BY AUBREY VOGEL
Zooming out
The impact
Looking ahead
Plug and Play has over 60 locations worldwide, with four others that have launched in Texas since early 2024, according to its website. These locations are in Cedar Park, Frisco, McKinney and most recently in the Bryan-College Station area. “It’s given us a platform to bring people from all over the country to McKinney who want to be part of Plug and Play, and it gives us a platform to be on the radar,” said Michael Kowski, president and CEO of McKinney Economic Development Corp.
Plug and Play’s first Sugar Land cohort began April 4 and will wrap up in June, Huff said. The agreement with Plug and Play will last three years but has the opportunity to extend and change with the community’s needs.
Huff said city staff have been looking for a business incubator since 2020, although the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the progress. Ulti- mately, city officials hope some businesses will relocate to the area, spurring job growth as well as property and sales tax revenue. Additionally, Huff said she believes this will help students at local universities, such as the University of Houston at Sugar Land, to find jobs in the area and stay to invest their talents in Sugar Land. Jay Neal, associate vice president and chief operating officer for UH at Sugar Land and UH at Katy, said he hopes to prepare and connect students to innovative opportunities such as Plug and Play. “Part of our academic vision is creating a community where higher education, industry, city/county governments come together to build an ecosystem that advances things like research, technology and innovation,” he said.
"Ultimately, I hope that [Plug and Play] helps to live out our values of being trailblazers but also our mission and vision of making people’s lives better than they imagine." ELIZABETH HUFF, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, SUGAR LAND
2,200 startups accelerated worldwide in 2024 Plug and Play impact
861 startups accelerated in the U.S. in 2024
$109,570
230
investments made to startups in 2024
average check size per startup
SOURCE: PLUG AND PLAY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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SUGAR LAND - MISSOURI CITY EDITION
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