Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

From Knoxville:

The Knoxville Technology Council is asking local business representatives to complete its latest KTech Pulse 2024 Survey. Noting that the organization wants to get the “pulse” of Knoxville-area companies, the reminder email reads, “Please take a few minutes to share your perspective on the way we work and the future of technology. Answers are anonymous. The more responses we get, the better the data will be! We’ll share the results with you later this month.”

The survey can be found here.

From Johnson City:

FoundersForge has been accepted into Village Capital‘s Resource III Program for Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs). The third iteration of the program, which is supported by the Truist Foundation and Travelers, is an initiative for community-led ESOs accelerating early stage start-ups with diverse founders in the U.S. “We look forward to expanding our impact as an organization and helping more start-ups in the Appalachian region,” David Nelson wrote in an email post.

According to Village Capital’s website, the Resource III program will increase community-led ESO’s capacity to:

1. Grow and Operate Sustainably by providing direct access to growth capital, with an emphasis on unrestricted funding.
2. Accelerate and Support Start-ups by participating in bespoke training, organizational and leadership development workshops, alternative financing, and fundraising workshops.
3. Build Networks of Opportunity by providing ESOs with greater direct access to decision-makers and gatekeepers to increase access to opportunities and resources that might otherwise be difficult to obtain.
4. Cultivate and Convene a National Community of Practice convening community-led ESOs that will work together to shift the center of support and financing to entrepreneurs in their local communities.

Since its initial launch by Village Capital and the Black Innovation Alliance in 2021, the Resource initiative has supported 23 community-led ESOs. In the last two and a half years, these organizations have raised more than $23 million in operational funding, supported more than 3,500 entrepreneurs, and helped founders raise more than $400 million in investment capital. The average Resource ESO has helped drive more than USD $34 million to community-led start-ups, who have, in turn, created more than 800 jobs since October 2021.

The latest cohort includes FoundersForge and nine other ESOs.

Another from Johnson City:

The East Tennessee State University (ETSU) Research Corporation is mourning the passing of Bill Heise, its first ever Research Corporation Fellow. Prior to joining the ETSU faculty in 2018, he worked at Eastman Chemical for 28 years in various roles, including Director of Corporate Innovation, Sustainability Initiatives, and Global Technology and Marketing.

From Oak Ridge:

LIS Technologies Inc. (LIST), a proprietary developer of advanced laser technology and the only U.S.-origin and patented laser uranium enrichment company, has announced the appointment of Viktor Chikan, Ph.D., as the company’s Co-Chief Technology Officer. Described as a visionary research leader and innovator in advanced laser and experimental physical chemistry, his career spans academia, national laboratories, and industry, reflecting his passion for the industrialization of research technology to benefit society.

Most recently, Dr. Chikan served as Group Lead and function owner of the Droplet Generator team in EUV Research section of ASML in San Diego from 2022 and 2024, where he was responsible for building the droplet generator functional team and laboratory, driven by the strategic interests of ASML to maintain its leadership in producing cutting edge chip manufacturing equipment for the semiconductor industry.

From Nashville but with Broader Ties:

Stephen Miller, Executive Director of New Ventures at Vanderbilt University’s Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization (CTTC), announced during last week’s LSTCON that a new event will be coming to Music City in late April 2025. It is called the “Southeast Venture Showcase” and will spotlight technologies from 22 research institutions across the country including Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Prior to joining CTTC this past May, Miller led the University of Colorado Boulder’s venture development team. He described the event, scheduled for April 21-23, as showcasing “the best of the best” and announced that several West Coast venture capital firms have already committed to participating. They include Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures.

From New York City but with Nashville Ties:

Aegis Ventures, a next-generation start-up studio that partners with entrepreneurs and industry leaders to originate, launch, and scale transformative companies, has announced the addition of Vanderbilt Health to its Digital Consortium that launched earlier this year with nine founding members. Also joining the group is UPMC Enterprises.

The Aegis platform brings together market-shaping ideas, permanent growth capital, and ambitious individuals driven to solve major societal problems. Aegis aims to build companies with the capacity for vast impact, with an initial focus on artificial intelligence and digital health. Within these verticals, Aegis targets the creation of companies that leverage technology to better optimize tradeoffs between quality, access, and cost, focusing on innovations that promote seamless continuity of care, patient empowerment, and better-informed clinical decision-making.

The Digital Consortium was launched in April by Endeavor Health, Indiana University Health, Memorial Hermann Health System, Northwell Health, Novant Health, Ochsner Health, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Sharp HealthCare, and Stanford Health Care. The newly expanded effort involves 11 systems that will work together with the common goal of reimagining the healthcare experience for all stakeholders through an innovative health system-led approach to build and invest in new technologies.

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