Southland's 50 Startups ID'd

LaunchTN's Southland startup and entrepreneurship event in Nashville 12-13 June has unveiled the 50 startups that'll populate its StartupVillage. See it here.

LaunchTN +1

LaunchTN (aka Tennessee Technology Development Corporation) added as a board member David Milhorn, Ph.D., who is EVP and chief operating officer of the UT System, according to Chattanoogan.com, Nov. 20. VNC's updated story is here.

TTDC update

Tennessee Technology Development Corporation (TTDC) may eventually need to look for private funding for its operations. Update here.

Hagerty TTDC Chair

The board of directors under Chairman Bill Evans, PharmD, this afternoon elected Haslam ECD Commissioner Bill Hagerty to serve through June 30, 2012, as chairman of TTDC. The story updated here.

Jobs4TN via Haslam-Hagerty

Jobs4TN, the economic-development plan crafted by ECD Commissioner Bill Hagerty for Gov. Bill Haslam, was announced today in rough outline, including news of a 35% staff reduction at ECD and promise of a new senior leadership team for the agency. The release did not mention any logical ECD allies by name. As signalled earlier by both the governor and Hagerty, ECD's gameplan will rely heavily on leveraging existing sectoral strengths and regionally significant industrial bases, and will post basecamp liaisons across the state to help push urban and rural development, the latter being further boosted by the addition of a new senior post for rural development. No word yet on when details will be provided. Today's release is here.

TTDC at speed

Yesterday's announcement of $400K in grants for eight promising Tennessee ventures in development may signal Tennessee Technology Development Corporation is back at-speed. The VNC story's here.

TTDC's Stover's US tech innovation award

James Stover, Ph.D., (left) vice president for operations for Tennessee Technology Development Corporation (TTDC), based in Nashville, this week received the U.S. Small Business Administration's Tibbett's Award during an Obama Administration ceremony. Stover is among companies, institutions and individuals recognized for their contributions in advancing the U.S. SBIR/STTR competitive grants-awards programs for small business innovation research and technology transfer. The full release, including statements from Stover, TTDC CEO Leslie Wisner-Lynch and TTDC Chairman Bill Evans, is on the VNC site. The TTDC site explains that prior to joining TTDC, Stover was a life science and technology analyst with Square 1 Bank in San Diego, and a senior research fellow in medicinal chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute. He earned his bachelor's in Biochemistry at the University of Virginia and his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Vanderbilt University. More VentureNashville stories here.

Tech corp in Legislative Plaza

Today, Tennessee Technology Development Corporation constituents are taking to the halls of Legislative Plaza, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Twenty-one companies are registered to mount table-top displays in the corridors, from which venues they intend to spread the word among legislators and staff members about their ventures and about TTDC. The event is timed to coordinate with the budget debate, through which TTDC hopes to become a recurring budget item, and receive up to $5MM per year.

TTDC seeks State funding commitment

Tennessee Technology Development Corp. President-CEO Eric Cromwell said last week that TTDC, which was revived by the State's $5 million infusion in 2008, will ask that the $5 million investment in tech-driven economic development be made a recurring annual item, rather than a one-time grant. TTDC was formed in 1998. Cromwell told VNC Thursday that he believes TTDC has "passed the tipping point" in its work to strengthen the state's capital formation, strategic research commercialization and public-engagement objectives, and needs sustained funding to move beyond "demonstration project" status. He said he believes his recent annual report to the legislature and forthcoming budget hearings will make clear that TTDC and its stakeholders are on the right "trajectory," but need a few more years to start contributing to creation of knowledge-driven jobs, although TTDC, he said, contributed to the crafting of the TNInvestco program and to the mobilizing of TNInvestco applicants and entrepreneurs. He said a remaining key agenda item is the acceleration of an enterprise and entrepreneurship network, which TTDC has proposed. To help get its message across, TTDC will conduct TTDC Innovation Day, March 2, in Legislative Plaza. TTDC's annual report is here.

Nashville Entrepreneur Center gets $100K TTDC grant

The Tennessee Technology Development Corporation board of directors today approved a $100K grant for the fledgling Nashville Entrepreneur Center, approved a number of contracts designed to education and mobilize the state's entrepreneurs and prepared for perhaps six weeks of tough slogging in the General Assembly, as TTDC competes for scarce state resources, to keep its work moving ahead. Our story is here.

