Ben Nibali, the Founder of APTUS DesignWorks, spoke to fellows and partners of the Innovation Crossroads’ Founder’s Forum.A group of about two dozen gathered at the Smoky Mountain Brewery in Turkey Creek to hear Ben Nibali, Founder of APTUS DesignWorks, share his entrepreneurial journey. In September 2007, Nibali left a secure position at a large
“We have several more start-ups in the pipeline,” Brandon Bruce said. “We’re continuing our trend of investing in great Tennessee founders.”A year into operations for Knoxville’s venture capital firm, Market Square Ventures (MSV), more local founders are flocking toward the opportunity to raise money in East Tennessee before extending their search nationwide.
The Knoxville Chamber, in conjunction with Pinnacle Financial Partners, announced the winners of the 2025 Pinnacle Business Awards on Thursday. The annual Pinnacle Awards recognize regional business excellence, honoring outstanding professionals in nine categories for their contributions to the greater Knoxville economy. Over a hundred of Knoxville’s most prominent business leaders and partners attended the event
Circular Biosciences, a startup founded by Jordan Cannon, is at the forefront of developing sustainable solutions for plastic degradation. Born out of research from Cannon’s PhD work in Todd Reynolds’ lab in the Department of Microbiology at the UT Knoxville, the company is focused on utilizing groundbreaking enzymes to accelerate the biodegradation of polylactic acid
Perseus Materials Inc., a member 0f the 2023 cohort of the Innovation Crossroads program operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is one of 20 finalists selected to pitch at next week’s “JEC World 2025” event.
Six companies have moved forward to the 48-hour pitch competition on March 2nd at Scruffy City Hall!After 23 video-idea submissions, a full week of voting, and a lot of excitement from the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center (KEC), six founders have been selected to pitch at the annual “What’s the Big Idea?” pitch competition.
Dr. Alex Stiles is on a mission to turn waste into something durable, valuable, and eco-friendly. His company, Vitriform3D, is breathing new life into discarded glass— showing the world that used glass is not trash.teknovation.biz readers may already know about Vitriform3D from its participation in Cohort Six of the Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge
Two scientists and an Innovation Crossroads alumna affiliated with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory were recognized by DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, or AMMTO, last month for their contributions in manufacturing innovation for the nation’s energy sector.
A healthy global food supply requires healthy soil, which requires fertilizer to replace and or enhance the nutrients found in the soil. Many farmers use synthetic fertilizers, which are produced from petroleum and fossil fuels. Synthetic fertilizers have been historically cheap, but events in recent years have driven the price up and the supply down: