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  • Rolls of Ateios’ lithium iron phosphate and graphite electrodes offer higher energy density and higher capacity retention at lower costs. Credit: Ateios Systems

    Ateios Systems leverages ORNL tech to strengthen US battery supply chain

    Batteries power everything from cellphones to medical devices to defense systems. In 2021, Ateios Systems licensed technology from Oak Ridge National Laboratory to make battery manufacturing faster and cheaper—an innovation that now underpins the nation’s only domestic battery electrode supply chain, strengthening both economic and national security. Ateios Systems has continued to build on ORNL’s initial innovation, establishing

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  • Portrait of a bald man wearing blue-framed glasses, a dark blazer, and a light blue striped shirt, standing with arms crossed against a dark blue studio background.

    Qubit Engineering debuts AI-powered tool to analyze the modern power grid

    Qubit Engineering, part of the 2023 Innovation Crossroads cohort at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, recently launched Neuro-Grid, a computational tool that uses artificial intelligence for real-time, high-accuracy analysis of the power grid to offer insights not available through classical computing. Qubit leveraged Frontier, the world’s first exascale supercomputer housed at ORNL’s Oak Ridge

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  • Promotional graphic for Innovation Crossroads Cohort 2025 featuring Evan Stacy of Lumios Materials. The image shows a professional head-and-shoulders portrait of Evan Stacy wearing a blue blazer and white shirt, smiling against a dark teal and gray graphic background. Text on the image reads “Innovation Crossroads, Oak Ridge National Laboratory,” “Cohort 2025,” and “Evan Stacy, Lumios Materials.” Logos for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Tennessee Valley Authority appear along the bottom.

    Innovating in square one | Lumios Materials has a different approach to carbon fiber production

    When Evan Stacy was knee-deep in his Ph.D. program at the University of Southern Mississippi, a side project evolved into tackling one of the biggest bottlenecks in carbon fiber production. Today, he’s commercializing that technology through the Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Innovating in Square One When carbon fiber is produced, step one of the process is

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  • Launch Tennessee announces FY26 SBIR/STTR Matching Fund companies, surpasses $1 billion in economic impact featured image

    Launch Tennessee announces FY26 SBIR/STTR Matching Fund companies, surpasses $1 billion in economic impact

    Launch Tennessee today announced the 32 companies selected for its FY26 SBIR/STTR Matching Fund, marking a historic milestone as the program surpasses $1 billion in total economic impact – measured through follow-on capital raised, additional grants leveraged, and wages generated across the State of Tennessee. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology

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  • Three people wearing safety glasses stand together in a manufacturing facility. A man in a white lab coat on the left is holding a small 3D-printed part in his hand and showing it to the other two. A woman in a blue patterned blouse smiles while looking at the part, and a bald man with a red beard observes from the right. Large industrial equipment with the Ascend Manufacturing logo is visible in the background.

    Ascend Manufacturing closes seed round, lands major project with NNSA

    The founder Justin Nussbaum said Ascend was selected to work on a top-secret project with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to manufacture small, complex parts. What if you could print thousands of complex parts in a single day, using materials no one else can? That’s the challenge Justin Nussbaum set out to solve. Several major issues plague

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  • Addiguru one of two winners in inaugural Actionable In-Situ Awareness Challenge featured image

    Addiguru one of two winners in inaugural Actionable In-Situ Awareness Challenge

    The company was one of the participants in the 2021 cohort of the “Innovation Crossroads” program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Additive Assurance and Addiguru, a member of the 2021 cohort of the “Innovation Crossroads” program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, were ranked as the top companies in ASTRO America’s inaugural Actionable In-Situ Awareness Challenge. The tech challenge saw five companies

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  • Logo of Ateios Systems featuring an abstract, continuous loop design in blue, teal, and purple on the left, and the words ‘ATEIOS SYSTEMS’ in bold black text on the right.

    Ateios Systems and Kodak Redefine Battery Manufacturing with High-Speed Solvent-Free Electrode Production

    Ateios Systems and Kodak are announcing they have demonstrated the fastest solvent-free production process for high-energy electrodes ever reported. Powered by the RaiCure™ platform, the system reaches an unprecedented coating speed of 80 meters per minute, nearly three times faster than the industry-standard 30 m/min with fluorine-polymer-based electrodes. The system achieves those speeds while enabling

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  • Group of six people standing on stage at 865 Fest 2025 holding an oversized check for $10,000 awarded to Witching Hour as the Judges’ Choice Prize Winner, presented by the Innov865 Alliance.

    Witching Hour Takes Home Top Prize at 865 Fest Startup Pitch Competition

    In the first-ever full-day 865 Fest, formerly known as Knoxville’s Startup Day, about 300 people gathered inside Bridgewater Place in West Knoxville. The day-long programming included conversations about the collaborative efforts on the Covenant Health Park stadium downtown, keynotes from Mark Pancratz and Jordan Harper, and breakout sessions on valuation, relational equity, and more. But

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