Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

From Chattanooga:

The Company Lab is hosting an event from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on February 29 at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) where attendees will be able to catch up on Chattanooga’s progress at the forefront of the quantum revolution. Scheduled to be held at UTC’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Room 213 of the James R. Mapp Building, 410 East 8th Street, the event will be an informal discussion featuring:

• Charlie Brock, Chattanooga Quantum Collaborative Chief Executive Officer (CEO);
• Dr. Reinhold Mann, UTC’s Vice Chancellor for Research; and
• Jim Ingraham, EPB’s Vice President of Strategic Research.

Light hors d’oeuvres and coffee will be served. To register, click here.

From Johnson City:

Josh Trimm, an East Tennessee native and CEO of Trimyard, will be speaking at the inaugural Amplify423 event from 12 noon to 1 p.m. EST on February 8 at Spark Plaza. Trimm captured first place and $4,000 in the 2022 edition of the iBUCS competition hosted by East Tennessee State University’s College of Business and Technology. His presentation will focus on validating your ideas and product market fit. And, as an added bonus, lunch will be served. To register, click here.

From Cookeville:

The Biz Foundry‘s fifth annual “Made Here Market” is scheduled for April 27 at the organization’s location on North Cedar Avenue in Cookeville, and those interested in being a part of the event have until February 18 to apply.

The organizers remind those who apply that it is “a MAKER event,” meaning only vendors that sell their own handmade goods will be accepted. Completing an application does not guarantee you a spot in the market. Once prospective vendors submit an application, it will still need to be reviewed by the Made Here Market committee. All applicants will be notified by February 26 as to their acceptance or rejection.

The application can be found here.

From Oneida and Rugby:

Staying in business for a century or more is a big deal. To celebrate those who have done so across the Volunteer State, the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development kicked off a celebration and recognition of those companies last week with a visit by Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter to four generational businesses in Scott and Morgan counties. Three of the companies call Oneida home – Whitehead Insurance Group, which also has offices in Crossville, Jamestown, and Alcoa/Maryville; Lay Family Furniture; and First National Bank of Oneida. The Commissioner also made a stop at the R.M. Brooks Store in Rugby.

From Knoxville:

• The UT Board of Trustees Executive Committee met last Friday morning and approved the appointment of Bernie Savarese as the permanent Vice President for Academic Affairs, Research, and Student Success and Jeff Smith as Vice President for National Labs. Savarese had been serving in an interim capacity since July 2022. Smith, a former Interim Director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the lab’s longtime Deputy for Operations, will serve as the UT System’s primary liaison to the ORNL leadership team, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Battelle Memorial Institute on matters that relate to the UT-Battelle management and operations contract for ORNL.
• Separately, UTK’s Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development has named Vasileios Maroulas as the new Assistant Vice Chancellor and Deputy Director of the AI Tennessee Initiative. A Professor in the Department of Mathematics, he will maintain his faculty position while serving in the new role. Maroulas also holds adjunct appointments in business analytics and statistics in UTK’s Haslam College of Business and in data science and engineering in the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education.

From Nashville but with Statewide Implications:

The sixth annual “State of the University Address” from UT System President Randy Boyd will be a little different this year. Scheduled for 9:30 a.m. EST/8:30 a.m. CST on February 8, it will feature a panel discussion of the leaders of all five UT campuses and two statewide institutes. The discussion will be moderated by Boyd and David Plazas, Director of Opinion and Engagement for the USA Today Network-Tennessee/The Tennessean.

The address will originate from the historic Woolworth Theatre, 223 Rep. John Lewis Way North, Nashville. Space is limited and RSVPs are required only if you plan to attend in person in Nashville. The address will also be streamed at tennessee.edu, as well as on the UT System and Boyd’s Facebook pages.

 

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