Houston Innovation District

McNair Project

Houston Innovation District
Project Information
Project Title	Houston Innovation District
Owner	Ben Baldazo, Dylan Dickens, Joe Reilly, Taylor Jacobe
Start Date	9/20/2017
Deadline	10/27/2017
Primary Billing
Notes
Has project status	Active
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Link to DOC: https://docs.google.com/a/rice.edu/document/d/1FiS-fRbNWLbV2on_OETkjqzu9GIcTUoIESLe7DIVQrE/edit?usp=sharing

Mayor of Houston has asked us to make recommendations about how to create an innovation district in Houston

• Go through patent data, find people with patents
• Find people who have done R&D work
• Carve up the world of innovative people in terms of data
  • Find their needs
  • Turn it into some sort of office space requirement
  • Try to find where this office space would be, what it would look like

Tentative Schedule

Week 1: Prep and understand need; research Houston and what it already has

Week 2: Analyze data on Houston as a whole. Diagnose need. Begin writing final document's section about current state of Houston

Week 3: Identify ways to fill need. Strategies for pulling together innovators. Begin writing final document's section about possible solutions

Week 4: Synthesize data and research to form coherent suggestions

Week 5: Final analysis of data. Finish paper.

Anticipated Paper Breakdown

1. Needs/Wants for an Innovation District
   1. Economic Factors
   2. Social Factors
   3. Environmental Factors
2. Diagnosis of Houston’s Current State
   1. How does it fulfill and not fulfill the requirements of an innovation district?
3. Recommendations for how to achieve an Innovation District in Houston
   1. What do we need in order to make a successful innovation district in Houston?
   2. What would it look like?
   3. How do we make it happen?
      1. Specific suggestions

Resources to pull from

Houston Entrepreneurship has info about:

• Start ups
• Accelerators/Incubators
• Entrepreneurship Ecosystems
• Small Business
• VC

We would ideally have data about:

• Patents in Houston
• R&D in Houston
• Factors relating to best Innovation Districts:

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/312173269_fig15_Figure-19-Key-success-factors-for-innovation-district-development

Ideal Factors for an Innovation district

Here, I will try to break down measurable ways of understanding how an area fulfills the requirements of an innovation district

Optimize Land Use and Placemaking

• flexibility, responding to market preferences
• Infrastructure and land as a platform for experimentation
• Placemaking to achieve critical mass of real estate and commercial activity and authentic sense of place

Strategy as a City of Innovation

• Recognize and leverage the regional innovation context
• prioritize attention on city wide eco-system and development and networking
• Grow and support existing innovation firms and activity
• Manage externalities that arise
• Adapt through cycles

Build the City's Innovation Brand

• Leverage city DNA and expertise in promoting innovation
• Develop innovation brad as a broad identity and shared narrative
• invite others to feel and experience the innovation culture

• • Networking Assets
    • Gathering spaces- shared meeting spaces
    • Accessibility- close proximity
    • Hip vibes
  • Capital Stack
    • Equity
    • VC
    • Tax credits, government aid