Oak Ridge Today

Tech 2020 president resigns

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

John Morris

John Morris

Technology 2020 President and Chief Executive Officer John Morris has announced his resignation effective September 30. He has worked at Tech 2020 since December 2008, and has served as president since 2011.

“I value the time I have spent around Tech 2020, first as an entrepreneurial client company, then as the director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Growth director and later as CEO,” Morris said in a press release Thursday. “This was not an easy decision, but I am an entrepreneur at heart, and I want to return to direct involvement with startups.”

Tech 2020 is the region’s venture development organization, working to help new technology-based companies start up and flourish. The organization supports the technology commercialization efforts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, and is currently working with more than 30 client businesses at various stages of growth. Tech 2020 also manages a large federally-funded advanced manufacturing project, serves as the headquarters for Meritus Ventures and the newly established Lighthouse Angel Fund, and leads the state’s FIRST Robotics Program and the Regional Advanced Manufacturing Partnership. [Read more…]

Thompson-Boling lights brighter, more efficient; use ORNL foam

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Thompson-Boling LED Lighting

The SuperSport installation at the University of Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena. (Photo credit: LED North America)

KNOXVILLE—With the installation of LED fixtures, the Thompson-Boling Arena at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville is one of the first in the world to feature lights that are smaller, brighter, and up to 85 percent more efficient than conventional arena metal halide lights.

The technology—developed and manufactured by Oak Ridge-based LED North America at the Tech 20/20 incubator facility in Oak Ridge, incorporating an Oak Ridge National Laboratory technology, and installed by Knoxville-based Bandit Lites—is being “premiered” at the state’s research university inside the largest on-campus single-sport arena in the country.

The light-emitting diode fixtures use an ORNL-developed lightweight graphite foam that cools the LED, making them more efficient and reliable. This enables 90 400-watt LED fixtures to bathe the arena’s floor with 200 foot-candles per square foot, compared to the 130 foot-candles produced by the arena’s existing 110 1,100-watt fixtures.

LED North America’s SuperSport luminaires have the potential to revolutionize sports and entertainment venues worldwide. UT officials are looking forward to participating in this effort and to seeing the results—and the savings. [Read more…]

Picture: Rep. Fleischmann visits Tech 20/20 to recognize global ranking

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Chuck Fleischmann Visits Tech 20/20

Chairman-Elect Tom Rogers, President and CEO John Morris, Congressman Chuck Fleischmann, and Chairman of the Board David Bradshaw discuss Tech 20/20’s recent ranking as one of the top university business incubators in the world. (Submitted photo)

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann visited Tech 20/20 to congratulate the Oak Ridge venture development organization for its global ranking in managing new business incubators.

Sweden’s University Business Incubator (UBI) Index listed Tech 20/20 the fourth-best in the U.S. and in the top six worldwide in managing business incubators for value contributed to their clients and community, and overall performance. [Read more…]

Haslam recommends ARC grants, including for Anderson County, Tech 20/20

Posted at
By 6 Comments

Governor Bill Haslam

Bill Haslam

NASHVILLE—Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam this week recommended 19 Appalachian Regional Commission grants, including $200,000 for Anderson County sewer improvements and another $200,000 for a Tech 20/20 project.

The grants are meant to help state and local agencies, governmental entities, local governing boards, or nonprofit organizations with infrastructure improvements, a press release said. [Read more…]

DOE asks for more information on $2 million CROET grant

Posted at
By 7 Comments

The U.S. Department of Energy has requested additional information as it tries to close out a $2 million grant awarded 16 years ago to a nonprofit organization that owns, develops, and manages former DOE property.

The grant was issued in 1997 as part of a larger grant that the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee requested from DOE, said Lawrence Young, CROET president and chief executive officer. Most of the money was used for a high-risk loan program for small businesses. The purpose was to create jobs and promote economic development in East Tennessee, said Mike Koentop, spokesman for the DOE Oak Ridge Office. [Read more…]

The leg bone is connected to the hip prosthesis: Students analyze artificial implants

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

ASM Materials Camp Lab Instrument

Student Hunter Stombaugh loads a material sample into the Saphir 550.3, a laboratory instrument used to grind and polish samples before placing them in an electron microscope for analysis. (Submitted photos)

Fifteen high school students and one college freshman recently got up close and personal with lab equipment worth nearly a half-million dollars at the ASM International Materials Camp. During the weeklong camp, students performed failure analyses on prosthetic implants including a hip prosthesis, pelvic clamps, a tibial nail, and tibial component. An area surgeon provided the sterilized implants, along with X-rays showing the implants before they were removed from patients.

