As companies strive to meet consumers’ expectations for everything on demand, we’re seeing strategic shifts to optimize logistics from the warehouse to the front door. While these developments are often the hallmark of larger enterprises, real estate firms and midmarket companies alike can still innovate their operations with the right investments and suppliers. 

“When considering the future of e-commerce, the focus is often on the digital experience,” said Al Brooks, Head of JPMorgan Chase Commercial Real Estate. “But the most meaningful change is happening outside the consumer’s view, in a company’s physical operations.” 

Those that move first stand to gain a competitive advantage. Opportunities are emerging in three areas: 

• Warehouse location
• Warehouse functionality
• Transportation

The shifting landscape of warehousing

In logistics, location is everything. To accommodate same-day or same-hour delivery, companies are reconsidering the positioning of their warehouses and shifting away from large, highly centralized facilities. 

Urban warehousing

Companies are repurposing dormant urban buildings into last-mile distribution centers. For companies that already have footprints in cities, it might mean adapting part of an existing space to include micro-fulfillment areas. But for most companies, it means identifying unused buildings. 

Some of these older, presumed obsolete buildings are the most valuable—they sit right in the middle of the urban core. We don’t see this trend slowing down. – Al Brooks, Head of JPMorgan Chase Commercial Real Estate

This demand is increasing both property values and operational costs. As volume decreases within each location, companies should remain focused on inventory management, leveraging data to inform what products should occupy the limited spaces. 

Secondary markets on the rise

Demand for warehousing space near secondary markets has grown. And as companies diversify their supply chains, new industrial hubs are emerging along the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Laredo, Texas, for example, is now one of the largest inland ports in North America. “The emergence of Laredo shows companies are investing in the supply routes connecting the U.S. and Mexico,” said Reon Roski, CEO of Majestic Realty, a commercial real estate developer. “This approach could help prevent companies from becoming overreliant on just one or two suppliers in their global networks.” 

Warehouses of the future

E-commerce, sustainability and new technology are influencing how companies adapt and design the warehouse space. Here are some ways business leaders are planning for the future: 

Solving the trucking bottleneck: Dan Lewis, CEO and Co-Founder of Convoy, a digital freight network, sees opportunities for trailers to pre-position, load up and roll out of warehouses more efficiently. Trucks could enter and exit warehouses autonomously, which might also warrant more parking in and outside facilities. 

Integrating robotics: The use of warehouse robotics is expected to grow by at least 50% over the next five years, according to the 2022 MHI Annual Industry Report. With robots becoming cheaper and more accessible, particularly as robotics-as-a-service becomes more available, some of Roski’s clients are aiming to be fully automated, while others are taking a hybrid approach where humans and machines work alongside one another.

Going electric: An emphasis on environmental, social and governance and carbon reduction initiatives—and an increasingly electric fleet—will require increased electrical capacity.

Increasing visibility: Real-time inventory tracking and warehouse management systems are driving visibility and efficiency. Warehouses may even move beyond the physical world into virtual environments, where companies can test operational changes on their digital twins. 

Innovations along delivery’s last mile

Final-mile logistics now account for an estimated 53% of the total cost of shipping, according to Insider Intelligence. Motivated to lower costs while meeting customers’ demands for prompt delivery, companies are forging ahead with both proven and new technologies—on the ground and in the sky. 

Collaboration across the public sector, private companies and communities is the only recipe for innovation in the last mile, according to Chris Ash, Senior Vice President at Hillwood, a Texas-based real estate developer and the developer of AllianceTexas. 

“Interoperability is key. Outside that short list of large companies that can afford to develop their own hardware and software, the majority of the industry is going to have to lean on each other.”

Autonomous technology

Autonomous technology has three key benefits: cost reduction, safety and efficiency. In current use, it’s most effective in repeatable segments of the supply chain, according to Ian Kinne, Director of Logistics Innovation at Hillwood. Hillwood has been working to integrate autonomous drayage where containers are moved from an intermodal port to a warehouse and has been deploying autonomous last-mile technology within its AllianceTexas development.

Electrifying the fleet

To help keep a lid on fuel costs and stay ahead of potential future regulation, more trucks are going electric. Electric trucks require less maintenance and offer an enhanced driving experience. But adoption among heavy-duty freight trucking may depend on the costs and capabilities—and the availability of truck-friendly charging stations.

Drone delivery

Drone delivery is already increasing market share, albeit with infrastructure, regulation and consumer appeal obstacles to overcome. In 2021, Hillwood partnered with Wing on a small pilot to tackle aerial advancement in last-mile logistics. Ash believes it has proven the potential and sees drones becoming one more delivery option at checkout for specific use cases in retail or healthcare. 

What’s next?

This everything-on-demand culture is driving innovation along the supply chain. Companies across industries have a rare opportunity to find partners that can shape this reality and set a new standard for their peers. 

Hillwood and Alliance Aviation Services executives raised their glasses for a toast this week to celebrate the completion of Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport’s latest addition.

Construction on a new, modern fixed-based operation (FBO) facility at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport recently completed with more than 20,000 square feet of lounges and meeting space. Fixed base operators provide aeronautical services for aircraft, pilots, other crew members and passengers, including fueling, maintenance and crew lounges with dedicated rest areas, according to Simple Flying.

The new facility at 13901 Aviator Way in Fort Worth also adds more than 68,000 square feet of attached hangar space to Alliance Aviation Services. The aviation services branch of the Alliance Texas development now makes up about 200,000 square feet across six hangars to support the growing fleet of based aircraft, the company said.

“The FBO is a continuation of Alliance Aviation Services’ three- decade legacy of providing best-in-class and award-winning support services to general and corporate aviation as well as military and air cargo operations,” the company said in a release.

The new space, designed by Corgan Architects and Amaze Design, features multiple lounges, four private meeting spaces, five conference rooms, kitchen and break room areas, and private areas with showers and pull-out beds for pilots and crew members.

During Ross Perot Jr.’s remarks at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday, the Hillwood chairman reflected on the 33-year history of Alliance’s aviation services. What started in a double-wide trailer when the world’s first industrial airport, formerly Alliance Airport, had barely begun has since evolved into the new FBO facility that stands today at the recently renamed Perot Field.

