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Teknovation News and Notes
September 22, 2024 | Tom Ballard

News & Notes | Winter Innovations expanding as a result of LaunchTN grant

Kristina Montague, Managing Partner at The JumpFund, has written a new book titled Jump In.

From Knoxville:

Earlier this month, Launch Tennessee announced that Winter Innovations Inc. was one of 40 companies receiving funding through its FY25 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Matching Fund program. The developer of the  EasyWhip® stitching device for orthopedic procedures has been awarded more than $1.6 million in total SBIR grant funding including a Phase I from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and a Phase II NSF grant earlier this year.

Led by Co-Founders Lia Winter and Preston Dishner, Winter Innovations will utilize the Launch Tennessee Matching Grant to further advance the company’s research and pursue commercialization activities beyond the scope of the federal SBIR grant. “This funding will support team growth, the development of complementary products, and manufacturing initiatives, all of which are essential to bringing our innovations to the broader orthopedic market,” Dishner said.

From Oak Ridge:

LIS Technologies Inc., a proprietary developer of advanced laser technology and the only USA-origin and patented laser uranium enrichment company, has announced the appointment of Keith Everly as its Head of Security and IP Management. He has more than 38 years of prior expertise in both information and physical security programs for protecting classified and sensitive information, including serving as Senior Program Manager for Licensee Security and the lead inspector for the protection of classified matter at all uranium enrichment plants regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In this role, Everly managed the agency’s program that granted NRC licensees access to classified information.

“I’m thrilled to have Mr. Everly’s support in navigating the complex regulatory, security, and licensing processes of the U.S. government,” said Christo Liebenberg, Chief Executive Officer of LIS Technologies. “He is a seasoned and highly respected expert in security licensing, with a proven history of assisting licensees and applicants in the uranium enrichment space. His extensive network and deep understanding of the intricacies surrounding Sensitive Nuclear Technologies (SNT) such as the CRISLA laser enrichment process, along with his expertise in working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will be instrumental to the company.”

From Chattanooga:

Kristina Montague, Managing Partner at The JumpFund in Chattanooga, and her new book titled Jump In captures the essence of the fund.

“Jump In tells our own start-up story,” Montague writes. “A group of women in a mid-sized Southern city who jumped in to help solve the lack of access to early-stage capital for female founders. Learn how JumpFund became a part of the new wave of Gender Lens Investing and the rising tide of women angel investors. Read about how you can jump in and join other women investing in the change they want to see in the world.”

Interested readers can buy it at this link.

Three more from Chattanooga:

  • The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce has named Jeremy Henderson as its Vice President of Marketing, where he will be responsible for leading a team of creatives charged with communicating the chamber’s mission of championing member businesses and promoting regional economic growth. Henderson spent more than a decade at the Chattanooga Chamber before leaving to become a small business owner by starting a graphic design firm specializing in branding.
  • The Launch Pad has been awarded $50,000 by the Appalachian Regional Commission to develop a Regional Recovery-to-Work Ecosystem in Hamilton and surrounding counties. The award is part of a recently announced nearly $11.5 million package through ARC’s Investments Supporting Partnerships in Recovery Ecosystems (INSPIRE) Initiative, which addresses the region’s substance use disorder crisis with investments that strengthen services in the recovery ecosystem and helps facilitate workforce entry and re-entry.
  • Chattamatters, a program of The Enterprise Center, received a One Chattanooga Award from City of Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly at the State of the City Address. The award honors Chattamatters for the team’s dedication to covering timely and relevant issues in the city. As Mayor Kelly said, “They will explain to you, on a regular basis, in terms that everybody can understand, why local matters matter.”

From Albuquerque, NM but with Oak Ridge Implications:

Kairos Power LLC, a clean energy technology, engineering, and manufacturing company, is expanding its operations in New Mexico with plans to build three facilities and create 100 jobs. Headquartered in Alameda, CA, Kairos Power initially expanded to Albuquerque’s Mesa del Sol community in 2019 for its research and development engineering center to support the commercialization of its advanced reactor technology. The company also has locations in Oak Ridge, and Charlotte, NC.

According to a report in the New Mexico Sun, the expansion includes constructing a salt production facility to produce high-purity molten salt coolant for advanced reactors at the company’s Albuquerque campus. Additionally, a TRISO Development Lab will be established to optimize fuel manufacturing techniques for implementation at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Low-Enriched Fuel Fabrication Facility. The salt coolant and TRISO fuel produced will be used in the Hermes demonstration reactor currently under construction in Tennessee. No special nuclear material will be on-site at Kairos Power’s Albuquerque facility.



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