Impact Hub Houston Puts Houston on the Global Climathon Map with First Climate Action Hackathon October 25

Impact Hub Houston Puts Houston on the Global Climathon Map with First Climate Action Hackathon October 25

For Immediate Release:  October 7, 2019
Contact: Grace Rodriguez
Email address: [email protected]

HOUSTON, TX – Houston is no stranger to extreme weather and disasters due to climate change, with three 500-year floods—and the destructive Hurricane Harvey—in recent years. The “Energy Capital of the World,” Houston has one of the highest per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the country, emitting over 34 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in 2014 alone. To spark sustainable solutions to these challenges,  Impact Hub Houston is excited to announce it is organizing Houston’s first Climathon on October 25, 2019, with partners that include global organizer EIT Climate-KIC, the City of Houston, Citizens’ Environmental Coalition, Houston Community College, Sketch City, January Advisors, Bunker Labs, WeWork Labs, Syzygy Plasmonics and GoodFair. All designers, developers, entrepreneurs, students, policymakers, and people wanting to improve Houston’s quality of life are invited to participate.

“During Hurricane Harvey, we saw Houston’s talent rise to these challenges and develop solutions that not only helped rescue, feed and shelter local Houstonians, but went on to help people in Florida and Puerto Rico,” says Grace Rodriguez, CEO/Executive Director of Impact Hub Houston. “We’re excited to join the global Climathon challenge in order to give Houston’s changemakers a platform to develop sustainable air, water, energy, etc., solutions and take them to the next level. In such a diverse city with so many resources, it seems only natural that Houston can help lead the way in developing local solutions that can scale to other contexts.”

Lara Cottingham, Chief of Staff & Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Houston, references the Mayor’s recently-announced Climate Action Plan and acknowledges that to scale the plan’s impact, “We must engage local citizens and the startup and entrepreneurship community in developing innovative solutions towards climate action.”

“Houston has a lot to lose as the weather changes,” said Jeff Reichman, founder of January Advisors and Sketch City. “We should be using our talents to elevate good ideas for our region, and to connect with one another for long-term collaborations.”

Houston’s biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions are transportation (47%) and commercial and residential buildings (49%). Other sources of emissions include manufacturing, waste, and fugitive emissions (4%). The Climathon Challenges address these problem sources, encouraging people to develop solutions in the areas of mobility, retrofitting, circular economy, food, climate finance, human behavior, water management, energy, extreme weather, waste management, and air pollution.

The Climathon is Houstonians’ opportunity to connect with leaders and subject experts for guidance in developing viable solutions in any of the challenge areas. Local judges will select the most promising ideas to submit to the Climathon database, for consideration to present at the Global Awards in Paris. The best may go on to win support from the global community!

For more information, please visit https://houston.impacthub.net/climathon2019.

To register to participate, go to https://climathon.climate-kic.org/en/houston

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About Impact Hub Houston (https://houston.impacthub.net)

Impact Hub Houston is a locally rooted, globally connected, nonprofit startup development organization that aims to make Houston a role model for how the world solves its most pressing issues. A member of the Impact Hub global network—the world’s largest community recognized by the United Nations for accelerating entrepreneurial solutions towards measurable and scalable impact for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—Impact Hub Houston intentionally designs places, platforms and programs to build an inclusive innovation ecosystem and empower diverse changemakers, social entrepreneurs, and impact supporters to create the change they wish to see in the world.

About EIT Climate-KIC (https://www.climate-kic.org/)

EIT Climate-KIC is a European knowledge and innovation community, working to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon economy. Supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, they identify and support innovation that helps society mitigate and adapt to climate change. EIT believes that a decarbonised, sustainable economy is not only necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change, but presents a wealth of opportunities for business and society.

The Cannon and Impact Hub Houston Partner to Expand Diversity-Centered Programming in Houston’s Startup Ecosystem

The Cannon and Impact Hub Houston Partner to Expand Diversity-Centered Programming in Houston’s Startup Ecosystem

HOUSTON, (August 27, 2019) – The Cannon and Impact Hub Houston are excited to announce their new partnership to create more inclusive and diversity-centered programs across the Greater Houston area.

Impact Hub Houston, a member of the global Impact Hub network—the world’s largest community dedicated to helping social entrepreneurs create impact at scale—aims to make Houston a role model for how the world solves its most pressing issues. With collaboration as a cornerstone, Impact Hub Houston and The Cannon will work together to deliver events that connect and empower diverse changemakers, social entrepreneurs, and impact supporters across the Greater Houston area.

The Cannon recently welcomed nearly 500 of Houston’s most accomplished entrepreneurs, small businesses and service providers into their community with the opening of their newly-constructed 120K sq. ft. Main Campus in West Houston in late July. Lawson Gow, Founder and CEO of The Cannon, notes, “One of Houston’s best differentiating qualities is that we are truly a melting pot. We want our community to reflect the amazing diversity across our city, so we have to move beyond simply discussing diversity and work to create an environment where innovation can thrive and real change can happen. We are confident Impact Hub will be the perfect partner to bring those aspects to our community.”

Grace Rodriguez, CEO and Executive Director of Impact Hub Houston, shares, “Over the past few years, Lawson and I have brainstormed how we could work together to connect and grow our region’s innovation ecosystem, and demonstrate how organizations can evolve from competition to true collaboration. I’m so excited that those talks have developed into this partnership: Through The Cannon and Impact Hub Houston, we’ll be able to effectively ‘meet people where they are’ geographically, socially, and culturally, helping diverse entrepreneurs and startups at the myriad intersections of place, purpose, demographics, psychographics, and business growth stages. We at Impact Hub Houston look forward to doing more good with the great team at The Cannon!”

Impact Hub Houston will establish a #PopHUB at The Cannon – Main Campus and provide programming there, at The Cannon – Post Oak just west of the Galleria, and at additional new locations as they open. Members of each organization will also receive access to both organizations’ locations across Houston.

To kick off the partnership, the organizations will host a joint AMA panel and reception at The Cannon on September 11, 2019, followed by Impact Hub Houston’s Social Entrepreneurship Meetup. Both events intend to bring their communities and the general public together, as all are invited to come learn more about the organizations, the partnership, and what this and future collaborations will mean for Houston.

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About The Cannon (https://thecannonhouston.com)
The Cannon is a coworking space and entrepreneurship hub located at the center of the 32-acre Founders District on the west side of Houston, just north of Interstate 10 and Beltway 8. Currently, there are over 200 companies in The Cannon community working at The Cannon – Main Campus, a brand new 120K square foot converted warehouse that is one of the largest coworking and offices spaces in the world, and at The Cannon – Post Oak, the first of many satellite locations that will allow for even more flexibility and resources for Houston’s entrepreneurs. The Cannon plans to headquarter over 800 of Houston’s most accomplished entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses, and will be surrounded by service providers and resources geared to help their businesses grow.

About Impact Hub Houston (https://houston.impacthub.net)
Impact Hub Houston is a locally rooted, globally connected, nonprofit startup development organization that aims to make Houston a role model for how the world solves its most pressing issues. A member of the Impact Hub global network—the world’s largest community recognized by the United Nations for accelerating entrepreneurial solutions towards measurable and scalable impact for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—Impact Hub Houston intentionally designs places, platforms and programs to build an inclusive innovation ecosystem and empower diverse changemakers, social entrepreneurs, and impact supporters to create the change they wish to see in the world.