TechFW expands footprint with Texas A&M collaboration
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Two Fort Worth startup organizations are joining forces as part of Texas A&M-Fort Worth’s Switchyard Innovation District in downtown Fort Worth.
Nonprofit startup incubator and accelerator TechFW recently signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with the Fort Worth-Tarrant County Innovation Partnership, the group that partners local businesses with Texas A&M research and services.
“This is the very beginning of what we hope will be a long and fruitful relationship with TechFW,” said Cameron Cushman, executive director of the Fort Worth-Tarrant County Innovation Partnership. “This will have both sides working together to continue to build out the startup companies that are leveraging and can leverage innovation here at the Texas A&M-Fort Worth campus.”
The collaboration includes $50,000 in support for TechFW’s ThinkLab and SmartStart programs and plans to share space in a new 7,000-square-foot office at Water Gardens Place, located in the Switchyard Innovation District, right next to the Texas A&M campus. There will be co-working spaces for entrepreneurs.
TechFW’s startup acceleration programs, ThinkLab and SmartStart, are intended to bridge academic research with private-sector commercialization. The agreement provides not just funding but also potential curriculum and mentoring support for those efforts.
ThinkLab is an eight-week, cohort-based program that helps innovators develop ideas while SmartStart provides business services and coaching for companies ready to get off the ground.
“This really deepens our relationship with Texas A&M, which is key for the startups we are working with at TechFW,” said Caitlin McMinn, executive director of TechFW. “This partnership represents new opportunities to connect university research, industry expertise and entrepreneurs ready to bring big ideas into the world.”
The shared presence in downtown Fort Worth is good for TechFW, said McMinn, who took over as executive director in May 2025 following some leadership changes at the organization. Recently the organization has been on a roll, adding several new clients in its longtime space at the James E. Guinn Entrepreneurial Campus at 1120 S. Freeway, she said.
Additionally, TechFW has been busy with several new collaborations. With the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center, the organization launched the Manufacturing Accelerator and Development Engine, a new program providing training and resources to support the growth of manufacturing in the region. It has also reupped its agreement with Texas Woman’s University, to develop ThinkLab On Demand, an online version of its entrepreneurship program, along with a strategic partnership with BioNTX, a North Texas biotech industry association.
Still, the organization is, according to McMinn, “the best-kept secret in Fort Worth.”
“I believe this agreement will help with that, too,” she said, pointing out that the new space is in what is becoming a high-profile area of downtown Fort Worth.
“We love our space on the Southside, but we’re not that visible to a lot of the community,” McMinn said. “This will expand our reach in the community.”
For the Fort Worth-Tarrant County Innovation Partnership, the agreement gives access to an incubator program that is a proven commodity.
“I could go build an incubator and put all these programs together myself, or I could bring in some trusted partners that have been doing this for a long time and already had established programs,” said Cushman. “Why wouldn’t we do that?”
The news of the collaboration between the two startup organizations comes as Texas A&M-Fort Worth is expanding its presence in the city. In August, the university opened its 228,000-square-foot Law & Education Building, at the same time breaking ground on its 12-story Research & Innovation Building that is set for completion in 2029.