2025 Innovation Award winners represent the cutting edge of North Texas innovation across industries. From left: Ben Lamm, Colossal Biosciences; Aurora; Bell; and Dave Copps, Worlds.
D CEO and Dallas Innovates' Innovation Award winners are working to resurrect extinct species, launching autonomous trucks, reinventing military aircraft, and bringing AI into the physical world—and that's just the beginning. The 2025 awards showcase game-changing achievements—including Texas' first newly minted decacorn—across 17 categories of innovation. Here’s a look at the innovators leading the way.
The Innovation Awards 2025 recognizes 76 companies and trailblazers paving the way for the future of innovation in North Texas. Here's who made the finalists list.
Twenty-six Dallas County organizations secured support for causes spanning animal welfare to breast cancer assistance. Now, the foundation is gearing up for its Summer Grant Cycle, targeting nonprofits focused on early childhood development, family homelessness, workforce readiness, and more.
Volvo's Fort Worth office will set up the first V.A.S. autonomous freight corridors from Dallas-Fort Worth to El Paso and from Dallas to Houston. The company has already begun manual test runs with partners including Uber Freight and DHL. See who else is rolling autonomous trucks out of DFW—and why North Texas has become a key testing ground "to change the way we move goods on highways."
In this week's roundup of hires, promotions, and accolades in North Texas, you'll also find news from Firehouse, Enseo, Cambium Learning, D Magazine, Lear Investment Management, Spacee, Envy Gaming, 5Q, Stream Realty Partners, Nanoscope, Crossplane Capital, Improving, TimelyMD and more.
NCTCOG's Regional Transportation Council believes autonomous vehicles are part of the solution to North Texas' future.
From autonomous parking at DFW airport to self-driving DART shuttles to medication deliveries in McKinney—along with local hubs for Kodiak Robotics, Aurora, and TuSimple—the region could prove to be the "most robust, automated, and connected vehicle ecosystem in the country," says one official.
AURORA, the Dallas-based public arts organization, is partnering with Downtown Dallas, Inc. on the weekly events, which will be free to the public. Curated video art programs will be projected at parks and outdoor surfaces in West End Square, Pegasus Plaza, and the Dallas Arts District—with live music and an outdoor artisanal market also on tap.
Aurora capped off a six-month pilot test of its autonomous Toyota S-AM minivans in Dallas-Fort Worth by giving Toyota North America CEO Ted Ogawa and other execs a ride toward DFW Airport yesterday.
Aurora will continue to test and develop its ride-hailing and autonomous trucking tech from Dallas, including a new trucking route from Dallas to El Paso. It expects to launch its ride-hailing product, Aurora Connect, in late 2024.
The "S-AM" hybrid electric minivans—short for "Sienna Autonomo-MaaS"—will be tested in a six-month pilot program in Dallas, Pittsburgh, the San Francisco Bay areal, and other locations. Aurora intends to deploy the vehicles on ride-hailing networks in late 2024.
Light it up: Aurora illuminated downtown Dallas this weekend with its public exhibitions of light, video, and sound. People were able to view and interact with 17 installations, all exploring what the future of the world might look like.
Aurora Dallas will take over downtown this weekend, with featured exhibits all centered around engaging the public and creating a dialogue of where the future is headed. One site-specific exhibit intends to do this by combining humans and robotics.
They are fearless North Texas masterminds with a history of revolutionizing their industries: Joshua King, Amber Venz Box, Lance Crosby, Paul Bettner, Walter Voit, Joshua King, Will Rosellini, and Dave Copps. They share “secret weapons” and lessons learned — as well as the technology to watch.
From unprecedented inventions to never-before-considered concepts, our region is fostering the ascension of businesses born by artists, artisans, and creators.
The "Prelude" event is coming in October to the AT&T Performing Arts Center, a 9-year-old girls sets up a nonprofit to help her peers, and B.R.A.I.N. will have small business referral services at Dallas libraries.
North Texas is a big place, with plenty to do, see, hear, and watch. We scour the internet every week to find events and activities for you. As always, things may change at any time, so be sure to check the official website or registration page for the latest details....
The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) is increasingly recognized as a leading hub of innovative research and technological advancement. Among its most significant contributors is Dr. Walter Voit, whose work has been pivotal in several transformative fields, including flexible electronics, neuroscience, 3D printing, and artificial intelligence (AI)....
Austin-based full-service real estate firm HPI has made its first key hire in Fort Worth with Matt Montague, a 17-year commercial real estate veteran. He joins former NFL and UT quarterback Colt McCoy at HPI’s new Fort Worth office as executive managing director....
The investment leaders behind Fort Worth-based U.S. Energy Development Corp. have launched U.S. Property Development LLC, a private real estate investment company primarily focused on investing in industrial, self-storage, and commercial real estate in the United States....
North Texas is a big place, with plenty to do, see, hear, and watch. We scour the internet every week to find events and activities for you. As always, things may change at any time, so be sure to check the official website or registration page for the latest details....
The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) is increasingly recognized as a leading hub of innovative research and technological advancement. Among its most significant contributors is Dr. Walter Voit, whose work has been pivotal in several transformative fields, including flexible electronics, neuroscience, 3D printing, and artificial intelligence (AI)....
Austin-based full-service real estate firm HPI has made its first key hire in Fort Worth with Matt Montague, a 17-year commercial real estate veteran. He joins former NFL and UT quarterback Colt McCoy at HPI’s new Fort Worth office as executive managing director....
The investment leaders behind Fort Worth-based U.S. Energy Development Corp. have launched U.S. Property Development LLC, a private real estate investment company primarily focused on investing in industrial, self-storage, and commercial real estate in the United States....