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Every Last Word
Dallas Innovates’ signature series capturing what leaders across North Texas are saying — in their own words — about innovation, impact, and what’s next.
Bats are vital pollinators, per research by Texas Master Naturalists and BRIT, which revealed "at least five species flying overhead—more than any other surveyed site in the area." While the orange nectar bat pictured isn't native to the area, you can meet local insect-eating species at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. [Image: Ondrej Prosicky/Istockphoto]
The Last Word: BRIT’s Ashley Bales On the Fort Worth Botanic Garden’s Surprising Nightlife Scene
by Quincy Preston | May 13, 2025
Our urban green space hosts a colony of ecological superheroes—aka bats—working tirelessly to pollinate plants and control pests while most humans are fast asleep.
by David Seeley |
May 8, 2025
Last Thursday, SPARK! Dallas—a nonprofit that aims to ignite creativity in children through a fully immersive, hands-on learning environment—celebrated its 10th anniversary with a SPARKtacular fundraiser event. More than 160 guests attended, bid on silent auction items, and enjoyed appetizers and beverages at the home of Leigh and Bryce Williams. The goal: raise funds to help children learn about creativity. And as today's Last Word shows, SPARK! Dallas Executive Director Meg Bittner has high hopes for what that mission could lead to.
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by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
May 7, 2025
The challenge above was addressed by Google Public Sector's Chris Hein to the opening-day audience at the Convergence AI Dallas conference, hosted April 30-May 1 by the Dallas Regional Chamber. Held for the second year at the Irving Convention Center, the event featured 75 expert speakers and attracted more than 750 innovators, leaders, builders, and advocates from the Dallas-Fort Worth AI ecosystem.
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by David Seeley |
May 6, 2025
Ikeda and Orikeda Trashi took home $12,000 in the April 16 UT Dallas Big Idea student competition for Biodelivera, a platform that delivers cancer therapy directly to tumors using using "virus-like particles." In the alumni track, the top prize went to Brice Sokolowski for his sweat-evaporating Vaucluse Backpack Ventilation Gear.
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Ravi Raghu, president of Capital One Software, leads the financial giant’s enterprise software division from Dallas-Fort Worth. Under his leadership, the company has launched Databolt, a patented tokenization tool designed to secure sensitive data in the AI era. [Photo: Capital One]
The Last Word: Capital One Software’s Ravi Raghu on Databolt and the Power of Data
by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report | Apr 29, 2025
Capital One has long positioned itself as a technology company that does banking, not the other way around. But what’s lesser known—even inside tech circles—is that the company now has a growing enterprise software business selling commercial cloud tools to other organizations.
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by David Seeley |
Apr 24, 2025
Manthripragada is just one of countless leaders in business, investment, innovation, philanthropy, academia, environmental advocacy, and more who've been speaking and connecting at this weeks's EarthX2025 Congress of Congresses, which runs through Friday at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. During the event's E-Capital Summit, Manthripragada spoke with MassChallenge CEO Caitlin Reimers Brumme,
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by David Seeley |
Apr 23, 2025
In celebration of Dallas Arts Month, Communities Foundation of Texas is presenting North Texas Gives to the Arts, a fundraising campaign that lives on the NorthTexasGivingDay.org platform. The campaign—which runs through April 30—includes $100,000 in total matching funds from The Giana Foundation Fund, the Robert B. and Virginia Payne Fund for Arts & Culture, and CFT.
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The Last Word: Sam’s Club Exec on Grapevine Store’s Use of Computer Vision, Scan & Go Tech, and More
by David Seeley |
Apr 17, 2025
Since it reopened last October, the Sam's Club store in Grapevine has been a peek into a whole new retail future. Instead of waiting in lines at cash registers, customers use Scan & Go technology to pay for items with a phone app. AI and computer vision are used to keep store shelves stocked. Automatic floor cleaners keep things spiffy. Other upgrades include a vertical tire carousel and automated forklifts. And if shoppers get hungry, a robot in the cafe will be happy to make them a pizza.
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A message from Lyda Hill Philanthropies' newly redesigned IF/THEN website. [Image: Lyda Hill Philanthropies]
The Last Word: On Lyda Hill Philanthropies’ Redesigned ‘IF/THEN’ Website
by David Seeley | Apr 9, 2025
The IF/THEN initiative from Lyda Hill Philanthropies has had a major impact on spectators who've viewed its installation of 3D-printed statues of women “STEM rockstars." Now a new push is underway to make an impact online through IF/THEN's website, which has been newly redesigned by Dallas-based Tegan Digital.
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by Quincy Preston |
Apr 8, 2025
“Welcome to the private debut of the Dreams Experience Academy—or as we call it, somewhat provocatively, DEA,” said Chris Gannett at the launch event at the Kessler in Oak Cliff last week.
The student-powered, purpose-driven nonprofit, co-founded by hip-hop icon The D.O.C., aims to unlock creative talent and open doors into the $3 trillion media, entertainment, and tech economy.
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by David Seeley |
Apr 3, 2025
An art installation of 250 large, hand-made origami stars will appear later this month over the ice rink at Galleria Dallas. The vibrant work aims to advance the mission of Paper for Water, a nonprofit that's raising awareness of the global water crisis and the nonprofit's mission to bring clean water to communities worldwide. The charity was founded in 2011 by sisters Isabelle and Katherine Adams—then 8 and 5 years old—after they learned that a child was dying every 15 seconds from unclean water and that millions of girls like them were spending their day hauling water rather than attending school.
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by David Seeley |
Apr 2, 2025
The Medallion Theatre closed in 2001, but the Dallas moviehouse—once located in the Medallion Shopping Center at Skillman and Northwest Highway—hosted a key moment in film history. On March 26, 1975, it offered the first-ever public screening of "Jaws," the monster hit that invented the summer blockbuster. Now, with April here and summer looming, some are looking back at the screening that helped change Hollywood forever.
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Globe Life Field [Photo: Texas Rangers]
The Last Word: On the Opening Day Debut of the New Rangers Sports Network
by David Seeley | Mar 27, 2025
It's opening day across Major League Baseball, and the Texas Rangers began the season at 3:05 p.m. with a 5-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox at Globe Life Field. Meanwhile, on screens across North Texas, viewers got to see the first-ever regular season broadcast by the team's new in-house Rangers Sports Network.
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by Dallas Innovates | Staff Report |
Mar 26, 2025
Later this spring, an inspiring work of public art is going up in downtown Dallas, honoring cancer survivors from its placement above the Cancer Survivors’ Plaza. The installation—originally conceived by artist and Aurora co-founder Joshua King in 2016—tells the deeply personal stories of four cancer survivors.
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by David Seeley |
Mar 20, 2025
When AI rewrote the Barbie speech for nonprofits, it hit uncomfortably close to home from impossibly tight budgets to donor expectations. Social entrepreneur Suzanne Smith says it's time for leaders to dive in and try Gen AI for themselves.
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by David Seeley |
Mar 19, 2025
With the Texas Stock Exchange slated to launch trading in 2026 and the New York Stock Exchange planning its own launch of NYSE Texas, the Nasdaq is setting up its own home on Y'all Street. Yesterday the Nasdaq held a luncheon in Dallas honoring Ross Perot Jr. for his contributions to the thriving Texas economy—and announced that it will be opening a new regional headquarters in Dallas.
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