One organization is providing funding that will help four local companies develop new technologies and support Houston jobs. Visit http://houston.jobing.com/jobs to learn more.

The Texas Emerging Technology Fund recently announced its plans to invest in four Houston area companies in order to support the development and commercialization of their innovative technologies, which will in turn support local Houston jobs.

“Texas is the best state in the nation for developing ground breaking technologies thanks to investments from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, which has fostered an environment of innovation that attracts companies and top researchers to our state,” Gov. Rick Perry said. “These four TETF investments will help develop these cutting edge technologies in fields ranging from biomedical engineering to electronics.”

The companies slated to receive funding from the TETF include:

• Leonardo BioSystems Inc. – The company will get $2.5 million to develop a cancer treatment that will eventually allow for the development and use of more powerful and effective chemotherapy drugs that are safe for humans and have fewer side effects. Leonardo is partnering with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston for the technology.
• Ensysce Biosciences Inc. – The company will receive $250,000 to develop a carbon nanotube technology that delivers cancer therapeutics to patients. Ensysce is working with Rice University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to develop the technology.
• N3D Biosciences Inc. – The company will get $250,000 to commercialize its 3D in vitro cell culturing, which will help with life science research and development, as well as drug discovery, toxicology and regenerative medicine. Nano3D is partnering with Rice University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to further the technology.
• Veros Systems Inc. – The company will receive $250,000 to develop and launch its Smart Electrical Interface technology, which constantly monitors and assesses industrial machines in order to identify problems. Veros is working with Texas A&M University to develop the technology.

Since its creation in 2005, the TETF has allocated more than $141.75 million to 109 early stage companies, and $153 million in grant matching and research superiority funds to universities throughout Texas.

Many officials are reporting that the economy is beginning to stabilize, and now a local economist is predicting that most of the key sectors will gain Houston jobs by the fall of 2010.

Barton Smith, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston, has said that he thinks “the worst is behind us.” He predicts that Houston will lose about 13,000 jobs, or .5 percent of its workers, during 2010. However, he said, those job losses will take place at the beginning of the year and the city will begin to gain jobs by the end of the year.

Not all industries will see an increase in employment, though, as Smith predicts that the construction, manufacturing and finance industries will continue to struggle during 2010.

Overall, Smith predicts that 62,000 Houston jobs will be lost by the end of this year, which would be a 2.5 percent decrease in employment when compared to 2008. During 2008, Smith said the best case scenario would be if Houston lost 11,000 jobs, but it was much more likely the city would lose 37,500 jobs.

Part of the problem in Houston, according to several officials, is the state of natural gas, which has decreased in price to below $3. In addition to low prices, there currently seems to be a low demand and high inventories of heating when it comes to natural gas.

Local labor market statistics show that Houston’s economy is having some trouble rebounding. Even though the city added jobs during September – the latest month for which labor data is available – the local unemployment rate continued to increase.

During September, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area saw its unemployment rate increase from 8.4 percent to 8.5 percent. However, the city’s current rate was still lower than the national unemployment rate at the time of 9.8 percent.

The area had a total non-farm employment of 2,516,600 workers during September, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 2,510,400 workers during August, but a 3 percent decrease from last year.