“From the beginning of Alliance, this FBO and the air services operation—we knew it was always more than just an FBO,” Perot said. “It is a marketing center where we take care of our clients and customers. Certainly the aviation customers, but also it’s a reflection on the 27,000-acre AllianceTexas program.”

In addition to the new space’s indoor accommodations for flight crews, outdoor seating with ramp views was added to the facility as well. Alliance Aviation Services currently has hangar space and premium office space for lease. Perot Field’s services include air cargo, corporate and government aviation.

AllianceTexas was born out of the public-private partnership between Hillwood, the city of Fort Worth and the Federal Aviation Administration. Since 1989, the North Fort Worth community has brought nearly $3.4 billion in taxes to the local government and had an economic impact of more than $111 billion, Hillwood president Mike Berry said at the renaming of Perot Field in December.

“AllianceTexas has proven to be a modern day, Texas-size success story, encapsulating the pioneering and can-do spirit so often associated with this state,” said Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker in December. “Hillwood drives innovative economic growth, with a focus on sustainability, its commitment to communities and a belief that we should all leave the world better than we found it.”

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Chicago and DFW are still the cream of the crop, but other locations come into the mix as populations and strategies evolve.

More than 1,000 facility investment projects with a distribution/logistics component have landed in Texas since the pre-pandemic month of January 2020. They’ve no doubt helped many a Texan and other state residents get through the three tough years since by funneling materials and goods to our isolated workplaces, factories and doorsteps.

The numbers come from the Projects Database populated by the research team at Site Selection parent company Conway Data. No. 2 since that long-ago January is Illinois, most of whose 600 projects are in the bustling logistics megahub that is Chicagoland. Rounding out the top five are California, Georgia and Ohio (see Top 10 States chart).

Analyze the top states and metro areas for logistics and the reasons behind the investments begin to emerge: Facilities and occupancy flock to where the infrastructure assets are (ports, railroads, airports and highways) and to where the people are going. It’s no surprise that places in charge of moving goods multiply in high-performing locations familiar to Site Selection readers among our annual Governor’s Cup, Business Climate and Top Metros leaders. In other words, they’re getting warehouses because they’re getting a good bit of everything else too.

Behind those factors also lie the basic strategic motivators of goods movement, whether it be hub-and-spoke; regional hubs; going with one giant facility or a diversified collection of smaller ones; or deciding to be near ports with lower levels of labor issues.

Top Metros over the same span of time are led by Chicago once again, with three Texas metros — No. 2 DFW, No. 3 Houston and No. 9 Austin — finishing in the Top 10. Meanwhile, owing to a number of factors from Port of Savannah proximity to its international airport to its highway intersections, Atlanta jumps up to No. 4 just ahead of the port-adjacent metros of New York and Los Angeles.

That might make some scratch their heads, given Atlanta’s reputation for massive traffic congestion. But the Atlanta metro area is 25 counties, meaning warehouses, like people during a pandemic, can locate what used to be considered far afield and still be happy.

33 And Going Strong

Fort Worth Alliance Airport in December saw an expansion unlike any of the many that have taken place on the 27,000-acre AllianceTexas development around it: Developer Hillwood, the City of Fort Worth and the Federal Aviation Administration officially recognized the airport’s name expansion to Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport to honor the leader who always believed the airport “would be a global hub for the jobs of tomorrow,” a Hillwood release stated.

The airport opened on December 14, 1989, and was the first airport in the world designated specifically for industrial use, Hillwood says.

“My dad wholeheartedly believed Fort Worth Alliance Airport would be the centerpiece of an unprecedented jobs corridor in Texas,” said Ross Perot Jr., chairman of The Perot Group and Hillwood. “Investing in the northwest corner of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex mattered to him, and he immediately saw its potential. The airport became the catalyst for one of the great Texas business stories of our day, and we’re only halfway through. Development at AllianceTexas will continue on for at least another generation, which will help to ensure a future for our children and hopefully their children, too.”

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said the AllianceTexas development “has contributed to more than $100 billion in cumulative economic impact to the region since its inception, as well as more than $3.1 billion in paid property taxes, including $621.5 million to Fort Worth alone.” Among the projects landing at AllianceTexas is a distribution operation for Läderach Chocolatier Suisse, which will deliver fresh chocolate to all retail stores in the United States. The company has 350 employees with a footprint of 40 stores from coast to coast in the U.S. and Canada, along with e-commerce.

As for those jobs of tomorrow, they’re here today.

Not long before the renaming, Estonia-based Clevon, a global autonomous delivery company, performed its first U.S. autonomous delivery with CLEVON 1, which the company refers to as its “flagship multi-platform all-electric robot courier,” at the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) in Fort Worth. The exercise came less than three months after the company moved its U.S. headquarters to the MIZ.

  “With demand for autonomous last-mile delivery solutions booming on a global scale, Clevon is forever changing the way in which goods are transported, logging over 12,000 miles autonomously delivering goods abroad, and now here in the U.S.,” said Meelis Anton, Clevon’s U.S. chief operating officer. “Hillwood’s Mobility Innovation Zone platform is helping Clevon advance and commercialize our autonomous technology, and we look forward to continued deployments in the future.”

Going Up

One trend that caught on in Japan years ago is finally finding its way onto North American shores: The multi-level distribution center has arrived.

In August Logistics Property Company closed on a $150 million construction loan for its two-level warehouse in Chicago known as 1237 West Division. The metro’s first multi-level warehouse, it will feature 1.2 million sq. ft. of logistics space and offer both rooftop parking and an adjacent five-story parking garage.

“The project will have direct loading on the first and second floors, each with a 135-foot truck court,” said Katherine Bernstein, senior vice president – Capital Markets at LPC. “The first floor will feature 36-foot clear heights, 28 dock doors and two drive-in doors. The second floor, which will be accessible by 53-foot tractor trailers via separate up and down double-wide ramps, will feature 33-foot clear heights, 28 dock doors and two drive-in doors.”

The facility is located on an 11.5-acre site adjacent to a four-way interchange at Division and Elston in Chicago’s near-north Goose Island neighborhood.

