This story originally appeared on fortworthreport.org.
By Bob Francis
The economic development and innovation group in charge of creating industry partnerships with Texas A&M-Fort Worth has a new leader.
Cameron Cushman, former assistant vice president of innovation ecosystems at UNT Health Fort Worth, replaced Darryl Heath as executive director of the Fort Worth-Tarrant County Innovation Partnership.
The partnership’s mission is to develop innovation hubs around the area’s key industries: aerospace, agriculture, media and healthcare. The organization is funded by the city, the county and Texas A&M University.
Heath, who retired in 2015 after more than three decades at the consulting firm Accenture, returned to work and launched the program, Cushman said.
“As an A&M graduate and with an extensive background in innovation, Cameron is the perfect person to continue with Darryl Heath’s leadership and carry us to new heights,” said John Goff, CEO of Crescent Real Estate and a driving force behind Texas A&M’s Fort Worth investment.
Texas A&M had already brought Cushman in to focus on some of the hubs. Now, with the first Texas A&M building opening in time for fall 2026 classes, it was time for the organization to begin finalizing those partnerships, he said.
The $185 million Law and Education Building broke ground in June 2023. The second structure is the $260 million Research and Innovation Building that will be home to collaboration and research in key sectors, including engineering, aerospace, defense and health sciences.
That building will also include key Texas A&M research programs, including a transportation institute, engineering experiment station, AgriLife and the Texas Division of Emergency Management.
Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and eyecare maker Alcon are among the companies expected to collaborate with the university to design lessons and partner on research programs.
Cushman said the aerospace, health and workforce development hubs are making substantial progress.
Ivett Leyva, an expert on hypersonic flight, is now at Texas A&M-Fort Worth as associate dean for research. She has been meeting with many of the established and startup aviation companies in the area, Cushman said.
In healthcare, Texas A&M-Fort Worth has partnered on a shared biomedical repository or biobank that will host tissue samples and data storage. The biobank will be the first of its kind in North Texas.
Cushman said there is a big workforce event planned for later this summer.
“We’ve been in the planning stage for a long time, but we’ll have more of a presence as that first building opens,” he said.
The area around the Texas A&M-Fort Worth campus is expected to become a hub of research and innovation, much like Kendall Square in Boston. In April, a name was announced for the area: the Switchyard Innovation District.
The Fort Worth-Tarrant County Innovation Partnership evolved from the Fort Worth Now civic economic development initiative to bolster the city’s economy in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Alongside Goff, that project was led by fellow business leader Elaine Agather.
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