National Leadership Through Regional Cooperation (cont.)

The U.S. Department of Energy's Spallation Neutron Source is located adjacent to the Oak Ridge National Lab in eastern Tennessee. Click for larger image.

After its completion, the SNS will annually host more than 2,000 top scientists in the world who will come to Oak Ridge to examine pulsed neutron beams more powerful than any of those available at major laboratories in Europe or Asia. Such research is vitally important to the development of all kinds of new materials that we use outside the laboratory, from the engines that run our cars to the medicines that heal our bodies.

Just as importantly, this new revolution in materials science, transformed atom by atom at the nanoparticle level, also represents a tremendous opportunity to create entirely new industries, new nanotech companies and manufacturers, and of course, new career opportunities. Leaders in the Knoxville/Oak Ridge area are now at work figuring out the best way to help grow private sector business in and around the SNS for this emerging nanotech industry.

Other regional technology initiatives

This focus on regional collaboration and innovation is being used throughout the TVC to leverage resources and brainpower in aerospace, aviation, electronics and national defense to attract new business investment.

• In Chattanooga, numerous partners have assembled to identify business opportunities related to advanced transportation systems that can help clean our air while reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Such opportunities include new hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell demonstrations, the development of a testing facility for alternative energy systems and a high-speed rail connection from Atlanta north through the corridor.

• In the northern end of the corridor, under the leadership of Congressmen Bill Jenkins (R-Tenn.) and Rick Boucher (D-Va.), a new MedTech Corridor has been created to better leverage that region’s abundant healthcare, chemical and pharmaceutical assets for new job creation within these specific industry clusters.

• Congressmen Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), Jimmy Duncan (RTenn.) and others have also been working throughout the Corridor on aggressive new plans to help the nation meet the significant challenge of developing and deploying new technologies, products and systems to protect our homeland from the threat of terrorism.

• Through the leadership of the University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Center for Homeland Security, as well as the Y-12 National Security Complex, monthly meetings are held among the corridor leaders interested in homeland security to identify new collaborations. Furthermore, since 9/11, the National Safe Skies Alliance in Alcoa, Tennessee has quickly grown into a major force in the security of our airports and transportation systems, contracting with many government agencies to solve problems and deploy the latest technologies in aviation.

Meanwhile, local chambers of commerce and industrial development boards in the corridor are working on each of these initiatives, so they can leverage these activities to grow more private sector businesses for the Corridor’s regional economy. Our educational institutions are active partners, as well, to make sure we develop the workforce we need to advance and sustain these new opportunities.

Bringing technology resources together

These are just a few of the examples of how our region – and indeed any region – can inventory and align its top science, technology and education assets with its business and economic development leadership to pursue innovative breakthroughs and spur new industry. Top stakeholders continue to identify their shared interests and opportunities, recognizing that communities can no longer afford for artificial political boundaries and geographic rivalries to impede our economic growth.

In the increasingly challenging and competitive global economy, it is clear that sustaining America’s technological superiority and our ability to continuously create new industries and new products will be key to our long-term success. In the Tennessee Valley Corridor, we are convinced that our leadership in innovation not only serves the nation, but the future of our communities as well.

U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), a six-term member of Congress, was a founder of the Tennessee Valley Corridor, a regional not-for-profit economic and technology development organization. In 2004, the Tennessee Valley Corridor received the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration’s national Excellence in Economic Development Award for Enhancing Regional Competitiveness. For more information on the Tennessee Valley Corridor, visit www.tennvalleycorridor.org.

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