In the Vancouver-area municipality of Burnaby, British Columbia, Ware Malcomb announced in December that construction was complete on Canada’s first major multi-story distribution center.

“With proximity to urban areas of Greater Vancouver, the multi-story distribution center provides infrastructure for last-mile delivery in a world where consumers have come to expect next-day and same-day delivery,” a Ware Malcomb release said of the Oxford Properties Group facility in Riverbend Business Park. “The Greater Vancouver Area is one of the world’s most land-constrained industrial markets, and demand for industrial space outpaces supply, thanks to the rise in e-commerce,” said Frank Di Roma, principal, Ware Malcomb. “We were pleased to solve considerable logistical and code-related challenges with this new building type and arrive at a design that maximizes industrial floor space.”

It also maximizes repurposed property. The Riverbend site used to be home to a paperboard milling operation and a 14-acre landfill, was purchased by Oxford in 2011, and earned Oxford the 2019 City of Burnaby Environmental Award for its environmentally conscious redevelopment.

According to Reports

“The U.S. industrial market is continuing to see robust demand, and companies are adding warehouse and distribution space to protect their inventories, diversify their supply chains and process growing e-commerce sales,” said John Morris, CBRE president of Industrial & Logistics in the Americas, on the November release of the company’s latest Industrial Occupier Survey. “Even with a more challenging economic backdrop, we’re still seeing that companies are interested in expanding their footprints in the short-term.”

Of the survey’s 100 U.S.-based respondents, 64% overall and 81% of third-party logistics (3PL) companies are planning to expand their real estate footprint over the course of the next three years, CBRE reported. “In addition to 3PLs, food and beverage (75%) and building materials and construction (75%) companies also intend to expand their real estate footprints in the face of supply chain disruptions, labor shortages and high occupancy costs.”

In keeping with the rankings charts featured here, markets most favored for expansion in the next one to two years are in the Southeast, Southwest and Midwest, CBRE said. As for specs, occupiers identified the following features as critically important when selecting a facility or site:

Clear Height: 81%

Number of Loading Bays/Dock Doors: 76%

Power Supply: 56%

Capacity for Expansion: 43%

Column Spacing: 42%

Top 20 U.S. Metros Logistics Facility Investment

“Forecasting the Future of Colossal Warehouse Demand” is the title of a new report from Transwestern. And yes, the “colossal” describes the demand and not necessarily the warehouses.

“Occupancy growth has outpaced delivery of new inventory in 10 of the past 12 years,” the report states, “and as of mid-year 2022, tenants have absorbed nearly 4.7 billion sq. ft. (BSF) of industrial space in the U.S. during that timeframe, outpacing the 3.5 BSF of completed industrial real estate development.” Among the report’s findings:

“Accounting for just 4.2% of total U.S. retail sales in 2010, e-commerce reflects 14.5% of this measure as of mid-year 2022 after rising as high as 16.4% during the peak of the pandemic.”

Since 2010, among the top five MSAs in terms of rentable industrial square footage (including Chicago, New York, L.A. and Atlanta) the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area led with 35% inventory growth.

Based on U.S. Census Bureau and ESRI data, of the 25 largest industrial real estate markets, those anticipated to have the highest population growth between 2022 and 2025 are Dallas-Fort Worth (5.4%), San Antonio-New Braunfels (5.2%), Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land (5.1%), Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida (5%) and Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, North Carolina-South Carolina (4.9%).

The near-term future of freight rail might be one marked by collaboration, whether that’s through private or public partnerships among other supply chain stakeholders or between the railroads themselves as they compete against the trucking industry, according to panelists at the Transportation Research Board annual meeting this week.

One idea that continues to be discussed is that infrastructure investors are interested in developing giant rail industrial parks in North America, said James Miller, a partner with Deloitte Canada, during a Wednesday session. The industrial parks would serve as a way to consolidate activity between transportation modes, with distribution occurring through each individual mode to markets farther inland. 

“We see a lot of investors, particularly infrastructure investors, going into this space and creating and building large industrial hubs to do transloading, taking trucks off the road,” said Miller, whose work at Deloitte involves advising infrastructure investment funds on M&A activity. 

An example of such a development is a planned major logistics hub in Alliance, Texas, which will have access to the rail lines of Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) and BNSF (NYSE: BRK.B), as well as BNSF’s intermodal facility. The facility will also have access to Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, an Amazon regional air hub, a FedEx Southwest regional sort hub, a UPS ground sort hub and Interstate Highway 35 as well as other state highways. 

The Alliance hub has “got an airport, it’s got rail, it’s got trucks,” Miller said. The model it uses is similar to the hub-and-spoke configuration of the airline industry in the 1990s, and that model could serve the rail industry today, he noted. 

But local and state governments are also interested in developing multimodal projects, as seen through recent recipients of U.S. federal grants as well as inland ports. For example, the Alabama Port Authority is seeking to develop an inland intermodal transfer facility in Montgomery, FreightWaves reported in June 2021. That resource would be adjacent to CSX (NASDAQ: CSX) and nearby two interstate highways.

Localities in the western U.S. are looking at building rail facilities that can accommodate exports, especially agricultural exports. 

“[These facilities] are often driven by the ability to have access to reposition empties from the Midwest,” said Donald Ludlow, U.S. vice president for CPCS Transcom, a Canadian consulting firm specializing in infrastructure. 

Planned inland facilities in Oregon and Arizona are also aimed at helping regional shippers there facilitate a connection to coastal ports, according to Ludlow.

“Often these are driven by the public sector, by economic development,” Ludlow said. “So it’s a very kind of different dynamic, but I think it’s worth noting.”

Regardless of who’s steering the development, the inland facility must have the ability to hedge market fluctuations, which can be achieved by having anchor tenants, according to Ludlow. What’s driving some of these projects to develop inland facilities is a broader effort to move containers out of the ports and sort them inland. 

“There’s been a push to get those containers off the wharf, off the dock faster,” Ludlow said. “And that is a trend that continues to persist and is driving investments both from the public sector and the private sector.”

For instance, he noted that BNSF’s plans for a $1.5 billion Barstow international gateway for Southern California shows that the railroad knows it needs to move the containers expeditiously off docks and into a facility where the railroad can build trains while doing so in an environmentally friendly manner. 

