Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

At a sold-out, standing room only event organized by the Knoxville Chamber and hosted at the PYA Accountants and Advisors headquarters, dozens of community and business leaders leaned in to hear the Knoxville Chamber’s newly unveiled Regional Innovation & Growth Strategy (RIGS).

Notably, the room was packed, suggesting that the business community’s interest in innovation is high. The event served as a sort of launchpad for the full document, which can be found here, detailing 13 ways that the community can improve across three pillars: talent, infrastructure, and business climate.

 

To kick things off, Odom shared what he – and the Chamber – believe to be a community shortfall.

“From our perspective, we have simply relied on these three entities (TVA, UTK, and ORNL) to be our innovation strategy and have failed to properly leverage the advantages that they bring to our community. Our work at the Knoxville Chamber is a perfect example of that failure. While we constantly and consistently celebrate the Big Three’s location in Knoxville, we have neglected to develop ways to fully utilize their presence and create a true innovative culture,” said the first page of the RIGS report.

To build upon the positive community draw and recognition of these three major entities, the Knoxville Chamber provided a roadmap for growth.

Recommendations for Talent

• Develop, recruit, and support more company founders in innovation industries; talent in innovation occupations; and faculty, scientists, and researchers focused on translational research and original intellectual property (IP).
• Significantly expand the number of graduates in biological and biomedical sciences, mathematics and statistics, and physical sciences (BMPS).
• Place a greater economic emphasis on the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA).
• Advocate for the creation of more innovation-support personnel (e.g., commercialization managers and legal assistants) positions.

Recommendations for Infrastructure

• Develop tools to identify asset-based (i.e., “Big 3”) solutions more easily.
• Improve and expand continuity of support for innovation industries’ companies.
• Continue to increase access to capital for innovation industries’ companies.
• Create innovation-based incentives.
• Assemble a “constellation” of companies in innovation industries.

Recommendations for Business Climate

---