I just attended the Gulf Coast Innovation Conference & Showcase put on by the Houston Technology Center. Of which PKF Texas is one of the event’s Platinum Sponsors.
If you want to attend this event next year you better sign up early because it sold out two weeks in advance. Walter Ulrich, President and CEO of the HTC said he had lots of folks who wanted to get in the event but couldn’t.
First session of the day was a panel discussion entitled, “The President’s Panel”. Moderated by John White, the panel included the following: Dr. Larry Kaiser, President UT Health; Dr. Renu Khator, President of University of Houston System; Dr. Paul Klotman, President of Baylor College of Medicine; and David Leebron, President of Rice University. What a group, they were just fantastic.
Breakout sessions followed. Some excellent company presentations.
Lunch followed with Bob Prochnow and Deborah Mansfield and they presented the Texas Emerging Technology Fund Awards.
2010 HTC Graduation Ceremonies led by Downey Bridgewater, President/CEO of Sterling Bank.
The afternoon panel was a Venture Capital Forum moderated by my friend Dr. Bernard Harris, President & CEO of Vesalius Ventures. The panel included: Trevor Burgess, Managing Director of Lime Rock Partners; Justin Hall-Tipping, CEO NanoHoldings and William Paiva, Venture Partner Sevin Rosen Fund. A great and highly informative session.
Afternoon breakout sessions then followed. Great presentations.
Our Keynote Speaker was Bob Beauchamp, Chairman and CEO of BMC Software. Bob had a great talk about Houston and its future in the tech sector.
The highlight of the day was the Goradia Innovation Prizes presented by Vijay Goradia, Founder and Chairman of Vinmar International.
And the winners of the Goradia Awards were:
Grand Prize – Rebellion Photonics
First Place – SeprOx Corporation
Second Place – Nano3D Biosciences, Inc.
Third Place – Blue Box Health Inc.
Honorable Mentions
Advanced Guidance Systems
Barinetics Corporation
C-Voltaics
General Methanol
OrthoIntrinsics, Inc.