East Tennessee is well positioned for the growth Gibbons envisions. “This region has a ready farming base. We need to have a good location to ship to building and automotive markets, which the Southeast absolutely has proximity to. The nonwoven and textile industry is mostly based in Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, so we’re very close to a lot of our suppliers and people with technical know-how. Finally, this area has a strong manufacturing base and an ability to find inexpensive renewable power.”
Gibbons was introduced to the region’s possibilities through Innovation Crossroads. Fellows are not only connected with ORNL researchers who can develop their technical capability, but also with entrepreneurs and business professionals who can guide companies as they grow. “Hempitecture was funded by the [DOE] Building Technologies Office,” said ORNL’s Kelly Wampler, Innovation Crossroads program manager. “We connected Tommy with researchers at ORNL’s Building Technologies Research and Integration Center, and they helped him refine the Hempitecture product by increasing its efficiency and fire retardancy.”
“Hempitecture was very well positioned for this grant,” said Wampler. “We were excited to see them win. But it’s even more exciting because this will be a Tennessee facility.”
Positions in the new facility will be paid above the industry standard wage, and Hempitecture offers a program where employees earn company equity. “We’re here to do positive things for the environment,” said Gibbons, “and that includes hiring employees and appointing people to leadership positions from different backgrounds. We want to make a happier and healthier built environment. Now it feels like there’s more wind in our sails.”
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science. — Brynn Downing
This Oak Ridge National Laboratory news article "Innovation Crossroads company Hempitecture receives $8.4 million in DOE funding" was originally found on https://www.ornl.gov/news
