Speakers

Darran Anderson

TxDOT
Director of Strategic Innovation

Joyce Deuley

Team b. Strategy
Strategic Project & Communications Specialist

Shelley Row

Blue Fjord Leaders
Founder and CEO

Lori Clark

NCTCOG and Dallas-Fort Worth Clean Cities Coalition
Senior Program Manager and Director

Nathan Wade

Flow Labs
VP of Sales & Customer Success

Cat Hernandez

City of San Antonio
Director, Transportation Department

Brian Dillard

VIA Metropolitan Transit
Vice President of Technology & Innovation

Brandye Hendrickson

TxDOT
Deputy Executive Director for Planning & Administration

Justine Johnson

Michigan Economic Development Center
Senior Vice President & Chief Mobility Officer

Jim Perschbach

Port San Antonio
President and CEO

Trish DeBerry

Centro San Antonio
President and CEO

Henry Cisneros

American Triple I
Founder and Senior Advisor

Carlo Capua

City of Fort Worth
Chief of Strategy and Innovation

Monica Paul

Dallas Sports Commission
Executive Director

Gaston Kelly

Uber Transit
Global Head of Customer Success & Operations

Andre Jordan

Austin Fire Department
Division Chief

Brandon Branham

Peachtree Corners (Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners)
Chief Technology Officer and Assistant City Manager

Scott Campbell

Waymo Autonomous Vehicle Company
First Responder Ambassador

Michael Pack

CATT Laboratory
Founder

Brock Aun

HAAS Alert
Vice President of Communications and Public Policy

Erin Johnston

Replica
Senior Customer Success Manager

Brenda Colombus

Drivewyze
Product Manager

Jatish Patel

Flow Labs
Founder and CEO

Joseph Barletta

Smart Charge America
Founder

Faye Farahmand

STV
Zero Emissions Facility Engineering Lead

Momoko Tamaoki

San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission
Deputy Director of Planning, Grants, and Programming

Itai Dadon

Ouster
VP Smart Infrastructure

Bobby McCurdy

ITS America
Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy

David Bemporad

RS&H
Transportation Planner

Cynthia McGrail

Metropia
Vice President of Marketing and Communications

Michael Chamberlain

TxDOT
Director of Data Management

Charles Benavidez

TxDOT
District Engineer

Beto Altamirano

Irys
CEO & Co-founder

Adrian Pearmine

STV
Western Director of Mobility Technologies

Robert Nichols

Texas State Senate
Senator

Jamila Gomez

Houston METRO
Innovation Project Manager

Anita Kim

Torc Robotics
Director of Government Affairs and Policy

Ileana Gonzalez

Tech Bloc
CEO

Beth Kigel

HNTB
Vice President

Jorge Riveros

City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department
Deputy Director

Steve Novosad

HNTB
V2X and Emerging Technology Specialist

Linda Alvarado-Vela

Cambridge Systematics
Texas Market Lead

Ann W. Foss, PhD., AICP

City of Arlington
Transportation Planning and Programming Manager

How to launch an Innovation Zone

Innovation Zone Guidelines

An Innovation Zone is a district where stakeholders collaborate to test, deploy, and scale creative transportation solutions.

Why Innovation Zones?
The Texas population is booming and new technologies are available to make the roads safer, reduce congestion, increase accessibility, and optimize limited resources. An Innovation Zone will enable your region to test advanced technologies locally while gaining valuable lessons learned from other Innovation Zones around the state.

What are the benefits? Innovation Zones will enable your region to readily deploy advanced mobility technologies, partner with local community and industry leaders, and compete for federal funding.

  • APRIL
    Identify regional stakeholders (city, transit, TxDOT, county, port, university, etc.) who will collaborate to develop an Innovation Zone.

  • MAY - JUNE
    Schedule a time to meet with Alliance staff, identify/prioritize potential locations, and develop ideas for your Innovation Zone.

  • JULY 17-19
    Teams attend the Innovation Invitational in Austin where your team presents ideas, develop partnerships, and advance development of Innovation Zone concepts.

  • AUGUST
    Teams meet locally to debrief, incorporate ideas from the Innovation Invitational, and prepare presentations

  • SEPTEMBER 19
    Teams present Innovation Zone concepts to TxDOT leadership and a panel of experts. Winners selected and receive recognition at Fall Texas Technology Task Force Meeting and on TxDOT's website.

© 2023 Texas Innovation Alliance.
All rights reserved.
July 17- 19