What Will It Take to Make Houston a Major Tech Industry City?
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Houston is clearly a changing city - a simple comparison of downtown a few years ago and now is proof enough of that. New business districts such as the Beltway/Briar Forest area are springing up all over town, and tech companies are a visible and integral part of the city's changing landscape (anybody heard of Questia?). Yet despite the growing number of technical companies in the area, including powerhouses such as Compaq, BMC Software, and NASA, Houston has received only scant attention as a tech city. In fact, Houston ranks behind Austin and Dallas in both popular perception and overall investment dollars for tech projects.

What are the necessary conditions for a major tech industry city? What other city models should we be studying? What are critical characteristics that Houston is missing? What can Houston do to bolster its image as a tech city? Simultaneously, what can tech industry participants do to help the city attract public attention and investment dollars to the area?

Special Guest Panelists:

Rob Shaw, Founder of Ashford.com and Emerging

Chris Bell, Member of the Houston City Council

Suggested Reading:

Atlanta: The New Economy Meets the Old South
The Industry Standard
August 21, 2000

Kansas City: High-tech Heartland
Business 2.0
August 08, 2000

Ottawa: Great White North
Business 2.0
September 12, 2000

Salt Lake City: Gateway to High-Tech Heaven?
The Industry Standard
August 7, 2000

What about Houston?
Upside Today
June 10, 2000

Logistics:

Tuesday, September 26, 2000
6:30 p.m. Cocktails (open bar)
7:15 p.m. Dinner and Round-Table Discussion
8:30 pm. Panel, Open Discussion

The Houstonian—The Aspen Room
111 N. Post Oak Lane, 713.680.2626

Dinner is $55.00 for accepted and paid Members and $65.00 for non-Members—fixed price dinner. Advance reservations only. First come-First served. Space is limited. Reservations are non-cancelable, non-refundable.