But it isn’t all smooth sailing for these tentative projects. Ludlow maintains they can meet local resistance because of traffic issues that might arise, especially blocked crossings. 

Meanwhile, rail-served industrial sites have gotten some interest, although shippers insist these facilities also have access to trucks, Ludlow said.

“It’s kind of a double edged sword here,” he said. “[Shippers] want to be able to ship by rail whenever they can, but they realize they can’t be completely rail dependent. So that may tell us something about where our industry’s at, especially in terms of us serving small shippers, as the sad truth is that at least on a ton-miles basis, the share of rail continues to drop against trucking.”

What freight rail could look like post PSR

Wednesday’s discussion came as the U.S. Class I railroads are still recovering from service issues — ones that some maintain came about as they deployed precision scheduled railroading (PSR), a method that seeks to streamline operations and cut costs.

One of the effects of PSR was a heightened focus on lowering operating ratio, a measurement investors sometimes use to gauge the financial health of a company. After the Class I railroads deployed PSR, their OR improved. Critics of PSR have said its main purpose is to improve the financial returns of the railroads at the expense of operations.

With shippers and regulators such as the Surface Transportation Board scrutinizing the railroads’ service performance, some industry stakeholders are calling for a shift away from focusing on OR. They argue the investment community could look to a financial figure that’s more dependent on operational improvements, such as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to Miller.

“There’s no consensus on what’s next, [but the industry’s] shift away from that [OR] model is bound to occur. And you’ve got three Class Is that have new CEOs who come from the commercial side of the house versus the operation side of the house,” which supports that transition, said Miller, referring to new CEO appointments at Canadian railway CN (NYSE: CNI), CSX and Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC).

Furthermore, PSR’s aftermath has led to a freight rail industry that has limited resources to grow operationally.

“They’re thin everywhere,” he said. “They’re thin in marketing, in industrial development. They don’t have the people, expertise. If you’re building a giant car plant, they’re going to be the ones that can help you out. But if you’re a medium-sized shipper or a smaller shipper, your industrial development is going to be impaired because they don’t have the ability [to help].”

Although technological advances will enable the railroads to make safety and operational gains and collect better data points to improve supply chain visibility, Miller pointed out that “isn’t going to change the dial. This industry is 200 years old. There’s nothing magical that’s going to happen.” 

However, one way the railroads might be able to strengthen the industry is to continue to focus on selling stakeholders and regulators on the environmental benefits of rail.

Indeed, earlier this week, President Joe Biden released the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, a formal strategy that calls for the prioritization of maritime and rail over trucking in order to fast-track the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

“It’s a magic card from the railways if they play it … ,” Miller said. “[The railroads] use about a quarter of the carbon to move a ton of cargo, and they really need to play this up and governments need to use this too.”

Miller also noted the railroads also are exploring alternative fuels for locomotive power, such as hydrogen. He also said they will need to be open for more collaboration among themselves, so they can “go after the common enemy” — trucks.

Such a collaboration might look more like infrastructure sharing or jointly working on infrastructure improvements in congestion-prone areas, such as Chicago, according to Miller. For example, Canadian railways CN and Canadian Pacific (NYSE: CP) use each other’s track on the dense corridor between the Port of Vancouver and Kamloops in British Columia. 

However, the difference between collaboration and collusion is clearly “on the infrastructure side,” he said.  

Electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles. Artificial intelligence. Breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s treatment. These are a few trends Fort Worth residents might see in 2023, according to city and company officials focused on innovation. 

The Fort Worth Report spoke with innovators and new technology advocates to reflect on the previous year, and what new innovations might be on the horizon in 2023.

Carlo Capua, director of innovation at the City of Fort Worth 

Last year, the City of Fort Worth adopted two Bitcoin mining machines into City Hall as a display of being open to technology. But for Carlo Capua, the biggest leap for the city is creating his position: chief of strategy and innovation at the City of Fort Worth. To him, it symbolizes the change from a city that was living in the past to one that is looking to the future.

“You’re really setting the framework and building the foundation to make innovation, to weave innovation and that kind of forward thinking into the DNA and the culture of the city,” he said. 

This year, Capua said he sees opportunities to think about out-of-the-box partnerships and technology for transportation as development on Panther Island unfolds and the World Cup in Arlington approaches in 2026. 

“We can kind of take a step back and think we can do something, experiment and try some different things working with Trinity Metro,” he said. “Think about it. When the World Cup soccer game comes, we’re going to need to figure out how to get 30,000 from Fort Worth to Arlington. How do we do that?”

After attending the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, last November, Capua said the city will partner with the North Texas Innovation Alliance. He is also trying to bring more conferences and summits focused on technology to Fort Worth.

It’s too soon to say what the city’s next pilot test will be after last year’s Bitcoin mining project, he said. But Capua is exploring the idea of testing automated lawn mowers at an airport in Fort Worth. 

Cameron Cushman, assistant vice president of innovation at the University of North Texas Health Science Center 

Last year, the UNT Health Science Center received $2 million to kickstart the Small Business Innovation Research Phase 0 Program. The initiative is designed to help startups navigate the government grant program that helps businesses research and develop their products, with the possibility of commercializing their products down the line. 

“People have not heard about this, no one in the city knows what an SBIR is, if they’re eligible, how it works, what it’s used for,” Cameron Cushman, assistant vice president of innovation at UNTHSC, said. “And so much of this is just educating people on this potential opportunity.”

The first cohort in that program will start in February and will be announced soon, Cushman said.

Last year, Cushman also helped launch the Techstars Physical Health accelerator, which recruits 10 companies from around the world to develop their businesses. Next year’s program will improve upon lessons learned in 2022 and will be a big priority for the Health Science Center, he said.

Cushman said he’s excited to see the commercialization of Dr. Sid O’Bryant’s studies on Alzheimer’s disease. In October, O’Bryant received a $150 million grant to study how Alzheimer’s disease differs among racial and ethnic groups. 

The company that is commercializing O’Bryant’s research, CX Precision Medicine, may soon have the world’s first primary care test for the disease on the market, Cushman added. 

