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Two cohorts, one growing deep-tech pipeline: Innovation Crossroads and Spark welcome their newest class of founders The Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Spark Accelerator at UT Research Park have a close working relationship, dating back to 2020. Both cohorts will undergo Spark's fall programming. Last week brought a one-two punch for East Tennessee’s innovation ecosystem.

Inside ACME Block & Brick’s Crossville plant, where 125 years of masonry tradition meets modern manufacturing ACME is headquartered in Kingston, Tennessee and now has locations across middle and eastern Tennessee, northern Georgia and southern Kentucky. Last Thursday, Teknovation joined members of the UT Center for Industrial Services Tennessee Manufacturing Extension Partnership (TMEP) peer group for a tour of ACME Block & Brick’s Crossville manufacturing plant.

$11 million grant, 1,100+ jobs | TRISO-X expanding its footprint in Oak Ridge The $11 million grant comes from the State of Tennessee's Nuclear Energy Supply Chain Investment Fund, which was established by Governor Bill Lee in 2023. Four years after TRISO-X wagered that America’s nuclear revival would run through Oak Ridge, the state of Tennessee is placing a bet of its own on the company.

Hickory Construction opens Workforce Development Center in Alcoa to grow the local trades pipeline Hickory Construction marked the opening of its new Workforce Development Center with a ribbon cutting and open house Tuesday, June 30. Hickory Construction’s offices are at 124 Kent Place; its new Workforce Development Center sits next door at 125 Kent Place.

UTC Research Institute launches Biomechatronics in Healthcare Initiative UTC has made an initial institutional investment of $130,000 to support the initiative’s startup efforts. The initiative brings together more than 10 faculty members from four colleges, making it one of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s (UTC) most multidisciplinary research efforts. But, with UTC completing over 40 healthcare-related projects over the past five years, the collaboration is a no-brainer.

VACScore can fix the ‘fractured’ way hospitals vet new medical devices “My goal was to make better use of healthcare dollars and continue to find a pathway for novel technologies,” O’Dell said. “I think we’re on that pathway.” David O’Dell spent his career in medical device sales, representing small startups with clinically sound, innovative technologies. He quickly began rooting for the “underdog” compared to large device manufacturers that can dominate the scene.

NSF awards UT and partners $160 million to advance BRIDGES Engine for rural economic development The collaborative initiative will generate millions of dollars in additional annual income for Tennessee farmers and create thousands of jobs across the state.

Tennessee’s quantum push gets another $3 million, this time aimed at NSF X-Labs teams Launch Tennessee is also offering priority consideration for LaunchTN's SBIR/STTR Matching Fund to X-Lab awardees that relocate to the state or emerge from the program. The NSF X-Labs was a program created to fund organizations that want to address technical challenges and bottlenecks that university and industry labs cannot easily solve through traditional methods.

Beehive Industries’ Knoxville facility is about to get even busier Beehive Industries is headquartered in the Denver area, but their 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility is in Knoxville. Over the past several weeks, Beehive Industries has announced a run of moves that seem to point toward more machines, more capacity and more work flowing into East Tennessee.

Oak Ridge development update | A look inside the new housing rising to meet workforce demand With more than 3,600 new employees expected to arrive in Oak Ridge over the next five to eight years, the city is moving urgently to ensure its housing supply can keep pace. That message was front and center at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce‘s 2026 Housing Tour, held June 26, as business leaders and community members toured active and planned residential and mixed-use developments across the city.