Chicago-based mHUB, a leading independent hardtech and manufacturing innovation center and a collaborator with the Spark Innovation Center at the University of Tennessee Research Park, has announced the closing of its $15 million mHUB Product Impact Fund I LP. According to this news release, 79 limited partners, mainly individual investors and some institutions, contributed to the new fund that is currently investing in … Read More

Knoxville, Tenn. — Cohort One of the Spark Cleantech Accelerator (Spark CTA), a partner of the Heartland Climate Tech Partnership, marked its graduation after presenting final pitches during the Spark Demo Day event at the University of Tennessee’s Howard Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy.  “The Spark Demo Day marked more than just a graduation of five cleantech startups,” said Cortney Piper, Executive Director of … Read More

William Fitzhugh, a member of Cohort 3 of the “Innovation Crossroads” as Founder of Knoxville-based American Nanotechnologies, Inc. (ANI), is now heading a new start-up in Boston. Adden Energy Inc. recently announced its launch in a news release (click here). The company is developing a solid-state battery system for use in electric vehicles (EVs). Lab-scale prototype batteries have fully charged in minutes and lasted more than … Read More

By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA There’s a baker’s dozen set of events scheduled for the 2022 edition of Knoxville’s “Innov865 Week,” including one offered daily over the eight-day period that kicks-off in 10 days, and there could be a few more opportunities added in the coming days. The two premier events are The Maker City Summit and “Startup Day.” … Read More

By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) Dan Miller verbalized a thought that was bouncing around in my head about a third of the way through yesterday morning’s “Spark Cleantech Accelerator Demo Day.” As Miller introduced four of the five participants in Cohort 6 of the “Innovation Crossroads” (IC) program operated by ORNL, he commented on how many exciting … Read More

By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA “We are in a very unique position,” says Ryan Ginder, Founder of Windfall. “No one can do what we can do with end-of-life composite materials. We have a chance to not be the Coca-Cola of recycling, but the soda itself.” That’s a lofty vision and goal for the Research Assistant Professor in the Department … Read More

By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA When Ed Chan had the opportunity to participate in the inaugural cohort of the “Spark Cleantech Accelerator” at the University of Tennessee Research Park (UTRP), he jumped at the opportunity, and the program has not disappointed the resident of Cincinnati. “This one is by far the best I have attended,” the longtime corporate executive says. “The content is … Read More

By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA If you are old enough like me, you should remember the time when the milkman delivered milk in a bottle to your home and retrieved the used bottles to be cleaned and reused. It was recycling and environmental sustainability long before the terms were widely spoken. Today, a Johnson City couple – Kay Baker … Read More

By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA Any mentor advising a new entrepreneur will tell that person that one of her or his top priorities is to build a network early on, and it was that network that helped bring jhana porter – she prefers the all lower case spelling – to Knoxville and the new “Spark Cleantech Accelerator.” The resident … Read More