“There’s been very many attempts and lots of dollars thrown at Alzheimer’s research and in treatment,” he said. “Very few of them have worked out over the last 20 years. So this is a huge step forward in so many different ways. And it’s all being developed right here in Fort Worth.” 

Ian Bell, president of global business and innovation at Alcon 

Alcon has been developing eye care products in Fort Worth for more than 75 years. The company has worked to research and develop treatments for conditions such as glaucoma, retinal diseases, myopia and cataracts. In January, the company also officially opened its Children’s Vision Center for Fort Worth ISD students.

Going into 2023, Alcon’s president of global business and innovation Ian Bell said that the company launched the first reusable contact lens for astigmatic contact lens users, called TOTAL30 for Astigmatism. 

The company has more than 100 projects in the research and development pipeline and more than $680 million in R&D investment in 2021. 

“We are also bringing new innovations this year in other areas, including digital offerings to help drive efficiencies for eye care professionals and their patients, new advancements in surgical equipment and offering our latest ophthalmic pharmaceuticals to even more patients around the world,” Bell wrote in a statement. 

Michael Sherrod, entrepreneur in residence at Texas Christian University’s Neeley School of Business 

Michael Sherrod, who teaches classes on entrepreneurship at TCU, says artificial intelligence is going to have a larger role for small and large businesses in 2023.  He said the pace of advancement of technology like ChatGPT is shockingly fast. 

“I think it’s going to penetrate the market at a very, very fast rate,” Sherrod said. “There’s at least 250 companies that are being funded by various investors that are working on making AI more accessible for every business in the country.”

The technology doesn’t come without ethical concerns, Sherrod said, like copyright infringement with AI-powered chatbots.

“Companies are going to have to be very careful about what they put into the learning modules that they feed to AI, or in the data they feed,” he said. “I think that could potentially become something that slows it down a little bit.”

Ian Kinne, director of logistics innovation at Hillwood 

Ian Kinne, who works with companies at Alliance’s Mobility Innovation Zone at Hillwood, said he saw companies that have tested at Alliance fully launch in 2022. That included Google’s drone delivery service, Wing, which is operating in Frisco. He expects businesses will continue to launch and relocate to North Texas this year, too. 

“I think we’ll see more and more companies look at North Texas as a great place to do business and a place that they want to really grow and launch technology,” Kinne said. “So I think we’ll see that more in 2023.” 

While attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada this month, he noticed a heavy emphasis on sustainable vehicles. 

“I don’t think I saw a single vehicle there that wasn’t either electric or (hydrogen-powered),” he said. 

He said there’s more announcements to come from Hillwood throughout the year.

“I think we’ll continue to be right there alongside our customers as they start to develop and deploy a lot of these technologies,” Kinne said. “We want to be helpful. And we’re working with some of them very closely on kind of how that ultimately works. You know, a lot of those we can’t talk about until the right time.” 

Jason Hurst, executive vice president of engineering at Bell Textron, Inc. 

Bell Textron scored a contract from the U.S. Army last December that could generate billions for the company to come to manufacture an attack helicopter that would replace the Black Hawk. That is, if the protest of the award Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky doesn’t open up a new competition.

Bell is also working on other projects — like being one of two suppliers of Virgin Galactic’s spaceships.

“In 2023, Bell is looking forward to growing its teams to drive ongoing innovation, supporting Virgin Galactic’s Delta Class Spaceship with our composites design and manufacturing expertise,” Jason Hurst, executive vice president of engineering, said in a statement. “Bell will also continue exploring new rotorcraft technology for safety, performance and sustainability including: advanced sensors, autonomy, electrification and taking the next steps on high-speed vertical take-off and landing.”

By the time Ian Kinne was in middle school, he jokes that he was the only one in class who knew what a 20-foot equivalent measurement unit was — a type of measurement for large container ships. Talking to his father about the railroad was his informal education into logistics. 

“We talked about containerized freight, we talked about railroading, and I didn’t appreciate it until I really got older,” he said.

Now 28, Kinne is thinking about the future of logistics and transportation — such as autonomous cars and semi-trucks as the director of logistics innovation at Hillwood, the company behind AllianceTexas’ mobility innovation zone. His job is to bring companies to Alliance that want to test and commercialize technology. A win for him is getting a company to ultimately open a distribution center or manufacturing facility in the area. 

Kinne also serves on the city’s entrepreneurship and innovation committee, a group that works to find ways to make Fort Worth a more tech- and business-friendly city. Kinne’s name came up while talking to people around his district about additions to the committee, Fort Worth Council member Leonard Firestone, who chairs the committee, said.

Kinne is young and from Fort Worth. He has a pulse on contemporary economic development and innovation, specifically in the autonomous vehicle and mobility space that Hillwood is developing, which makes him a great addition to the committee, Firestone said.

“He really understands that kind of futuristic innovation as it applies to economic development through real estate development,” he said. “And so I think he’s got just a terrific view through that lens.”

Through an economic development lens, Kinne makes Fort Worth a better place as he recruits companies to Hillwood that creates jobs and helps market the city as tech-friendly, Firestone said. 

Working in innovation

Ian Kinne isn’t a “techie.” You won’t find him putting on virtual reality headsets or getting the newest phone, he said.

“But when you talk about logistics technology, I’m a nerd,” Kinne said. 

About a third of his job is real estate, and the other part is exploring the future of logistics and transportation. He attends conferences around the world to get ahead on the latest emerging technologies. Some ideas he’s come across are flying air taxis, autonomous vehicles and 5G, hydrogen-powered vehicles, drones, autonomous yard trucks and AI-driven warehouse automation. 

“It’s cool to kind of think about (how) things are changing,” Kinne said. “It’s cool to be part of that change, and do it here.”

Watching his parents work — his father at BNSF and mother as a nurse anesthetist — provided good role models for him while growing up in Keller. He said they balanced successful careers with being good parents, and showed the value of hard work.

“I had two parents who were passionate about what they did, thought that it was good to expose their kids to kind of why they’re passionate about it, what they found that they enjoyed in it,” he said. 

Kinne attended college at Texas Christian University. He switched his major six times. Growing up, he had an eye on Hillwood, the real estate development and investment company based in Fort Worth. He watched Hillwood’s Alliance grow while he was in Keller, where his backyard was a cattle pasture. 

