San Antonio, the Hidden Giant: Dr. Lina Rugova on Putting the City on the Global Shortlist
Dr. Lina Rugova, Operations Chair and a founding member of the San Antonio Applied Innovation Council, joins Justin McKenzie on The Building Texas Show to explain how San Antonio gets added to the list next to Dallas, Houston and Austin, and how Texas Venture Fest San Antonio was planned around the city's arts, culture and talent.
San Antonio, TX (Newsworthy.ai) Saturday Oct 31, 2026 @ 7:23 AM CDT
The Building Texas Show — The Hidden Giant: Why San Antonio Is The Best Kept Secret
Photo: Justin McKenzie
"When we speak to international companies, they never even heard of San Antonio... The first option is always going to be Dallas, Houston, and Austin." — Dr. Lina Rugova, San Antonio Applied Innovation Council
San Antonio has strengths in advanced manufacturing, defense, cybersecurity and biomedical innovation, but many international companies have never heard of it. On the latest episode of The Building Texas Show, The Hidden Giant: Why San Antonio Is The Best Kept Secret, host Justin McKenzie talks with Dr. Lina Rugova about how to get the city on their list. Rugova is Operations Chair and a founding member of the San Antonio Applied Innovation Council, founder and president of Emerge and Rise, and co-lead of Founder Institute San Antonio. The conversation is also on YouTube.
Rugova is direct about the marketing gap. "When we speak to international companies, they never even heard of San Antonio," she says. "The first option is always going to be Dallas, Houston, and Austin." The Applied Innovation Council connects industry, public infrastructure, capital and higher education around four focus areas: industrial and advanced manufacturing, defense and cybersecurity, biomedical and health innovation, and applied technology and talent. "Talent is everything in San Antonio," Rugova says.
The Building Texas Show — The Hidden Giant: Why San Antonio Is The Best Kept Secret
Photo: Justin McKenzie
"When we speak to international companies, they never even heard of San Antonio... The first option is always going to be Dallas, Houston, and Austin." — Dr. Lina Rugova, San Antonio Applied Innovation Council
That thinking shaped Texas Venture Fest San Antonio, which Rugova co-hosted on Oct. 1. In the episode, recorded in September, she explains that this year's event was planned around arts and culture, media, tourism, hospitality, and innovation and technology, because the two issues the group identified were a lack of creative marketing for San Antonio and the need to keep local talent. The goal, she says, is to focus on the opportunities ahead "instead of concentrating on challenges and issues all the time."
Rugova also describes work with greater:SATX, the region's economic development organization, on an international soft-landing path. It helps overseas companies settle in, including through cultural integration, and gives San Antonio's small businesses a way to partner with those companies on procurement and vendor opportunities. She sees a strong fit for European and Asian companies, describing San Antonio as "a big city, small town mentality" that is more relationship-driven than transactional.
The talent is already here, McKenzie says. Many students come up from the Rio Grande Valley to attend UTSA, Trinity University and the University of the Incarnate Word, and Alamo Colleges is "doing great stuff." He also points to UT Health Science Center, data science at UTSA, cybersecurity education and access to wet labs. The challenge, he says, is giving graduates a reason to stay, or to boomerang back to raise a family in a city known for its outdoors and its rivers.
Rugova speaks from experience. An immigrant from Kazakhstan who landed in the Bronx at 16, she holds a DBA, founded Emerge and Rise for underserved entrepreneurs and teaches at Palo Alto College. She moved from New York City in November 2019 after weighing Dallas, Austin and Houston, and chose San Antonio as the better fit. Her advice for the city is to tell its own story. "We should never ever compare ourselves to other cities," she says. "We have our unique opportunity and uniqueness in our city that we should be showcasing."
Watch or listen to the full conversation on The Building Texas Show episode page.
Disclosure: The Building Texas Show is a media sponsor of Texas Venture Fest San Antonio.
About The Building Texas Show
The Building Texas Show, hosted by Justin McKenzie, tells the stories of the founders, community leaders and projects shaping Texas, from economic development and small business to conservation and education. New episodes publish weekly on YouTube and all major podcast platforms, with highlights on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn at @thebuildingtexasshow. Watch, listen and subscribe at https://www.buildingtexasshow.com and https://www.youtube.com/@thebuildingtexasshow.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Who is Dr. Lina Rugova and what roles does she hold in San Antonio's innovation ecosystem?
- Dr. Lina Rugova is a business consultant who moved from New York City in November 2019 after evaluating Dallas, Austin, and Houston. She serves as Operations Chair and a founding member of the San Antonio Applied Innovation Council, founder and president of Emerge and Rise, and co-lead of Founder Institute San Antonio, working to raise the city's visibility with international companies.
- What are the four focus areas of the San Antonio Applied Innovation Council?
- The Council organizes its work around four lanes: advanced manufacturing; defense and cybersecurity; biomedical and health innovation; and applied technology and talent. Rugova emphasizes that talent cuts across all of them, because in San Antonio one industry cannot function without another, making workforce development the connective tissue tying the other three sectors together.
- How is VentureFest San Antonio different this year, and why the reverse pitch format?
- Now in its fourth year overall and third in San Antonio, VentureFest is adopting a reverse pitch built around arts, culture, media, tourism, hospitality, and innovation. Rugova says the Council identified weak creative marketing and talent retention as core problems, so instead of dwelling on challenges the event will spotlight San Antonio's opportunities and distinct cultural assets.
- What is the International Business Development Program and the soft landing track?
- The Applied Innovation Council took over the International Business Development Program from Greater:SATX to help San Antonio's small business community partner with international companies on procurement and vendor opportunities. The soft landing component offers cultural integration for overseas firms, which Rugova argues suits European and Asian small and mid-sized companies better than faster-paced Miami, Los Angeles, or New York.
- Why does San Antonio struggle to retain the talent it educates?
- UTSA, Trinity, University of the Incarnate Word, Alamo Colleges, and UT Health Science Center produce strong graduates, including students from the Rio Grande Valley, but McKenzie notes many default to Austin or the coast because they do not know what career paths exist locally. Boomerang returns happen later, often when graduates want quality of life for raising families.
- What civic action do McKenzie and Rugova urge listeners to take?
- Recorded on September 15, the final registration day, the hosts urge listeners to verify their voter registration and participate in the November election, noting Texas has removed 1.5 million people from the rolls. Rugova frames civic engagement as nonpartisan, telling students their voices matter regardless of party, and encourages involvement with local organizations and their websites.
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