Rice University took center stage at the inaugural South by Southwest London, bringing Texas-sized ambition, pathbreaking innovation and global vision to one of the world’s premier gatherings of creative and intellectual leaders. As part of Texas House in the heart of Shoreditch, East London, several Rice leaders spoke on panels and delivered talks showcasing not only the university’s strength in business and innovation but also its deepening impact in Europe and beyond.
Chief innovation officer Paul Cherukuri laid out a bold vision for the future of innovation, positioning Rice as a driving force in discovery and impact.
“Higher education is really under a huge lens now,” Cherukuri said. “What we see is an opportunity — an opportunity to reinvent what higher education really means. And that’s what we’re doing in Texas.”
From cutting-edge biotech commercialization to global partnerships, Cherukuri emphasized that Rice is not just keeping pace — it’s setting the speed of innovation. “We’re wanting you all to know that Rice is actually engaged, not only in Houston, Texas, but globally. We are a global university. We bring the world to Houston.”
That engagement is evident in initiatives like the Biotech Launch Pad and RBL LLC, aimed at accelerating the commercialization of biotech inventions, as well as the Ion, Rice’s flagship innovation hub at the heart of Houston’s growing innovation district.
Cherukuri underscored Rice’s commitment to bridging the gap between research and real-world impact. “We’re taking it into the real world and commercializing it,” he said. “What we’re doing is to try to have an impact. When we create an invention, if we do not release it to the world … it is actually our responsibility to do so. By not doing so is actually a disservice to society.”
One of the university’s most ambitious moves is a partnership with Woodside Energy, launched in January 2024, to create the Woodside-Rice Decarbonization Accelerator. The five-year collaboration aims to bring advanced, lower-carbon technologies to market starting with plasma-based material innovations.
“The Woodside project is really unique, and the reason it’s unique is plasma,” Cherukuri explained. “This is a new technology, a new capability in being able to make materials. It’s the absolute cutting edge. It’s opening up new avenues — not only to create new materials but new fuels, new ways of doing chemistry, cleaner and cheaper and hopefully at scale.”
At the heart of Cherukuri’s message was a clear call to collaboration. “We are here to work with the world. That is the point of why we are here. We want to show that we are here to partner. We want to meet like-minded individuals who have the same philosophy: to change the world in terms of invention, innovation and impact.”
He also reminded the audience that Rice’s legacy of discovery is no accident. “It’s a remarkable institution,” Cherukuri said. “Anybody who steps foot in the halls of this incredible place can see that the DNA inside here is to think, to dream big, to think big, to really do things at a scale that no other university can do. And we have that wonderful charter — and we’ve done that time and time again.”
Come and make it: Building bilateral trade with the Lone Star State
Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice Business, shared timely insights into why Texas — and Rice itself — are uniquely positioned to lead in global trade and economic collaboration.
“There are a lot of reasons,” Rodriguez said when asked why Texas continues to attract international business. “You need to think of an economy — eighth largest in the world, 30 million people, a geographic footprint larger than France. Let’s just say it’s an enormous place.” But beyond size, he emphasized, the real draw is Texas’s momentum: “Growth is the environment in which you want to invest. We see that in Texas in a very big way. About 1,100 people per day move to Texas.”
Rodriguez pointed to the state’s unmatched energy resources — “the No. 1 energy producer and exporter in the country” — as well as its growing renewable sector, diverse population and business-friendly climate.
“It’s a city of diversity because it’s a city of great opportunity. You can come there, and if you can build it, there is no barrier to anyone,” he said of Houston.
But for Rodriguez and Rice, the future of business and education doesn’t stop at Texas’s borders. “We call ourselves ‘Moonshot University.’ This is where big dreams are launched,” he said, referencing President John F. Kennedy’s famous 1962 moon speech delivered at Rice Stadium. “We realize you can’t do that — have impact — without great connectivity to the world.”
Rodriguez described Rice’s growing international presence, including its new center in Paris and presence in India. “We don’t need to be everywhere. We need friends everywhere. We need relationships everywhere,” he said. “That’s what’s going to make our university stronger: creating research partnerships with universities, bringing in top students and delivering top students back out to those universities.”
Innovation, Rodriguez explained, is central to both Rice’s mission and Texas’s economic future. “We run the world’s largest business plan competition at a university,” he said. Each year, tech-based entrepreneurs compete in areas like digital health, artificial intelligence and energy transition. “We want to bring together smart minds working at the vanguard of their technological fields and commercializing those ideas into something that makes a really positive difference.”
The key to turning ideas into impact? Collaboration. “It takes city leaders. It takes governments. It takes universities, and it takes corporations working together,” Rodriguez said. “We want to create the friendliest ecosystem for doing that.”
At Rice Business, that collaborative spirit starts early. “Every student has a chance to run a startup,” he said. “Every student has a chance to work with technologists, engineers and natural scientists to develop an idea, take it further and see if they can make a big difference.”
As Rodriguez sees it, Texas is a place that embraces risk and rewards ambition — and Rice is at the center of that energy, helping shape the next generation of global leaders and innovators.
Vinod Veedu, assistant vice president for defense research advancement at Rice, took part in a panel focused on the vital U.S.-U.K. partnership in driving innovation across defense, business and capital investment. The discussion emphasized that close collaboration between the two nations accelerates technological advancement, bolsters both commercial and defense sectors and reinforces shared security objectives.
In March, Rice served as the educational partner for the inaugural Texas House during SXSW in Austin. A first-of-its-kind unofficial, off-site activation, Texas House brought together thousands of attendees to celebrate “Texcellence” — showcasing the bold ideas, pioneering spirit and world-class collaborations that define Texas’ forward-thinking vision.
As a key sponsor, Rice experts led dynamic panel discussions on topics including global partnerships, innovation in Texas, national security and supply chain connectivity, the development of collaborative life science centers and Texas’ role in the emerging brain economy.