“I wanted to work in real estate development because I saw what Hillwood did out here,” he said. “When I got old enough to realize that was the company I was like, that’s where I want to work.”

Two days after graduating from TCU in 2017, Kinne started working as a marketing manager at Hillwood. His first involvement with logistics innovation was a side project. Hillwood started working with Uber as the company attempted to develop and test flying air taxis and later launch in Texas. Kinne was asked to figure out the infrastructure and logistics required to make something like that happen. 

Three years later, Kinne is working with companies that are testing out new software and technology as a full-time job. 

Kinne’s experience turning a side project to a full-time gig informs his advice for people aspiring to be a leader: Be open to new ideas and be willing to do more than what the current role asks someone to do. 

He believes the region sells itself once companies know about Alliance and the DFW area. Another key is support, he said. 

“I think that’s what Hillwood has been really good job of doing that just through the 35-year history out here,” Kinne said. “It has just been bear hugging customers and just having that conversation of, not just (being) your landlord, but what do you need? And how do you grow with us and how do we grow with you?”

“Committed to Fort Worth” 

Jessica Miller, the co-owner of the real estate firm M2G Ventures, worked with Kinne when he was an intern at M2G, and described him as an eager, confident and extroverted person. She thinks curiosity is part of what makes Kinne a good leader. 

Curiosity “is one of the biggest things today that you need to go far and lead people,” Miller wrote. “It is almost impossible to do anything innovative if, at your core, you aren’t curious and want to promote curiosity in the people you lead.” 

Alongside his job at Hillwood, Kinne has a role in the Greater Fort Worth Real Estate Council Young Leaders Council Steering Committee. 

Karen Vermaire Fox, the president of the Greater Fort Worth Real Estate Council, said Kinne has been a member for about five years and has volunteered to help with a variety of events. 

Kinne has worked to bring more TCU students to the council’s Panther Den, a group that teaches young people about the real estate industry. Fox described him as thoughtful and eager to jump in and make something work.

“He’s aware of what the goal of the project (is),” Fox said. “He is great at connecting different people to different things, and using his resources and his skills of getting people to do their best things. And then he does make it fun so you want to kind of be on a committee with him.” 

Fox believes Kinne’s contribution to the council signifies that he will continue to contribute to Fort Worth as his own opportunities and career grows. Kinne is dedicated to Fort Worth, she said. 

“I think that’s an important thing: You’ve got to buy into Fort Worth before you can make it better,” Fox said. “And I think he’s bought in. I think he’s totally committed to that.”

Ian Kinne bio

Birthplace: Fort Worth, but grew up in Keller

Moved to Fort Worth:  2013

Family: Parents, Patrick and Kathryn. Brother, Sean. Sister, Megan. 

Education: Bachelor’s of business administration, major in finance and with real estate emphasis, minor in energy technology and management 

Work experience: Director of logistics innovation, Hillwood (May 2020-present); marketing manager, Hillwood (2017-2020); real estate finance, acquisitions and development intern, M2G Ventures (2016-2017) 

Volunteer experience:

TCU Real Estate Club Mentorship Program

TCU Young Alumni Board Member

ULI Building Industry Leaders / Boys & Girls Club

Greater Fort Worth Real Estate Council YLC Steering Committee

Annual volunteer at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo Greeting Committee

First job: Johnny B’s burgers in Southlake

Advice for someone learning to be a leader: Be open-minded to new ideas. Be the “yes guy,” especially when you start. 

Best advice ever received: It’s better to be consistently good than occasionally great.

Worlds, a company that builds digital twins of floor operations for industrial companies to let them become more productive or efficient, said it has raised $21.2 million in a series A round of funding.

The company rebranded to Worlds from Hypergiant Sensory Sciences. The new name is more reflective of its effort to market what it calls “4D infrastructure for building the industrial metaverse.”

In an email to VentureBeat, Worlds CEO Dave Copps gave the example of a customer named AllianceTexas to explain how its technology works. AllianceTexas is a 27,000-acre commercial inland port north of Fort Worth. Worlds is building a digital twin of a five-square-mile area of the port where an airport, railyard and distribution centers are located, so that AllianceTexas can better understand the flow of its commerce. The digital twin uses neural networks to track and monitor the location of trucks, identify carriers, and extract the unique numbers on each truck so they can be identified continuously.

In another example, Copps said, Worlds is helping a large food and beverage company build a digital twin of its manufacturing facility by tapping into the company’s existing camera network and integrating it with their SCADA system.

When Worlds launched four years ago, it first focused on bringing computer vision technology to critical infrastructure companies, and was exploring security applications as a first step. Copps said Worlds has since evolved to offer more comprehensive digital twin technology, by bringing IoT sensors, people, and other processes together in a live data stream that allows organizations to analyze and redesign their operations.

The round is led by Moneta Ventures with key participation from existing investors Align Capital, Green Park and Golf Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, Piva Capital, Perot Jain and Capital Factory. The company said its other customers include Chevron, PETRONAS and Hillwood Development Company.

FORT WORTH, TEXAS – December 9, 2022 – Clevon, a global autonomous delivery innovator founded in Estonia, performed its first U.S. autonomous delivery with CLEVON 1, the company’s flagship multi-platform all-electric robot courier at the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) in Fort Worth. 

This cooperation comes less than three months after the company moved its U.S. headquarters to the MIZ. 

“This is a momentous day between the growing partnership between Clevon and Hillwood as CLEVON 1 made its first successful delivery through an urban environment in the U.S.,” said Meelis Anton, Clevon’s U.S. chief operating officer.  “With demand for autonomous last-mile delivery solutions booming on a global scale, Clevon is forever changing the way in which goods are transported, logging over 12,000 miles autonomously delivering goods abroad, and now here in the U.S., Hillwood’s Mobility Innovation Zone platform is helping Clevon advance and commercialize our autonomous technology, and we look forward to continued deployments in the future.”