The ASM Materials Camp is organized and sponsored by Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tech 20/20, and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Steve Dekanich, an engineer in B&W Y-12’s Quality Assurance, is the camp co-chairman. [Read more…]

TVC Summit next week includes House majority leader

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Eric Cantor

Eric Cantor

Submitted

Business, community, and political leaders and senior decision-makers will convene at the 2013 Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit next week to discuss issues that are critical to the economic engine of the Tennessee Valley, a press release said.

Hosted by Third District Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, the two-day meeting themed “Securing America’s Future” will focus on energy and environment, innovation and entrepreneurism, public and private partnerships, and advanced manufacturing, the release said.

The Summit will be held at the Y-12 National Security Complex’s New Hope Center in Oak Ridge on May 29-30. [Read more…]

Baughn request: Sell golf course, Chamber property; request payments from tax-exempt organizations

Posted at
By 18 Comments

Trina Baughn

Trina Baughn

Note: This story was updated at 11:38 p.m.

Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn has proposed that the city sell Centennial Golf Course, and terminate the lease agreement with the Chamber of Commerce and sell the property.

Those proposals would convert city-owned assets into taxable properties, Baughn said.

Baughn has also asked the seven-member Council to consider setting up a team that could negotiate voluntary payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements with tax-exempt organizations that “are most able to afford paying for city services that are currently paid for by the taxpayer.” Those organizations could include Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Utility District, Tech 2020, Roane State Community College, and the University of Tennessee, Baughn said in a May 5 e-mail to Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson and City Clerk Diana Stanley. [Read more…]

Tech 20/20 announces new board officers, members

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Tech 20/20 recently elected new officers and members to its board of directors.

David Bradshaw, president of CapitalMark Bank and Trust, is the 2013 board chair of the Board. Bradshaw succeeds Fred Tompkins, the director of Oak Ridge Operations for the University of Tennessee.

Tom Rogers, director of Industrial and Economic Development Partnerships at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is the chair-elect for 2014.

[Read more…]

ORNL helps kick off 2013 FIRST robotics season

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

First Robotics Competition

Students try their hand at manipulating a Remotec robotic system at a kickoff event for the 2013 FIRST Robotics Competition at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Saturday. (Submitted photo)

Students from dozens of area high schools piled into Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Saturday to get a sense of the obstacles they will be battling over the next six weeks. Hundreds of students, parents, and mentors attended the kickoff event for the 2013 FIRST robotics competition, a nationwide event in which students design and build complex robots that can tackle the challenges of a specially designed game.

This year’s challenge, which involves robots that can throw discs and climb pyramids, was revealed via simulcast on Saturday morning. Teams were then able to view a full-scale version of the competition field and hold mock games on it. The field, sponsored by Tech 2020 and assembled by the Hardin Valley Academy FIRST Alumni Club at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, or MDF, is available for all local teams to use during the build season.

[Read more…]

CROET moves headquarters to Commerce Park

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee is moving its headquarters across town to the Commerce Park, where the economic development organization will share a building with Tech 20/20.

CROET has been located at the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office building complex on Laboratory Road for years, and Tech 20/20 has had its headquarters at 1020 Commerce Drive.

In a press release, John Morris, Tech 20/20 president and chief executive officer, said the collaboration between the two economic development organizations brings his career “full circle.”

“In 1996, CROET helped launch one of my start-up companies, Net Learning, with a $100,000 seed loan that served as a catalyst to launch the business,” Morris said. “They were there when we could not get traditional funding, and now I’m excited to have the opportunity to continue to strengthen the partnership between Tech 20/20 and CROET. By being co-located, we will build upon the great relationships we’ve had for years to leverage opportunities and help other businesses and start-ups in non-traditional ways.”

The press release said the partnership between CROET and Tech 20/20 has played a key role in economic development in Oak Ridge, with projects including the Center for Entrepreneurial Growth’s accelerator fund and the Halcyon Commercialization Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

[Read more…]