Editor’s note: The San Antonio Report is pleased to begin featuring the weekly bigcitysmalltown podcast hosted by Robert Rivard, co-founder of the Report. We’ll be publishing a brief synopsis of the podcast each Tuesday.
Rene Dominguez, who officially took on the mantle of VelocityTX CEO on Jan. 1, dropped a little news on the latest bigcitysmalltown podcast.
In a wide-ranging interview with podcast host Robert Rivard, Dominguez said the Texas Research & Technology Foundation (TRTF), which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, will now be known simply as VelocityTX, which was established in 2017 as a subsidiary of the foundation to connect, support and fund bioscience-focused startups in San Antonio.
“You heard it here first — we are going to collapse the TRTF and VelocityTX brand under one umbrella brand, the VelocityTX brand,” Dominguez said. “That brand has become well-known and established itself as a premier leader in terms of technical assistance and the innovation district, so it just makes sense that going forward, we’re going to use that brand as the primary brand.”
Dominguez spoke to bigcitysmalltown from the podcast studio inside the VelocityTX offices on its 5-acre near Eastside campus, which is anchored by the historic Merchants Ice Building and includes two bioscience startups that are manufacturing stem cells on site: GenCure, a subsidiary of BioBridge Global, also located at the campus, and Scorpius BioManufacturing.
In the podcast, Dominguez relates TRTF’s history and its pivot to building out a world-class innovation district, including its plans for the former G.J. Sutton property. He shares VelocityTX’s long-term vision for a much larger biosciences-focused innovation district on the East Side — covering 70 acres — and the potential for a new redevelopment authority to get it there. He also shares the advice one longtime assistant city manager gave to the organization to reach its lofty expansion plans.
Dominguez describes the vast opportunity to expand military medical research in such a district, via the Defense Health Agency’s San Antonio expansion, and how Alamo Angels, a local angel investor group that struggled before being integrated by VelocityTX, fits into the larger mission.
Visit bigcitysmalltown to listen to Episode 38 with VelocityTX CEO Rene Dominguez, or listen at the link below.
