The inaugural event took place at the George R. Brown Convention Center in the heart of downtown Houston. This was a giant step in the right direction for Houston business owners and natives.
Straight From TechStreet Website: TechStreet Houston is an open and collaborative platform to cultivate smarter citizens, communities, businesses, and cities. During the inaugural event entrepreneurs, companies, educators, citizens, and students learned, shared, showcased, and promoted their creative ideas, expertise, and innovations at the hands of development workshops, expert panels and sessions, an expo, and the innovation incubator for kids. Additionally, the HATCH pitch competition for revolutionary tech startups was part of the program too. This competition came to Houston after 2 years of great success at SXSW Interactive.
TechStreet Houston was developed by leading-edge tech thinkers from government, business, education, and community organizations in America’s fourth-largest city. Tech Street Houston is chaired by Mayor Pro-Tem, Councilmember Ed Gonzalez, and Kim Evans, President of Blue Lance. Founding sponsors include The City of Houston, Total Energy USA, and Pterotech.
“As Houston continues to receive national accolades for its culture, cuisine, and job growth, by hosting TechStreet Houston and Total Energy USA in November, our great city will showcase our engineering pedigree as a hub for innovation, creativity, and growth for leading industries, including oil and gas, aerospace, healthcare, technology, and entrepreneurism,” said City of Houston Mayor Annise Parker.
Mayor Pro-Tem and Council Member District H Ed Gonzalez added: “I’m incredibly proud of the inaugural Tech Street Houston event and of the partnership with the Total Energy USA conference. The City of Houston understands that innovation and technology are at the core of its future growth, its continued success, and its development into a truly global city during the 21st century. Tech Street Houston is a milestone event in my vision to cultivate smart citizens and communities that foster, extend, and commercialize technology innovations to expand Houston’s dynamic economy.”
Events included the following:
STEAM Street is an innovation incubator for kids
HATCH pitches a competition for revolutionary tech startups, coming to Houston after 2 years of great success at SXSW Interactive.
Code Street Mobile Hackathon, an event featuring some of Houston’s brightest minds addressing some of Houston’s leading issues
TECHStreet University showcases Awe-inspiring workshops with actionable curriculums and expert speakers discussing technological trends, new concepts, and cutting-edge discoveries
SMART Street expo bringing Houston’s innovators together in one place
Once we figured out where to go, the breakout sessions within TECHStreet University were well organized and catered to the different functions of business. It was great!
I was fortunate enough to meet Kim Vance, one of the major contributors to this event. She was easy to pick out of the crowd because I watched her promotional video before the event. Her passion for TechStreet and the industry was refreshing; she left me with a sense of promise.
The official attendance count was 1058! With clear support from the Houston Community, we hope to see TechStreet back with some major tech muscle next year. Volunteer by joining the TechStreet Army and mark your calendars for next year!
