2022 Thomas B. Ballard Advanced Energy Leadership Award, awarded to Tom Rogers, President & CEO of the UT Research Park, and Executive Director of the Spark Innovation Center 

Tom Rogers, President and CEO of the UT Research Park, received Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council’s (TAEBC) top award during their ‘Opportunities in Energy’ event last week. “Tom Rogers is a champion for Tennessee’s advanced energy entrepreneurs and startups,” said Cortney Piper, Executive Director of TAEBC. “Throughout his entire career, much of which was spent at ‘the big three’ – TVA, ORNL … Read More

Victoria Hirschberg describes her role as being a connector

Victoria Hirschberg told attendees at Friday’s event for the Knoxville Chamber’s Premier Partners that her role is to be a connector between the institution and companies that can benefit from robust partnerships with any part of the University of Tennessee (UT) System. The 10-year veteran of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD) joined UT as Assistant Vice President … Read More

UT Knoxville’s chancellor champions innovation as university grows in every area

Many of East Tennessee’s leading innovators, thinkers, and entrepreneurs all seem to have one thing in common – a tie to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT Knoxville). That could mean they were a student at UT Knoxville, benefitted from the UT Research Foundation, won a pitch competition through the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, had workspace at the … Read More

 8 out of 37 companies that received SBIR and STTR Matching Funds are Spark and UT Research Park Affiliated

Thirty-seven companies have received funding thus far this year under the State of Tennessee’s matching program for recipients of federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards. In an announcement yesterday, Launch Tennessee, which administers the program, said that 15 East Tennessee-based companies, 16 from Middle Tennessee, and six who call West Tennessee home received … Read More

Large crowd attends reception honoring Stacey Patterson

A large crowd of current and former employees of the University of Tennessee (UT) joined with others from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, East Tennessee Economic Council, and the broader community at a reception Monday night that honored Stacey Patterson. The current UT Vice President for Research, Outreach and Economic Development is leaving to become Vice President for Research at Florida … Read More

UT Part of New Tech-Driven Innovation Hub

Nine institutions are forming an inclusive innovation corridor connecting the mid-South region. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is a founding member of the National Science Foundation’s new Mid-South Innovation Corps Hub, a regional coalition of nine diverse tech-forward universities. The hub will prepare and support talented entrepreneurs, spur new high-growth companies, and promote inclusive economic development and prosperity, transforming metro … Read More

Maha Krishnamurthy named Interim UTRF President & Jeff Smith named Interim Vice President for Research

By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA With the upcoming departure of Stacey Patterson, the University of Tennessee’s (UT) Vice President for Research, Outreach and Economic Development, UT President Randy Boyd has announced two interim appointments and the process to fill both positions on a permanent basis. Jeff Smith, retired Deputy Director for Operations at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), will … Read More

PYA, affiliate company RTG named top firms in respective industries

By Kailyn Lamb, Marketing Content Writer and Editor, PYA Earlier this month, PYA was named a “2022 Top 100 Accounting Firm” in the nation by INSIDE Public Accounting. This is the seventh year in a row the firm, which powers teknovation.biz, has earned this recognition. In the last three years, PYA has moved up seven spots in the ranking. It is one of only two … Read More

QUBIT ENGINEERING OPTIMIZES WIND FARM ENERGY PRODUCTION WITH AZURE QUANTUM

Qubit Engineering is using quantum inspired capabilities available on the Azure Quantum platform to optimize wind farm layouts and, in doing so, capture more available energy with the same physical wind farm assets. Wind farms have achieved tremendous efficiency gains over the last two decades through hardware innovation. Software innovation, in the form of turbine layout optimization, can now further … Read More

A lot of questions asked during second sessions of last Thursday’s “Women’s Capital Series”

A spirited group of women peppered two different panels with questions during the second session last Thursday of the “Women’s Capital Series” organized by Catherine Porth and the team at the Let Her Speak nonprofit that she leads. The questions started almost immediately after the morning session began and continued, albeit at a somewhat reduced rate, during the lunchtime session. The former … Read More