Microsoft, city join forces

Move is the latest initiative designed to improve Houston’s appeal to startups and venture capitalists

Microsoft officials have pledged to help increase computer literacy among Houstonians and develop smart-city solutions.

Microsoft officials pledged Friday to help increase computer literacy among Houstonians and develop smart-city solutions — the latest in a string of high-tech initiatives designed to boost the city’s appeal to technology startups and venture capitalists.

Appearing alongside Mayor Sylvester Turner, the officials said Microsoft will partner with at least one local middle or high school. The company also will offer camps for children, some specifically for girls, and it will provide education for parents, veterans and workers who are transitioning in their careers.

The Seattle-area company will provide software, support and visibility to local tech startups, and it will work with Houston on smart city-initiatives that could include data-driven solutions for improving transportation and disaster recovery efforts.

“Each city has its own fingerprint, and so we don’t take a prescriptive approach and say, ‘This is what a smart city is,’ ” said Cameron Carr, director of internet of things strategy and scale solutions for Microsoft. “Every single city has a different approach that they want to take.”

Details for many of the approaches were sparse, but Carr said they could include finding bus routes with less congestion and that are convenient for more people. It could also be used to determine if a bus is being driven too aggressively and consuming more gasoline than it otherwise would.

After events like Hurricane Harvey, he said, drones could

be used to find people needing assistance or to determine areas that are impassable due to high waters.

“We are right on the edge of creating this bold new world,” Carr said.

Don’t expect that new world in the immediate future, said Ed Egan, director of the Rice University Baker Institute’s McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Digital training, for instance, won’t reap immediate results.

“These things have effects 5, 10, 20 years down the line,” he said.

Egan is looking forward to hearing additional details on how Microsoft will work with startups and how it will create smartcity technologies.

Still, Friday’s announcement builds upon a month of seemingly nonstop innovation news. In April, Rice University announced a $100 million redevelopment of the former Sears property in Midtown into an innovation center for technology companies.

Then Houston Exponential, a nonprofit created in October, named serial entrepreneur Russ Capper as its executive director. Houston Exponential was created by combining the Houston Technology Center with the Mayor’s Technology and Innovation Task Force and the Greater Houston Partnership’s Innovation Roundtable.

That was followed by leaders of the Texas Medical Center unveiling plans for TMC3, a medical research campus across 30 acres that they said would unite four powerhouse research institutions and make Houston an international hub for biomedical innovations.

“I set a goal for Houston to become the next hotbed in our nation for innovation and technology and the digital universe,” Turner said. “Well, I would advise anyone to not blink unless they want to miss what’s going on.”

John “JR” Reale, cofounder and CEO of Station Houston, is energized by the recent announcements. His organization acts as a hub for tech innovation and entrepreneurship, providing programs, events, work space, mentorships and benefits to entrepreneurs.

“It shows the trajectory of where we’re going as a city,” he said.

Reale said he likes that Microsoft announced the initiative before the final details were in place. That way, organizations can then learn what’s needed, what works and what they shouldn’t focus on.

“I think more things should be like that,” he said.

Egan, however, has concerns about the implementation of some of the new city initiatives. He said, for example, that the innovation district should be built in a more prime location. The Sears area in Midtown lacks Class A office space, restaurants and nearby residences.

He also said the fund of funds, announced in October as a tool to increase venture capital investment in Houston, should have at least $80 million more than its initial $50 million goal in order to attract the nation’s best venture capital funds.

“At the start of 2018, we were at a tipping point and we had to get three or four certain components right in order to catalyze Houston’s startup ecosystem,” Egan said.

So despite new initiatives, Egan said, the McNair Center expects Houston to drop out of the top 50 cities in terms of new venture capital deals, startups actively receiving venture capital and the amount of growth venture capital money invested.

He does, however, believe smart-city solutions could benefit Houston and attract startups focused on providing such technologies.

The internet of things devices they create for the city could be transferred to the energy, medical, transportation and manufacturing sectors.

Turner said the partnership with Microsoft could have a ripple effect, attracting other companies to Houston. In the meantime, Microsoft is bringing business partners like Honeywell or Johnson Controls to the city, where some of its new initiatives are already underway. It held a DigiGirlz camp last week.

“These sorts of efforts become infectious and contagious,” Turner said.