CLEVON 1, working with real-time obstacles, delivered gourmet meals from O’Neill’s Inflight Catering to Alliance Aviation Services team members in the new, fixed-based operation (FBO) facility at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport. The robot courier traveled along the 3.6-mile route adjacent to I-35W traveling along Eagle Parkway, turning southbound on Heritage Parkway before arriving at its destination, 13901 Aviator Way. The combination of fast-service area mapping, telesupervision and autonomous driving capabilities enables CLEVON 1 to be deployed in new service areas in a very efficient way.

Clevon’s expansion into the North American market comes as the pressure from businesses and consumers to offer on-demand, same-day or next-day delivery of goods continues to skyrocket. Clevon’s driverless robot couriers shall drive on public roads and enable the transportation of goods to be more energy-efficient, cost-effective and scalable. CLEVON 1 has been tested on public roads in Europe for over two years and is proven to be safe and reliable. It is environmentally focused with zero CO2 emissions and reduces last-mile delivery labor costs by up to 90%.  

“Businesses will need to differentiate and innovate their last-mile delivery solutions to compete in a marketplace where on-demand delivery options dominate,” said Ian Kinne, director of logistics innovation at Hillwood. “AllianceTexas and our Mobility Innovation Zone continue to be the go-to place for mobility visionaries to comprehensively scale and commercialize new technologies. By connecting to the established infrastructure and ecosystem at the MIZ, Clevon’s forward-thinking technology will enable them to provide alternative last-mile solutions in the supply chain here in North Texas.”

Recently expanding its services and opening a location at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, O’Neill’s Inflight Catering provides first-class catering services to the growing private airplane community. O’Neill’s kitchen operations are 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Fort Worth has been the place to be for a long time now, and we’re thrilled to partner with Clevon and Hillwood at the AllianceTexas MIZ to demonstrate this new technology,” said Neill Reagan, owner of O’Neill’s Inflight Catering. “Today’s accomplishment shows the direct benefit to businesses looking to solve recurring, on-demand delivery needs. We want people to enjoy our food any way they can get it, and it’s even better when it’s environmentally friendly and contributes toward a climate-neutral economy.”

Hillwood and Alliance Aviation Services recently opened the new, highly-amenitized FBO facility at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, combining award-winning service and state-of-the-art accommodations with innovation. The 209,000-square-foot facility at 13901 Aviator Way includes 68,000 square feet of additional hangar space that supports general and corporate aviation as well as military and air cargo operations.

ABOUT CLEVON

Clevon introduced the next-generation autonomous robot courier, the CLEVON 1 as the first autonomous robot courier in Europe to offer autonomous delivery services on public roads, starting with DPD (part of LaPoste) and most recently working with customers including DHL Express Estonia in Tallinn, Colruyt Group in Belgium and IKI stores in Vilnius, Lithuania delivering groceries. On-demand delivery industries like grocery retailers, food and beverage businesses and logistics providers partner with Clevon for safe, reliable and customizable delivery solutions that are environmentally focused — all backed by a proven track record of 15 years’ experience in robotics and automation technologies. In 2022, Clevon was listed on the Tallinn First North MTF (ISIN number EE3100096884, CLEV) after spinning off from Cleveron, the innovation leader in robotic click and collect solutions. Learn more at www.clevon.com. 

ABOUT THE ALLIANCETEXAS MOBILITY INNOVATION ZONE

The AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ) is a unique landscape built on collaboration and opportunity. That combination works to connect people, places and ideas that push innovation in surface and air mobility forward. By leveraging its one-of-a-kind infrastructure, the MIZ offers mobility visionaries full access to an unparalleled ecosystem, resources, and partnerships essential to comprehensively scale and commercialize the latest technologies. AllianceTexas itself is an unparalleled 27,000-acre regional success story and has transformed the North Texas economy by connecting it to global industry. Hillwood’s AllianceTexas development is anchored by the world’s first industrial airport, Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, and hosts one of the nation’s premier intermodal hubs. AllianceTexas is also home to more than 533 companies which have built more than 53 million square feet and created over 62,000 jobs. For more information, please visit www.alliancetexasmiz.com and www.alliancetexas.com.

ABOUT O’NEILL’S INFLIGHT CATERING

O’Neill’s Inflight Catering offers quality food and creative menus for the growing private airplane community. We currently serve Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Georgetown, Horseshoe Bay, Houston, Kerrville and New Braunfels – and now Fort Worth. O’Neill’s offers the finest and freshest foods. All food items are bought from the market within hours of delivery. O’Neill’s Inflight Catering is committed to quality and service standards for every single inflight meal created and served. Our kitchens are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and we can be reached anytime to accommodate your inflight catering needs. Whether you choose from our curated menus or create your own with the assistance of our chefs and staff, you can expect delicious food, expert coordination and gracious service – www.oneillsinflightcatering.com. 

FORT WORTH, Texas (November 17, 2022) – Hillwood and Alliance Aviation Services will soon complete construction and unveil the new, highly-amenitized fixed-based operation (FBO) facility at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport. As all aspects of aviation business operations continue to grow at Alliance Airport, so does the need for larger, enhanced facilities to accommodate crews and visiting guests. The luxurious new, state-of-the-art FBO is a continuation of Alliance Aviation Services’ three-decade legacy of providing best-in-class and award-winning support services to general and corporate aviation as well as military and air cargo operations. Construction of the new facility is scheduled to be completed in December 2022. 

Designed by Corgan Architects and Amaze Design, the FBO space encompasses more than 20,000 square feet of highly-amenitized lounges and meeting facilities along with an additional 68,000 square feet of attached hangar space. Alliance Aviation Services now has six hangars totaling approximately 200,000 square feet to support the growing fleet of based aircraft. Expanding upon the current FBO full-service offerings, the new space will allow for additional, first-class accommodations for flight crews, as well as more flexible, spacious lounges for pilots and passengers. Outdoor seating with ramp views has been integrated into the landscape as well. The 13901 Aviator Way building offers hangar space and premium office space for lease. 

“The new FBO at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport uniquely positions us for the growing demand for an elite, private flying experience,” said Christian Childs, president of Alliance Aviation Companies at Hillwood. “Pilots and passengers will soon have access to expanded amenities and the highest level of customer service they’ve become accustomed to over the years.” 

