Houston could be the world capital of energy, home to the largest medical center in the world, and the first word spoken by the moon! But it's usually not the first city that comes to mind when someone thinks of "technological hubs" in the country. San Francisco, New York, Boston, and more recently also Austin, have attracted the coveted moniker.
As a co-founder of Smartereum – a blockchain and encrypted news site – my work took me to different cities around the world, where I saw the blockchain ecosystems that some of these cities have built and are continuing to build. Returning home, I look for groups of blockchain to go out with, but it seems they have always had problems. That's why I decided to launch the Houston Blockchain Alliance in October 2018, as a platform where someone like me could easily find any kind of blockchain resources they would need. The Houston Blockchain Alliance is developed as a non-profit entity 501 (c) (6).
I consider myself a Houstonian, having made Houston my home for over 12 years. Smartereum was born here and continues to grow. As a technician, moving to Houston for a job at the North American Technology Center (NATC) of J.P.Morgan, I have been frustrated over the years by the apparent lack of technological resources in the city. I have seen other smaller cities overcome Houston to become those technological centers. We have never been in serious conflict with Amazon's HQ2 or the $ 1 billion Apple campus! So when I saw the mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, push an "ambitious goal […] for Houston to grow technological innovation "with the first IoT partnership with Microsoft at the beginning of this year, I could finally see a change at the horizon.
"Microsoft has chosen us for the ambitious goal that I set for Houston to grow technological innovation as the next economic frontier – after doing the same thing with energy, medicine, and technology. exploration of space and the port "
– Mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner
The HBA aims to create and then show Houston as a great place to do blockchain jobs, supporting the Mayor's goal.
In the short span of 2 months, the support I received from Houston was incredibly encouraging. We have created a solid team at HBA, composed of professionals with various skillsets working for the same goal of putting Houston on the blockchain map. But the support was more than the immediate team. The Greater Houston Partnership, start-ups, educators and businesses in Houston have all reached the HBA with an offer of help.
The HBA mission is "to help Houston businesses and start-ups identify the real applications of distributed blockchain and ledger technologies". However, HBA aims to do even more: provide a platform for individuals, companies, technologists, investors and anyone interested in blockchain to network, collaborate, learn about and contribute to this technology as it evolves from its current childhood.
Anyone interested in joining the Houston Blockchain Alliance can do it FREE before the start of the event, scheduled for 21 February. The HBA plans to organize similar events every quarter, with more regular informal meetings as well as a blockchain conference throughout the city towards the end of the year. Members will have free access to most events and conferences, as well as discounts on conference tickets and other services reserved for members only.
If you are interested in helping as a volunteer, partner, sponsor, educator or any other skills, please contact us [email protected]. And follow the Houston Blockchain Alliance on Twitter (@BlockchainHTX) and Facebook (BlockchainHTX)
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