey or finding a cure for cancer. No problem is insurmountable for this city. This conference allows us to connect; to share ideas; and to come up with solutions.”
Mayor Turner also paid special tribute to HOIC founder and LSC-University Park President Dr. Shah Ardalan for “his vision to bring this conference to Houston and to make it happen” and to LSC for “paving and leading the way” for conversations around open innovation. LSC embraces the opportunity to facilitate the exchange of ideas to fuel growth and innovation, because it ultimately benefits (the) community; businesses; and organizations that attend HOIC, said Stephen C. Head, Ph.D., LSC chancellor, in an earlier interview.
In addition to a powerhouse line-up of speakers, conference attendees were able to network, collaborate and dialogue about solving today’s challenges through open innovation during various panels. Panels included: “Houston’s Innovation Ecosystem;” “Open Innovation in Education Ecosystem;” “The Start-Up, Venture and Entrepreneur Economy – Models for Success;” “Talent Development to Stimulate Innovation;” and “Alliances, Incubators, Co-working Spaces – Models to Innovate.”
Leebron spoke of Houston’s collaborative spirit as he emphasized the important role that community colleges play in society and how critical they are to the growth of Houston. In addition, he highlighted the university’s emphasis on student engagement and empowerment not just in the classroom but also through service and experiential activities in the community. He cited the university’s leadership of the development project, the Ion, which will be housed in the former Sears Building on Main Street, as another example of the city’s collective energy.
The Ion, described as a nucleus of Houston’s innovation ecosystem, has an expected completion date of late 2020. Leebron said that it was important that The Ion be open to Houston organizations and other institutions of higher education.
Longtime Houston business and economic development and prosperity champion Massey Villarreal applauded the city for its collaborative attitude during his presentation.
“In Houston, our reputation is, ‘Houston, we have a problem’,” said Villarreal. “People never say the rest of it: ‘Houston, we have a solution!”
Houston’s diverse and inclusive nature invites everyone to have a seat at the table and to participate, which leads to a very dynamic and can-do spirited city.
During his “Educational Institutions as a Catalyst for Open Innovation” panel discussion and presentation, Ardalan expressed his admiration of Houston for giving him the opportunity to do what few others have had the privilege to do: to build a college; a college that is now recognized as one of the fastest growing and most innovative institutions of higher education in the country; and a college that belongs to the community that it serves. He said community colleges, also called democracy’s colleges, are an American innovation in education to address equity in access and success.
Ardalan also gave special thanks to Stipeche and Bounds for embracing the vision on HOIC. He made special mention of the Energy Conference Network and its CEO Symon Rubens for organizing the conference.
“Why Houston as an open innovation hub? Why not Houston? All the players – from industry and academia to government and business development - are here,” said Ardalan. “Houston is familiar with and adapts well to a rapidly changing environment; and we’re big, proud and open to innovation. There’s synergy here. In Houston, we are experts at crowdsourcing to create an innovation ecosystem. None of us can do this alone.”
Established in 2012, LSC-University Park is devoted to impacting the community’s prosperity and upward mobility through student success. Bolstered by industry partnerships and state-of-the-art facilities like an Innovation Room; Energy and Manufacturing Institute and its new, one-of-the-kind live manufacturing line; and Center for Science & Innovation with its Noble Energy Geology Rock Wall, the college offers certification training in many of the leading, high-demand industries like energy and manufacturing. For more information about LSC-University Park, please visit LoneStar.edu/UP or call 281.290.2600.
Lone Star College offers high-quality, low-cost academic transfer and career training education to 99,000 students each semester. LSC is training tomorrow’s workforce today and redefining the community college experience to support student success. Stephen C. Head, Ph.D., serves as chancellor of LSC, the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area with an annual economic impact of nearly $3 billion. LSC consists of six colleges, 10 centers, two university centers, Lone Star Corporate College and LSC-Online. To learn more, visit LoneStar.edu.