UT Health Science chancellor search

A 20-member committee has been appointed to find the next Chancellor of the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, at Memphis. The KNS reports. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital William Evans will co-chair the search with a UT human-resources officer, Linda Hendricks. Evans is currently chairman, also, of Tennessee Technology Development Corporation.

TNInvestco, TTDC budget prospects

This week, Gov. Phil Bredesen, his Cabinet and their staffs are reviewing each agency's budget issues, and face a myriad of challenges amid an economic recovery that promises to drag on for years. During a break in the hearings, the Governor and Economic and Development Commissioner Matt Kisber entertained reporters' questions. We asked for their comments regarding further funding for Tennessee Technology Development Corporation (TTDC) and how the Administration might fare in asking the General Assembly to authorize an additional $40MM in premium-tax credit allocations, to fund two additional TNInvestco proposals that were deemed meritorious in the latest round, but which went unfunded. Kisber said cautiously the climate is "favorable" for authorization of further TNInvestco allocations, (a program which is viewed as producing a net return for the state, economically). Regarding TTDC, Kisber noted that TTDC continues to work to achieve the objectives on which funding has previously been predicated, and must now demonstrate they have achieved enough progress to warrant further funding. TTDC has projected that the $5MM it obtained through a contract with Kisber's ECD will be virtually exhausted by June 30, 2010, and is pressing for what TTDC sometimes refers to as a B-round, given that it feels constrained from seeking funding from the same private-sector and other sponsors who now support TTDC stakeholder groups. Commenting on such requests, generally, Gov. Bredesen indicated there'd be efforts not to "gut" organizations and programs that rely on state funding. Meanwhile, comments by all hands throughout this week's budget hearings suggest that a Damoclean Sword may hover over the General Assembly, when it convenes in about seven weeks.

TNInvestco's 'not enough' says TTDC

The State of Tennessee's new venture-capital formation initiative, TNInvestco, isn't enough, by itself, to propel the state's New-Economy, says a report from TTDC. Meanwhile, TTDC is beginning to jockey for a seat at the Bredesen Administration's budget table. The story's here.

TN capital shortage for startups

TTDC President Eric Cromwell and EastTN entrepreneurs agreed in a panel discussion this week, during the Innovation Imperative venture forum, that TN still has a capital shortage for startups. The KNS reports. TTDC, meanwhile, has its own funding challenges.

TN Biotech leadership at issue

Tennessee Biotechnology Association says it wants to live up to its name, but Tennessee Technology Development Corporation doubts it can. The story's here.

More on Perry engine development

Nashville Business Journal (sub) today on page 4 reports on MTSU Prof. Charles Perry's hybrid plug-in electric motor, which is vying for grants in an increasingly crowded field. Earlier related VNC story here.

TTDC grant announcements

Six grants totaling $502K have been made by Tennessee Technology Development Corp. to a half-dozen research and commercialization teams around the state, for projects ranging from cancer research to new auto engines. The story's here.

Execs: TN biotech has earned 'right to exist' in niches

Memphis Daily News reports that Memphis BioWorks Foundation chief Steve Bares and Leslie Wisner-Lynch (at left) make the case that, while Tennessee is behind the curve in some bio sectors, we have strengths in others, such as med devices and biologics. The need to strengthen further Tennessee's ecosystem and infrastructure comes into play. Middle Tennessee-based Wisner-Lynch is the co-founder of BioTN LLC (a K-12 science-math initiative), a leader of the Tennessee Biotechnology Association, a member of the board of Tennessee Technology Development Corporation, and co-founder and formerly an executive with Biomimetic Therapeutics. The MDN's story is here.

TTDC, Mind2Marketplace eye demo project

Tennessee Technology Development Corporation (TTDC) and Mind2Marketplace are in talks over a possible M2M assignment to help advance high-growth startups with a proof of concept initiative, funded by TTDC. The story's here.

General Assembly focus on TN venture capital

The General Assembly and instate VCs and pro-venture allies are grappling with new legislation to provide new sources of funding for Tennessee ventures. A meeting last week in Nashville brought some ray sof sunshine and some awkward moments. Read about it here.