Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

From Knoxville:

• SmartRIA Inc., a start-up that has been spotlighted numerous times on teknovation.biz, has been named to the “WealthTech100” listing of 100 of the world’s most innovative companies in the sector. Now in its fourth year, the listing recognizes the world’s most innovative technology solution providers that address the digital transformation challenges and opportunities investment firms, private banks, and financial advisors face. “The financial industry is undergoing a digital transformation as it implements new technologies reshaping the way it conducts compliance and performs day-to-day tasks,” said Mac Bartine, Chief Executive Officer of SmartRIA. Click here to read a news release from the company.
• Derren Burrell, Founder of Veteran Ventures Capital, will be on a panel Wednesday with two other investors in companies founded by veterans. The event is hosted by Localvest and will also feature Sean Drake of Stony Lonesome Group LLC and Lewis Baker with Academy Fund. It’s one hour beginning at 12 noon EDT. Click here to register.
• In our feature post on Friday, we mentioned that Winter Innovations LLC is underway with a limited distribution of its EasyWhip^TM orthopedic needle. Co-Founder and CEO Lia Winter provided some additional insights in an email, noting that the device was used four times the previous week – three ACLs (anterior cruciate ligament) procedures and one ankle surgery. Three were performed in her hometown of Pittsburgh; the fourth occurred in Louisiana. “The case in Louisiana was an exciting milestone, it was the first surgery where one of the founders wasn’t present in the operating room at the time of the procedure,” Winter wrote. “We came up with an idea to create demo kits that we can mail to surgeons, which contain EasyWhip needles and fake tendons. They scan a code and watch a video to learn how to use EasyWhip in the comfort of their office or home.”
• The 2022 edition of the BSides Knoxville conference for cybersecurity and information security professionals is set for this Friday at Relix Variety, 1208 North Central Street. It begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends with an after party movie. Registration link is here.
• The UT Daily Beacon spotlights six local restaurants or food trucks founded by Knoxville campus alumni.

From Crossville:

The Cumberland Business Incubator (CBI) and Roane State Community College are partnering with the Crossville Cruisers Car Show for a special “Maker Pop-Up” event this Saturday (May 14). Local artists and crafters will share their creations from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. CDT in the CBI parking lot at 2569 Cook Road. Makers who want to show their wares can apply to exhibit here.

From Johnson City:

• NETNHub, the new multi-county regional economic development initiative described in this recent teknovation.biz article, has named former Kingsport Mayor Dennis Phillips as its new CEO. He served for a decade as Kingsport Mayor. Click here to read the news release.
• Jim Wilson, one of the owners of bioPURE Services and BoxDrop Mattress, was presented a “Lifetime Achievement Award” last week by East Tennessee State University’s College of Business and Technology. We spotlighted bioPURE Services and its disinfecting process in the latter part of February 2020 (see teknovation.biz article here) just before the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company uses chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) as its active ingredient in combination with a proprietary electrostatic sprayer to properly disperse the chemical on the surface.

From Nashville:

The Wond’ry, Vanderbilt University’s innovation center, is recruiting for a Program Coordinator for Biomedical Innovation. The individual selected will support the day-to-day and long-term management, implementation, evaluation, and growth of core programming for The Wond’ry’s new biomedical innovation initiative and facilitation of NSF I-Corps. The application can be found here.

From the Volunteer State:

WalletHub’s latest ranking compared state dynamics across 17 key metrics to identify the “Best & Worst States for Working Moms.” How did Tennessee do? It was #18, the highest on any Southeastern state.

From Another State:

Nghia Chiem, former Intellectual Property Manager at the University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UTRF), has been named an Adjunct Professor in the Culver College of Business at the University of Alabama (UA) in Tuscaloosa. He’s teaching the Technology Commercialization (MGT-483) class in the Department of Management. Chiem left UTRF a little more than a year ago to become Director of UA’s Office of Innovation and Commercialization.

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