The Spark Innovation Center is a proud partner of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the largest public utility in the country. The partnership with TVA includes facilitated access to TVA experts, exploration of potential pilot opportunities, and connections with TVA industry partners.
The Spark Accelerator is a 12-week program that kicks off in November at the UT Research Park in Knoxville, Tennessee. The program provides mentorship, connections, stipends, prototyping services, and business acceleration services to early stage cleantech entrepreneurs to help commercialize new innovations.
Photo Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy
In our 12-week, in-person program, we offer:
- A $15,000 stipend to cover your travel and living costs while in Knoxville
- Prototyping services through the University of Tennessee’s Center for Materials Processing,
- Mentoring and one-on-one support from our experts in business, market analysis and positioning, and IP/ patent strategy, product design, engineering, prototyping, testing, material selection, tooling design, and manufacturing,
- Connections with customers, investors, strategic partners, suppliers, and universities and national laboratories,
- Training Workshops and one-on-one support.
- Partnership opportunities with organizations such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, Oak Ridge National Lab, the University of Tennessee, the City of Knoxville, and members of the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council.
Funding Support
Programming Support
Meet the team
The UT Research Park team is dedicated to helping both established companies and entrepreneurs forge successful collaborations with the community, industry partners, and University of Tennessee. With our strong ties to university leadership, faculty and students, we’re able to help connect your new ideas or current challenges to the correct solution.