Welcome Cohort 7 // Spark partnership // Celebrating milestones

⏩ Welcome Cohort 7 // Spark partnership // Celebrating milestones

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Seven entrepreneurs join seventh cohort

Seven entrepreneurs will embark on a two-year fellowship as the seventh cohort of Innovation Crossroads kicks off at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Representing a range of transformative energy technologies, Cohort 7 is a diverse class of innovators with promising new companies.

A new partnership with Spark Cleantech Accelerator

Innovation Crossroads fellows will complete the Spark Cleantech Accelerator, a 12-week program offered by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Spark Innovation Center at the UT Research Park. Read more

Overview fact sheet available

Looking for an easy-to-share resource that explains Innovation Crossroads? Check out our updated fact sheet for Cohorts 1-6. D ownload

News from the Innovation Crossroads community

Empire State Development and Cornell University’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement announced that Agriwater is one of 20 finalists selected to take part in year five of Grow-NY, a food and agriculture business competition focused on enhancing the emerging food, beverage and agriculture innovation cluster in upstate New York. Additionally, Bianca Bailey, Agriwater's founder and a Cohort 6 fellow, recently received the U.S. Bank Foundation Cleantech Inclusion Award.

Ateios Systems, a battery materials innovation company in Cohort 6, has been awarded a $2.4 million contract by the U.S. Department of Defense National Security Innovation Capital to help improve battery material performance and manufacturability.

Hempitecture, a new type of building materials manufacturer from Cohort 5, has opened the first nonwoven bio-based manufacturing facility in the U.S. The 33,000-square-foot factory is in Jerome, Idaho.

Nth Cycle, a critical metals extraction and recycling startup from Cohort 2, has announced the commissioning of a 21,000-square-foot refining facility in Fairfield, Ohio. The company also was named in the BloombergNEF Climate-Tech Startups to Watc h list. That follows its April recognition for winning the BloombergNEF Pioneers 2023 Award in the category Sustainable Metals and Materials for an Electrified Future for the company’s electro-extraction process named The Oyster.

Innov865 Week Premier Partner Program: Cohort Showcase, 5-6:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 11: Join the Knoxville Chamber as they welcome the Spark Cleantech Accelerator and Innovation Crossroads cohort of companies to Knoxville. Meet the innovators and learn more about their startups during this meet-and-greet showcase. Register to attend

Innov865 Startup Day, 2-5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12: Anca Timofte of Holocene and Alex Stiles of Vitriform3D will pitch during this annual competition and celebration of Knoxville’s thriving entrepreneurial community. Register to attend

Launch Tennessee 3686 Festival, Sept. 19-21: Anca Timofte of Holocene will be speaking during the 3 p.m. Sept. 20 session, "Climate Tech: Beyond the Buzz." Register to attend

Mark your calendar — Cohort 8 application opens Oct. 16.