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Teknovation News and Notes
December 07, 2025 | Tom Ballard

News & Notes | Applications open for Spring Innovation Fellowship

Epicenter will host a multi-faceted event later this week at Central Station Hotel.

From Nashville:

Applications are now being accepted for the spring 2026 Innovation Fellowship from the Tennessee Technology Advancement Consortium, an initiative of Launch Tennessee. The semester-long program allows participants to develop a customer-driven value proposition, create a commercialization plan, plus connect with industry leaders and investors.

Over the six-week course of the TTAC Innovation Fellowship, you’ll connect weekly with a cohort of fellow participants for a combination of:

  1. Interactive workshops: Participate in focused sessions designed to refine your commercialization strategy and build your business acumen.
  2. Expert guidance: Receive personalized coaching from LaunchTN staff and industry mentors, tailored to your specific research and goals.
  3. Actionable resources: Access a curated library of start-up training materials and tools to accelerate your commercialization journey.

To apply, click here.

From Memphis:

Epicenter will host a multi-faceted event later this week at Central Station Hotel.
On December 11, it will start with a Demo Day featuring four emerging medical device start-ups from Epicenter’s award-winning ‍Medical Device Accelerator. This incredible cohort of founders has been working around the clock to transform their innovations into some of the most promising medical device companies in the nation. Afterwards, Epicenter will be celebrating the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Memphis with the entrepreneur center’s second annual holiday reception.
You can arrive as early as 5:30 p.m. CST, with the celebration concluding at 9 p.m. To register, click here.

From Knoxville and Huntsville, AL:

Agriwater, a participant in the 2022 cohort of the “Innovation Crossroads” program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is now part of the pre-accelerator program in Huntsville hosted by the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, in partnership with venture firm and start-up accelerator gener8tor.
It is a seven-week non-investment program that will provide concierge support and connections for early-stage agricultural start-ups to advance their technologies, attract investment, and grow their businesses.”This cohort of 10 companies is our biggest group yet,” said Dillon Fritz, Vice President for Economic Development and Commercialization at HudsonAlpha. “They represent what it means to innovate in the agtech industry. Seventy percent of this cohort has roots in Alabama, and two of the companies have international founders. We’re covering the breadth of the industry with innovators ready to leverage the expertise of HudsonAlpha and HudsonAlpha Wiregrass and the resources of gener8tor’s network.”

Agriwater is an agtech firm specializing in the installation of on-site wastewater treatment systems tailored for livestock farmers to alleviate waste management challenges. The company’s technology ensures environmental compliance, establishes an additional water source for farmers, and can fuel ongoing revenue streams through the sale of earned carbon credits.


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