The world’s first industrial airport, Alliance Airport features a vast array of flight services including air cargo, corporate and government aviation, and is the cornerstone for the 27,000-acre AllianceTexas development, the nation’s most successful public-private partnerships. Born out of a collaboration between Hillwood, the City of Fort Worth and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Alliance Airport is now a key part of the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone (MIZ), which also includes FedEx Southwest Regional Sort Hub and Amazon Air Regional Hub, among others. Alliance Airport is currently ranked as one of the top 20 U.S. Air Cargo Airports by the FAA, moving more than 2.4 billion pounds of cargo in 2021, a volume increase of 45.75% from the previous year. 

In 2020, Alliance Aviation Services was named World Fuel Rewards Top 10 Best by Air Elite and received the Air Elite Marketing Masters Award. In 2018, Alliance Airport was recognized as the No. 1 Air Elite Diamond Location and was named Air Elite Diamond Service Location of the Year. As an Air Elite location, Alliance Aviation Services promises the utmost comfort and ease an FBO can offer its clientele. 

Following Fort Worth City Council and FAA approval, Alliance Airport was recently renamed Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport. Hillwood plans to host an event in December 2022 to mark the official name change of the airport, showcasing the new facility and honoring the legacy of H. Ross Perot, Sr.

Scores of innovators and investors descended on Ross Perot Jr.’s Circle T Ranch at AllianceTexas in Fort Worth last week for a VIP reception to kick off the 2022 Venture Dallas conference.  

It was a coveted invitation.

As sunset fell, dealmakers from North Texas and beyond connected at one of the most scenic landscapes in North Texas. Hosted by Perot Jain at the Perot family’s private ranch, the event was held at the Texas Barn. But it’s not just any barn: Situated in the midst of a working ranch, the location is a secret weapon for hospitality. Surrounded by parkland and high-end architecture, visitors were greeted by “Gus the longhorn” and cocktails laced with honey from the ranch’s bees. All with the sound of helicopters landing nearby.

The event preceded the following day’s conference showcasing the region’s talent and venture ecosystem at the George W. Bush Presidential Center. Perot Jain partners Ross Perot Jr. and Anurag Jain took to the stage for a fireside chat on what makes North Texas a hub of innovation and why it’s a place to invest in.

“This is a very open community, embracing of new ideas and a community that it doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you’ve done,” Perot said at the event. “All we really care about is what you’re going to do. And that’s the Texas spirit.” 

We have a special brand of optimism here, he added: “We help each other, and we believe in public-private partnerships.”

“We can grow 360 degrees.”

North Texas is the place to be, Perot says. “We have zero barriers to growth in this market. We can grow 360 degrees.” We’ve got the infrastructure to grow, including the airports, freeway system, and water capacity, he says.  And we’re still affordable.

“We’ll be the largest region in the nation in another 40 or 50 years,” Perot said. 

Perot discussed how the region’s high growth continues to attract new talent with longtime business partner Jain in a conversation moderated by Aaron Pierce, a Perot Jain partner and co-founder and board chair at Venture Dallas.

We’re still an early ecosystem, Jain says, but “we’re on the uprise” in terms of venture investments. By the numbers, Dallas has gone up by some 50%, while other locations have gone down by 60%, he says. 

“We saw that equation,” said Jain, who also serves as chairman and CEO of medical revenue cycle management company Access Healthcare.

“We’re really at a point of singularity, where technology, people, human migration is going to change how things work,” he said.

Jain shared seven trends he sees driving the future of innovation today. Here’s what the investor, entrepreneur, and futurist keeps in mind when making new investments.

7 trends driving the future of innovation

1. Human Longevity

“The reality is people are living longer and longer. One of the gurus in this space said, ‘Don’t do anything stupid, and survive the next 20 years. You’ll probably live to 100.’ And every year that passes, we’re extending life up to four or five years because of technology, personalized medicine, and gene therapy. Every single year that human life is extended, it has a $38 trillion impact on the economy. Think about what is possible with the abundance that’s created.”

2. Workforce skills

“As people live longer, their jobs will change. Technology will cause their jobs to change. My grandfather learned one thing, and probably did it all his life. In our generation, we have two or three skills that we may have to change. The next generation will probably have to learn a new skill every eight to 10 years. Think about it: If you live 100 years, you’d probably have 10 different jobs during your lifetime. So, the technology that’s needed for how the education system will have to adapt to train people that quickly—again and again—is amazing.”

3. Mobility

“If you have that many people, you have that much data, and you have so many goods, how do you move them around efficiently, cheaply, safely? That whole mobility market is going to explode. Whether it’s moving people, data, or goods. How that happens continuously, faster and faster, is going to be a huge trend.”

4. Supply Chain Efficiency

“We saw how badly our supply chains actually run when we had a disruption with COVID. Amazon just announced a billion-dollar fund to go after supply chains. And I think that’s the tip of the iceberg. Over the next 10 years, we will spend over a trillion dollars on making supply chains more efficient.”

5. Government Incubation

“As [supply chains] become more efficient, they’ll also fracture. In national security work, there are some places we don’t want to buy from, there are some places we want to be independent from. So we’ll have to become more resilient and we’ll have to do that work ourselves. We have to support the work that government does—first, to get resiliency in this country to become self-sufficient in certain areas. The government is probably the best incubator you can find. They can throw more money at problems than most of us can in this room. And that’s important. We need to work with our governments to make them better and better at incubating companies.”

6. Real Estate

“For the first time you’ll see this old—somewhat stodgy—business change. The whole real estate ecosystem, which is a huge part of the economy, is about to change.”

7. Future of Work

“The whole work equation of humans is about to change completely. Let me give you three dimensions of that:

One, how work is done is changing. You’re defining work not as one person working with one job, but one person doing many jobs—and a job being more like a shift. 66% of this country will have some sort of gig economy job in the next 10 years. It’s changing the connection between employers and employees, and the work they do. 

Two, is where you do the work. We saw with COVID, our life has changed … Remote working is possible. Even the jobs today that young people have will be done by robots that will be controlled from a different place. So, where you do work will change.

Three, which is even more interesting, is in 10 years, over 60% of the people that can work will be in India and Nigeria. And the rest of the world will have a population decline. So, you will have mass migration of people moving to places where the jobs are. So work is changing how it looks, and people are moving. This is all happening at the same time.”

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