As 2024 comes to a close, we reflect on a year marked by incredible milestones and growth. This year was especially significant as the Rice Alliance joined forces with the Ion to lead the programming and activation in Houston’s innovation hub, powered by Rice University.
This year, we’ve seen startups recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 for breaking barriers, we’ve welcomed new founders to programs like the Clean Energy and OwlSpark Accelerators, launched—through tremendous collaboration—the inaugural Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week and continued to amplify our community of startups and founders. We’re excited to be alongside you, fueling this vibrant ecosystem, and we’re proud to celebrate the moments that made 2024 exceptional.
2024 was a year of remarkable milestones for ventures across Rice Alliance programs. Help us celebrate some of the standout successes from ventures that have participated in Rice Alliance programming, and explore how founders are turning bold ideas into transformative solutions. See a more comprehensive list of startup successes on our website.
RBPC = Rice Business Plan Competition | TLSF= Texas Life Science Forum | ETVF = Energy Tech Venture Forum
- Rice Alliance teams up with the Ion to lead programming and activation. Plus, Brad Burke took on an additional role as Associate Vice President for Industry and New Ventures in Rice Innovation.
- Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator completed its fourth class, which included 12 startups.
- The 24th Annual Rice Business Plan Competition saw 42 startups competing this year and facilitated over $1.5 million in investment and cash prizes to the top teams. In 2025, we will celebrate the 25th year of RBPC.
- Rice Alliance joined forces with Greentown Labs, Halliburton Labs, HETI, Activate, Digital Wildcatters and many others to launch the inaugural Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week 2024 that brought together leading energy and climate venture capital investors, industry leaders and startups from around the world to showcase Houston. This initiate wouldn't have been possible without the creativity, vision and dedication from the late Scott Gale.
- 18 University of Houston and Rice University startups and small business teams completed the RED Labs and OwlSpark Accelerator - Class 12. The accelerator concluded with the Bayou Startup Showcase at the Ion, where 400+ members of the Houston community were in attendance.
- 150+ energy transition startups participated in our Energy Venture Capital events: the 21st Annual Energy Tech Venture Forum, Energy Venture Day and Energy Startup Competition (co-hosted with SPE), attended by more than 1000, including over 100 investors and tech scouts participated in office hour meetings.
- Held the 13th Annual Texas Life Science Forum in partnership with BioHouston with over 700 registered attendees and over 40 presenting ventures.
- The 12th Annual Ignite Entrepreneurship Trek to Silicon Valley was successfully held in March. This immersive, educational experience hosted 57 Ph.D. candidates and Masters students from Rice Engineering, Natural Science, and Business, plus TMC in 2024.
- The Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers, headquartered at the Rice Alliance, hosted the largest conference in its history at Babson College in Boston, MA, with over 700 university entrepreneurship leaders participating from universities across the world, with 16 universities being awarded top honors in nine categories.
- Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business has taken the No. 1 spot in the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine's rankings of top schools for graduate entrepreneurship programs for the sixth year running.
We hope to see you at the weekly events happening at the Ion! Check out the Ion District events calendar regularly as more events are added each week.
Save the Date for Rice Alliance Programs
(Dates could change: make sure to regularly visit our upcoming events page).
