Innovation Week

MARCH 21 - 24, 2022
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

Showcasing TN Entrepreneurship

LaunchTN’s Innovation Week is a week for and about Tennessee entrepreneurs and the communities that support them across our state. Innovation Week 2022 will be the first major gathering of Tennessee’s startups, investors and ecosystem builders since before the pandemic.

The gathering will take place over one week, March 21 – 24, in Nashville and will feature an exposition of Tennessee startups, entrepreneur centers, and mentor networks, programming for entrepreneurs, investor meetings, as well as legislative meetings.

Registration: Free

Who Innovation Week is for:

Tennessee Startups + Founders
Tennessee Mentors + Entrepreneur Centers
Tennessee + National Investors
Tennessee Legislators

View schedule and programming below. (Schedule is tentative and subject to change.)

REGISTRATION CLOSED

Thank You To Our Sponsors:

Musicians Hall of Fame MC:

Our MC for the main day of programming, March 23, at Musicians Hall of Fame will be Alana Mann. Alana is a Principal at Cultivation Capital, where she focuses on growing the group’s presence in the Southeast. She spends most of her time developing a diverse pipeline of early-stage software and IT startups. Alana is passionate about the growth of the Southeast startup ecosystem and supporting underrepresented founders building in undercapitalized geographies. In addition to her work at Cultivation Capital, Alana is a mentor within the Built by Girls program and regularly volunteers as a mentor for GoingVC and FLIK.

Innovation Week

Innovation Week Schedule

Monday, March 21

Arrival Day

Registration: Westin Hotel, downtown Nashville

Tuesday, March 22

Location: Westin Hotel, downtown Nashville (invitation-only)

9:00am: Registration
Ecosystem Connect
- 9:30am: Network Partner Roundtable
- 11:00am: Portfolio Company CEO Meetup
- 12:00pm: Lunch
- 1:00pm: Campus Roundtable
- 2:30pm: Tech Transfer Roundtable
5:30pm: Joint Reception with LSTCON (invitation-only)

1:1 Investor Meetings will take place throughout the day by appointment. (Attendees who registered as an Investor or Company/Startup will receive an invitation to schedule meetings through Brella.)

Wednesday, March 23 (Open Access)

Location: Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum

9:30am: Registration
Startup Showcase:
- 10:00am: Hero Wear
- 10:20am: Endeavor Composites
- 10:40am: Couture Technologies
- 11:00am: Variable
- 11:20am: Rootine

12:00pm: Lunch
12:30pm: #BuildTN Conversation
- Kayla Graff (Sweet Bio)
- Justin Baba (Yaya Scientific)
- Julia Polk (Decode Health)
- Don Derosa (Eonix)

Fireside Chats:
- 1:30pm: East TN
  - Lindsey Cox (CO.LAB)
  - Jeff Brown (The Biz Foundry)
  - Jim Biggs (Knoxville Entrepreneur Center)
  - Heath Guinn (Sync.Space)
- 2:30pm: West TN
  - Jessica Taveau (Epicenter)
  - Ben Ferguson (theCO)
- 3:30pm: Middle TN & Statewide
  - Brynn Plummer (Nashville Entrepreneur Center, Twende)
  - Jane Allen (Nashville Entrepreneur Center)
  - Sumeet Chahal (Bunker Labs)
- 4:30pm: Mentor Networks
  - John Bruck (TAEBC)
  - Steven King (BioTN)
  - Gary Rawlings (TennSMART)
  - Jim Biggs (Knoxville Entrepreneur Center in partnership with AgLaunch)
5:30pm-7:00pm: Reception

Thursday, March 24

Invitation-only

Morning Legislative Meetings

Programming At A Glance

The Power of LaunchTN

A transformative day, offering fireside-chat inspired sessions for attendees to learn the latest on commercialization, funding opportunities, and emerging industries from our ecosystem of startups, investors and entrepreneur centers from across the state.

Representing LaunchTN’s Network Partners: Lindsey Cox (CO.LAB), Jeff Brown (The Biz Foundry), Jim Biggs (Knoxville Entrepreneur Center, AgLaunch), Heath Guinn (Sync.Space), Jessica Taveau (Epicenter), Ben Ferguson (theCO), Brynn Plummer (Nashville Entrepreneur Center, Twende), Jane Allen (Nashville Entrepreneur Center), Sumeet Chahal (Bunker Labs), John Bruck (TAEBC), Steven King (BioTN), Gary Rawlings (TennSMART).

The #BuildTN Conversation panel will feature: Kayla Graff (Sweet Bio), Dr. Justin Baba (Yaya Scientific), Julia Polk (Decode Health), and Don Derosa (Eonix).

Startup Showcase

LaunchTN will host an exhibition-style, hands-on showcase of many of Tennessee’s most innovative companies in our portfolio and from across the state.

Attendees will hear from the founders of Hero Wear, Endeavor Composites, Couture Technologies, Variable, Rootine, and Youdle, while experiencing first-hand these companies’ compelling technologies, changing the landscape of Tennessee and beyond.

Ecosystem Connect

Being a strong connector is what LaunchTN does best. Our Ecosystem Connect will offer a day of learning, networking and ideation for our stakeholders. Each invite-only event will be hosted by select LaunchTN team members.

Tech Transfer Roundtable
Campus Roundtable
Network Partners
Portfolio Company Meetup

Legislative Meetings

In the backdrop of Innovation Week (and just across the street from our location), the Tennessee State Legislature will be meeting in its 112th General Session.

We will use this opportunity to engage with policy makers regarding support, programming and resources to help build Tennessee’s innovation economy.

Investor Fly-Ins

LaunchTN will fly in leading venture capital funds from across Tennessee and the U.S. for our curated, one-on-one matchmaking program to help get Tennessee startups funded.