How Houston’s Impacting the Globe through Innovation with Steve Kean

Timecoded Guide:

[00:00] Podcast begins - How Houston’s Impacting the Globe through Innovation with Steve Kean

[01:58] Meeting the mission of the Greater Houston Partnership

[06:05] Startups, entrepreneurs, & the Houston Energy Transition Initiative 

[14:15] Global impact in Houston between ports, transportation, & infrastructure

[18:19] Industry innovations & the future for AI technology intersections

[26:37] Opportunities in tech transfer, life sciences, & more in Houston 

GHP has a mission to be a premiere place for living and for business. How do you contribute to achieving that mission? 

The focus of the Greater Houston Partnership, according to Steve, is to get people to come to Houston, invest, create jobs, and make the city a vibrant business community. Primarily, this involves economic development, including the Energy Transition Initiative, a program aimed at making sure Houston remains the energy capital in the midst of energy transition. Other programs making waves at GHP include Houston Together, an equity and inclusion effort, and Upskill, a workforce development program helping Houstonians move up economically.

“When we're working on a prospect that might locate an investment and operation in Houston, the first question is workforce. They love our diversity, love our youth. We have a lot going, but we need to keep working on skills. We need to keep working on education.”

Does GHP focus a lot currently on tech and startups?

Alongside their impactful economic development programs, GHP focuses a great deal on tech and startups, especially with U of H and Rice. Steve believes Houston is well deserving of its rank as a top emerging tech ecosystem, and he finds it promising that so many startup companies are getting involved in GHP programs. GHP sees a future in continuing to support startups and hopes the Houston Energy Transition Initiative provides even more support. 

“If we've got an advantage here, it's that this is the place where you prove your idea works because you can do it at scale here. You can scale your company up here in really every sense. This is the place to show what you've been developing will really work and work at scale.”

What key strengths does Houston have to make a global impact in innovation? 

Steve believes Houston is a city of great infrastructure and a genuinely optimized system of connectivity, both inside the city limits and globally. Houston has a massive export port, a thriving airport hub, an incredibly busy ship channel, and rail and locomotive innovations. Steve believes this connectivity and infrastructure inspires business success because businesses can tap into that and reach everything they need, from resources to talent, right here in Houston.

“The port by itself makes us a global city, it is the biggest export port in the United States, but that's not all we're doing. We're making stuff here and we're sending out, we're manufacturing stuff. Then, our airport infrastructure is great as well. We've got a lot of great infrastructure, you can come in and set up because a lot of what you need is already here.” 

With Houston being recognized as the fifth best emerging ecosystem, what factors do you think contributed to this ranking?

Many of the same elements that make Houston a strong center for global impact have allowed Houston to achieve high rankings as an emerging tech and startup ecosystem. From the wildcatters of gas and oil in Houston’s history to the present day entrepreneurs graduating from Rice and U of H, Steve believes that Houston is filled to the brim with hardworking, diverse individuals ready to make their mark on the world. Whether tackling life sciences or AI innovations, Houston talent is ready to work and GHP is ready to help them skill up. 

“It's having the people, it's having the connectedness, having the capital, having the markets. I think the other thing about it is just culturally, people are here to work. We've got a lot of ambitious people who will try things. I mean, that goes back to our heritage as wildcatters in the oil and gas business.”