Spark Innovation Center Director Lilly Trench shared that Knoxville is ranked in the top 20 hubs in the United States for clean technology—in large part because of the work of Knoxville-based organizations, such as ORNL’s Innovation Crossroads, a Department of Energy Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program that offers a two-year fellowship for researchers working to address and solve energy and manufacturing challenges. Dan Miller, Innovation Crossroads director, explained how Innovation Crossroads is growing high impact businesses in energy and advanced manufacturing. We marry early-stage technical entrepreneurs with the capabilities and assets at a national laboratory… Of the 45 startups that Innovation Crossroads has supported, over half have stayed in East Tennessee.
Pitch sessions allowed startups in a variety of sectors — circular economies, advanced manufacturing, battery storage and energy and the environment — to promote their work before investors. Alumni of Innovation Crossroads and the Spark Incubator Program presented their companies throughout the day. The pitches culminated in an award presented by Curt Jawdy, TVA senior manager of Operational Research and Support, to AluminAiry, a Spark Incubator Program startup.
The Thomas Ballard Advanced Energy Leadership award, which recognized leadership and success in championing Tennessee’s advanced energy economy, was awarded to AESSEAL.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’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 "State leaders gather for Opportunities in Energy Conference" was originally found on https://www.ornl.gov/news
