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April 26, 2023 | Tom Ballard

Application deadline looming for “Spark Cleantech Accelerator”

The 12-week program, housed at the University of Tennessee Research Park at Cherokee Farm, closes applications at midnight on May 12. Cohort 2 begins August 14.

The application deadline for the second cohort of the “Spark Cleantech Accelerator” is rapidly approaching. It is midnight on May 12.

The 12-week program, housed at the University of Tennessee Research Park (UTRP) at Cherokee Farm and operated by the Spark Innovation Center, officially kicks off on August 14 and is designed to assist early-stage cleantech innovators with commercializing their innovations and advancing technologies that will benefit the environment and provide economic value to East Tennessee, the Midwest, and the cleantech industry.

The program is free to cleantech entrepreneurs, with no monetary or equity exchange required to participate. Participants will receive:

  • $15,000 stipends to help defray travel/living costs and to support business and technical milestones;
  • Access to prototyping services through the UT, Knoxville’s Center for Materials Processing;
  • Mentoring and one-on-one support from experts in business, market analysis and positioning, intellectual property/patent strategy, product design, engineering, prototyping, testing, material selection, tooling design, and manufacturing;
  • Connections with customers, investors, strategic partners, suppliers, universities, and national laboratories;
  • Training workshops and one-on-one support, including individual meetings with U. S. Department of Energy staff in its Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs; and
  • Partnerships with organizations such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, UT, the City of Knoxville, and members of the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council.

More information and a link to the application can be found here.


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