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What do the , and have in common? They are all out of this world yet call Houston home.

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Along with its biggest anchor, oil and gas, the city is also home to a deep bench of, and. While 2020 wasn鈥檛 exactly what anyone expected, Houston鈥檚 emergent technology companies are primed to deliver solutions to advance imminent digital transformation in the as a result of the oil price crash and COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.

COVID-19 is the of this story, , inflicting unimaginable economic damage, forcing layoffs, mergers, budget cuts and itself. Even while egregious in impact, COVID-19 and the oil pricing crash can be seen as catalysts offering a clear path for Houston to make a name for itself as a serious tech hub, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes of Chapter 11.

As 叠别测辞苍肠茅 says: 鈥淚f everything was perfect, you would never learn, you would never grow.鈥�

Energy giants look to leap

The oil and gas sector has been notoriously averse to change for as long as anyone can remember, moreso than any other global industry. But it can no longer afford to remain stagnant. Among the downturned market, a pandemic and seismic industry shifts toward , the current environment is forcing companies鈥� hands. Innovation and technology adoption is the new prerequisite for survival and the will alter Houston鈥檚 tech DNA for good.

Approximately 92 percent of oil and gas executives聽 agree that their organizations will have to change the way they operate. Among those polled, 80 percent are investing at least a moderate amount in digital technology and 43 percent have identified big data analytics and insights as one of the top three trends that will positively impact their business growth within the next three years.

The same survey reports that companies are evaluating which digital technologies鈥攄ata analytics, cybersecurity, data science, design thinking, blockchain and artificial intelligence among others鈥攁re the most imperative to driving production efficiencies and transforming operations to function on razor-thin margins.

also details that from technology implementation are being prioritized and that effective digital adoption will require behavior, mindset and skill shifts to embrace and extract maximum results.

With energy giants like , , , , and more set up in Houston, the city is primed to witness a remarkable new era where traditional, slow-moving, entrenched oil and gas companies look for the fastest horse. Chances are that bet will come in the form of an agile startup.

Startups at bat

With a plethora of incubator and accelerator programs including 1 and (a merger of the mayor鈥檚 Technology and Innovation Task Force, , and the ‘s Innovation Roundtable) the support to advance startup offerings abounds.

Several notable startups poised to contribute to the billion-dollar digital transformation in oil and gas include Silicon Valley-founded , a technology platform that optimizes energy production, which transferred most of it staff to Houston; a mineral rights buying optimization platform;, the platform for a transparent marine supply chain in energy; and, a leading innovative supply chain procurement platform serving the energy sector. My company, , is a provider of GumboNet, a massively interconnected industrial blockchain network that realizes transactional certainty.

Proof in the pudding: An influx of VC dollars

There were more dollars funneled to Houston鈥檚 tech companies in 2020 than in years prior. According to, startups raised $433.33 million between January and July 2020, spread across 46 deals.

Investments within energy鈥攆rom venture arms of leading industry operators including and, as well as international oil and gas companies like Norway鈥檚, France鈥檚 and2鈥攁re supporting younger ventures to generate viable business opportunities in a post-COVID world. Legacy industries yield opportunities for meaningful innovation and problem-solving technology. And, as always, money follows suit.

Tech on the bayou

鈥淒igital innovation is one of the few means that can contend with these profound changes鈥� brought about by recent circumstances, according to . It鈥檚 time that energy, as a multibillion-dollar industry, modernizes to survive the crisis at hand and set itself up for a digital future 鈥� a future where there鈥檚 plenty of money to be made by the companies that can spur oil and gas into its new era.

鈥淲ith a strong infrastructure (hello, ),听聽(evidenced by its robust universities) and聽 cultural landscape, Houston is poised to offer plausible solutions to its biggest industry鈥檚 woes. Who knows, maybe the next Zuckerberg will be wearing cowboy boots and a Stetson with a hoodie? Maybe聽is the 鈥�.鈥� In the interim, we鈥檒l work on the name.鈥�

Andrew Bruce is founder and CEO of, provider of GumboNet, an industrial blockchain network that realizes transactional certainty in commercial relationships.

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