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Teknovation News and Notes
March 19, 2023 | Tom Ballard

News & Notes | Tickets now available for the “CO.MOBILITY Summit”

Other items include a Johnson City start-up being selected for the "gBeta Indiana Energy and Sustainability Accelerator" and a new name for a long-standing program operated by the UT Center for Industrial Services.

From Knoxville:

Women in Tech will hold a workshop on Wednesday titled “Negotiation: How to Get What You Want.” The virtual event featuring Monisha Longacre, Chief Operating Officer of TONE Networks, runs from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. To register, click here.

From Chattanooga:

Tickets are now on sale for the “CO.MOBILITY Summit” set for May 9-11 in Chattanooga. Organized by CO.LAB, the city’s entrepreneur center, the event offers a unique opportunity for attendees to learn about the latest advancements in electric and autonomous vehicles, SmartCity innovations, freight technology, and Quantum tech. To register, click here.

From Johnson City:

One Scientific Inc., which provides affordable onsite hydrogen, has been selected to participate in gener8tor’s “gBeta Indiana Energy and Sustainability Accelerator.” In a social media post, Jon Barnwell, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, wrote that the start-up was “excited to add value in low-cost clean hydrogen opportunities in Indiana and other mid-west states!” We last spotlighted the company several years ago when it was awarded Patent No. 10611633 (One Scientific Patent).

From Oak Ridge:

Jeremy Busby has been named Associate Laboratory Director for the Isotope Science and Engineering Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), effective April 1. He joined ORNL in 2004 and has served in several leadership roles at the laboratory, most recently as Director of the Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division and Associate Lab Director for the Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate. In his new role, Busby will lead a directorate of scientists and engineers charged with producing unique isotopes for various uses, developing enrichment technology, and operating ORNL’s nuclear facilities.

From Nashville but with Statewide Implications:

The Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) operated by the University of Tennessee’s Center for Industrial Services has a new name. Established in the 1980s, the program that provides businesses interested in government contracting with no-cost, one-on-one technical assistance will now be known as the Tennessee APEX Accelerator. The PTAC/APEX Accelerator was previously housed with the Defense Logistics Agency and is now part of the Department of Defense’s Office of Small Business Programs.

From Nashville:

A former Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Administration at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) has joined Vanderbilt University as Senior Assistant Provost for Sponsored Programs Administration and Compliance. Jean Mercer brings more than 25 years of research administration experience, including pre- and post-award reporting, compliance with new federal regulations and research administration staff training and development. She begins her new role today. Mercer joined UTK in 2016.

From Gallatin:

Jonathan Scott Huitink of Compass Pediatrics in Gallatin is the 2023 “Small Business Person of the Year” from Tennessee. He’s a Pediatrician and President of the medical practice that was launched in August 2019, about a year after he and co-founder Mary Kathryn Oliver visited the Tennessee Small Business Development Center at Volunteer State Community College to get professional business advice and lay out a plan for their one-of-a-kind pediatric group. Huitink will compete with representatives from 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to be designated as the “2023 National Small Business Person of the Year.”

From California but with Oak Ridge Ties:

More than half of the start-ups named on Forbes’ newest 500-company list of the “Best Start-up Employers” in America are based in the Bay Area, and one of those has a growing presence in Oak Ridge. Kairos Power, based in Alameda, clocked in at #39. The company announced in December 2020 that it planned to deploy a test reactor named Hermes at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP). As recently as last November in an update to the community, Mike Laufer, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said the project was still on schedule for the reactor to be operational in 2026.


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