About Us
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Our VisionTo position Tennessee as a globally competitive innovation hub, stimulating economic growth, fostering entrepreneurship, and generating high-quality job opportunities.
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Our MissionTo bridge the technology gaps in our state by devising a strategic plan with our valuable partners to organize a once-in-a-generation investment in statewide innovation.
Who We Are
The Tennessee Innovation Advocacy Council is a dedicated group of leaders, stakeholders, and innovation enthusiasts, driven by a shared commitment to advance technology in the state of Tennessee. To date, members of the Tennessee Innovation Advocacy Council have generated billions in economic impact while supporting thousands of high-quality jobs through innovation activities across the State of Tennessee. Following the organization of 5 consortiums to create regional technology and innovation hubs across the state of Tennessee, the Tennessee Innovation Advocacy Council was established to build on the opportunity to accelerate these efforts while ensuring that Tennessee remains competitive and at the forefront of tech innovation across the nation.
What We Do
We actively engage with entrepreneur centers, universities, and industry networks to foster a collaborative innovation ecosystem. Together, we tackle challenges, seize opportunities, and work towards a tech-advanced future. Through decades of collective experience in developing the innovation infrastructure necessary to support Tennessee entrepreneurs, we recognize that we have a significant opportunity to build on and accelerate these efforts to ensure the next generation of Tennessee innovation is even brighter.
Our council proposes 5 key initiatives to accelerate Tennessee innovation:
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An advanced manufacturing program to incentive the development of lab spaces | $50M
The Challenge: More than 50% of entrepreneurs throughout the Tennessee innovation ecosystem identify the availability of lab spaces as a significant barrier to building their technologies and businesses in Tennessee.
The Opportunity: A program to incentivize 30% of the construction costs of lab spaces by private developers or the upscaling of industrial facilities by entrepreneurs.
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A matching fund to bring more federal commercialization and technology-based economic development funding to the state | $80M
The Challenge: While the SBIR/STTR Matching Fund has leveraged nearly $700M in economic impact to the state of Tennessee by supporting early-stage companies engaged in federal research, more than $400 billion in federal innovation funding have recently been authorized beyond the SBIR/STTR programs. Additionally, federal programs supporting tech and innovation based economic development, such as the EDA Tech Hubs program, require state support and matching funds to secure these opportunities. Without a dedicated funding source, there is a critical gap in Tennessee’s ability to leverage funds from these federal programs.
The Opportunity: An expanded commercialization matching fund to incentivize and ensure a significant portion of those federal innovation funds go to Tennessee companies, communities, and institutions.
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A statewide technology transfer office to unleash our innovation potential | $15M
The Challenge: Despite having significant innovation resources and commercialization potential, many universities and higher education institutions in Tennessee do not have access to technology transfer offices, which cost on average $1.5M to create, to get their ideas off the shelf and into the market.
The Opportunity: The development of a technology transfer office to provide statewide access to technology transfer support to ensure that novel technologies and solutions can come from anywhere in Tennessee.
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An industry-led investment program to invest in Tennessee startups | $30M
The Challenge: Despite Tennessee having emerged as a national leader in corporate relocations, driven by our recognition as a friendly place to do business, we have not yet built an ecosystem that fully leverages the economic engines in Tennessee to accelerate the technologies of our home-grown, early-stage innovators.
The Opportunity: An investment program to incentivize and de-risks corporate investment in Tennessee startups while also serving as a customer discovery opportunity for Tennessee startups to solve corporate business challenges.
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A one time investment to seed venture studios in strategic Tennessee growth industries | $40M
The Challenge: Although there is a vast distributed network of channels and resources to bring startups to Tennessee, there is no centralized physical space for Tennessee companies to accelerate their technologies while successfully navigating their growth stage challenges, which is a key initiative highlighted in both Tennessee affiliated NSF Regional Innovation Engine Development Awards.
The Opportunity: The development of venture studios, which are 30% more likely to create successful startups, to ensure the next generation of startups are not only created in Tennessee but built here as well.
Join the Collaborative Effort to Advance Innovation and Build a Brighter Tennessee Tomorrow
Are you passionate about technology and innovation? Do you see a future where Tennessee leads the nation in tech advancements and entrepreneurial success? If so, we invite you to join us in our endeavor to shape a prosperous and innovative future for our state.
Whether you're an entrepreneur, a tech enthusiast, a researcher, a university partner, or an industry professional, your contribution can make a difference. The Tennessee Innovation Advocacy Council is a testament to what we can achieve when we come together in the name of innovation.
By joining us, you'll have the opportunity to:
- Collaborate with diverse groups of innovators and leaders
- Participate in council meetings
- Engage in insightful discussions and workshops
- Contribute to important research initiatives
- Advocate for policies that support tech innovation in Tennessee
- Play a role in building a brighter Tennessee Tomorrow
