Knoxville region’s “Innov865 Week” set for September 28 through October 2
The Innov865 Alliance announced yesterday that its annual “Innov865 Week 2020” will be virtual this year, running September 28 through October 2, and the premier event – “Startup Day” – will be delivered on September 29 utilizing the Lunchpool platform developed by Alex Abell, a member of the Knoxville entrepreneurial community.
The details were announced yesterday during the Alliance’s webinar featuring Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon (see related article here).
“Entrepreneurship is essential to the success of our community and now, more than ever is the time to rally around our entrepreneurs,” said Tom Rogers, President and Chief Executive Officer of the University of Tennessee (UT) Research Park and a founding member of the Innov865 Alliance. “‘Innov865 Week’ will continue to spotlight Knoxville as a great place to start and grow businesses and connect entrepreneurs planting roots here with support systems to succeed.”
Innov865 Week boasts a range of events for everyone in the community to support local economic development, from investors and regional entrepreneurs to community leaders and students. “Startup Day” will include a pitch competition among six of Knoxville’s most investable start-ups for a chance to win up to $10,000 in cash prizes as determined by a panel of expert judges. In addition to the opportunity to spotlight their startup for investors, entrepreneurs will compete for a “crowd favorite” cash prize presented by BB&T and SunTrust Bank, now Truist.
In addition, this year’s “Startup Day” program will include a special award, presented by Verizon, for a company or individual that has made a positive impact on the fight against COVID-19.
To learn more about “Innov865 Week,” click here. The event calendar will be updated as events are added.
In addition to the UT Research Park, other founding members of the Alliance include the UT Research Foundation; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; PYA, the power behind teknovation.biz; UT Knoxville’s Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Three Roots Capital; Tennessee Valley Authority; Launch Tennessee; Knoxville Entrepreneur Center; and Bunker Labs Knoxville.
