call for submissions

Annual Houston awards program opens nominations, seeks promising energy tech startups

Last year, several innovative energy transition companies were honored, like Syzygy Plasmonics. Photo by Emily Jaschke/InnovationMap

Calling all energy innovators — EnergyCapital's sister site InnovationMap needs your help identifying the best and brightest Houston startups.

For the fourth year, InnovationMap is hosting its signature awards program, the Houston Innovation Awards, that will recognize the top startups and innovators in Houston. The awards program will be on Thursday, November 14, at the Texas Medical Center's Helix Park. Tickets and tables are on sale now.

There are a few categories energy startups should be aware of this year — in particular, the Energy Transition Business category, which honors an innovative startup providing a solution within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, alternative materials, circular economy, and beyond.

Additionally, there are a few industry agnostic categories, too, such as:

  • Minority-founded business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ representation
  • Female-founded business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by a woman
  • Deep tech business, honoring an innovative startup providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges
  • AI/data science business, honoring an innovative startup utilizing artificial intelligence and data science within a tech solution
  • Scaleup of the year, honoring an innovative later stage startup that's recently reached a significant milestone in company growth
  • People’s choice: Startup of the Year, a startup celebrating a recent milestone or success and the winner will be selected by the community via online portal and announced at the event
Not a startup? Not a problem. The Community Champion Organization category will honor a corporation, nonprofit, university, or other organization that plays a major role in the Houston innovation community. View the full list of categories here.
Last year, nearly 20 Houston energy companies were honored as finalists at the awards, and three companies took home wins.

The nomination period — which includes submitting nominations on behalf of yourself or others — will close September 10. Nominees will be sent an application, which will be due September 23. A panel of judges will review the applications and finalists will be announced and notified ahead of the event.

Nominees can be submitted to multiple categories. If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, including the opportunity to sponsor any of the above award categories, please reach out to sales@innovationmap.com.

Click here to submit a nomination or see form below.


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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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A View From HETI

Researchers from Rice University say their recent findings could revolutionize power grids, making energy transmission more efficient. Image via Getty Images.

A new study from researchers at Rice University, published in Nature Communications, could lead to future advances in superconductors with the potential to transform energy use.

The study revealed that electrons in strange metals, which exhibit unusual resistance to electricity and behave strangely at low temperatures, become more entangled at a specific tipping point, shedding new light on these materials.

A team led by Rice’s Qimiao Si, the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Physics and Astronomy, used quantum Fisher information (QFI), a concept from quantum metrology, to measure how electron interactions evolve under extreme conditions. The research team also included Rice’s Yuan Fang, Yiming Wang, Mounica Mahankali and Lei Chen along with Haoyu Hu of the Donostia International Physics Center and Silke Paschen of the Vienna University of Technology. Their work showed that the quantum phenomenon of electron entanglement peaks at a quantum critical point, which is the transition between two states of matter.

“Our findings reveal that strange metals exhibit a unique entanglement pattern, which offers a new lens to understand their exotic behavior,” Si said in a news release. “By leveraging quantum information theory, we are uncovering deep quantum correlations that were previously inaccessible.”

The researchers examined a theoretical framework known as the Kondo lattice, which explains how magnetic moments interact with surrounding electrons. At a critical transition point, these interactions intensify to the extent that the quasiparticles—key to understanding electrical behavior—disappear. Using QFI, the team traced this loss of quasiparticles to the growing entanglement of electron spins, which peaks precisely at the quantum critical point.

In terms of future use, the materials share a close connection with high-temperature superconductors, which have the potential to transmit electricity without energy loss, according to the researchers. By unblocking their properties, researchers believe this could revolutionize power grids and make energy transmission more efficient.

The team also found that quantum information tools can be applied to other “exotic materials” and quantum technologies.

“By integrating quantum information science with condensed matter physics, we are pivoting in a new direction in materials research,” Si said in the release.

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