Houston Daily

The University of Houston Innovation Council held its first panel event, aiming to highlight the city’s entrepreneurial culture and encourage student engagement in innovation. The event, titled “The Leap: Houston Innovation Panel,” took place on October 8 at Student Center South and attracted over 110 attendees, with students from six different UH colleges making up the majority.

Alex Langdon, director of the Cullen Honors Program, moderated the discussion. He stated, “The panel showcased the incredible range of ideas and impact emerging from UH and across Houston — from biotech to education and workforce tech. What united all our entrepreneurs was a shared courage to leap from idea to action and the resilience to keep going through challenges.”

The Innovation Council, which organized the free event, consists of faculty and students interested in innovation and is part of UH’s Division of Energy and Innovation. Panelists included Irene Greaves (Lovescaping), David Malcotti Sanchez (CarbonX Solutions), Rushi Patel (Homebase), and Navin Varadarajan (Cell Chorus; M.D. Anderson professor at UH).

Jokubas Ziburkus, associate professor at the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and chair of the Innovation Council, said, “The UH Innovation Council intentionally targeted the student population for this event, and many attendees represented a wide range of colleges. The panelists were invited to showcase diverse technical skills, backgrounds and levels of entrepreneurial experience.”

Artificial intelligence was one key topic discussed by participants. Navin Varadarajan remarked on AI’s growing role: “I think it has a role to play in society, whether you like it or not. There’s going to be two kinds of people: those who will say, ‘I love AI’ and people who are going to be left behind because they didn’t bother catching up with what AI can do.”

David Malcotti Sanchez shared his perspective as both a student at UH and an intern at Microsoft: “There was a lot of buzz about AI and whether it’s going to take our jobs. What I experienced is AI is not necessarily going to take away your job — at least for now — but it’s going to increase your productivity 10-fold. Rather than think about the details so much, you can focus on the bigger picture.”

Entrepreneurship was another central theme. Rushi Patel advised future entrepreneurs about perseverance: “You will get beat down and you will get back up because you’re an entrepreneur. You have grit and perseverance in a way that others may not. It’s in your DNA.”

According to organizers, this panel marks an initial step toward building a campus-wide ecosystem that connects university stakeholders with alumni, investors, corporate partners, and local community members.

Langdon indicated plans for more events: “There are many amazing innovation events happening each week, but many of them are centered on specific industries or within a college or two. I’m excited to celebrate innovation across the board at UH and across our city.”