Tennessee Technology Advancement Consortium Update, Spring 2025: expanding commercialization program, launching Tennessee Innovation Exchange, and hiring new team members
Nashville, TN — As Launch Tennessee’s fiscal year 2025 comes to a close this June, efforts are underway to expand its program taking products from the research lab to the commercial market, including launching a platform connecting startups with innovation assets and hiring new staff roles.
“Over the pilot/past two years, we’ve laid a strong foundation for building lasting commercialization infrastructure at our partner institutions,” said Charles Layne, Director, Tennessee Technology Advancement Consortium. “We’re now excited to launch catalytic new initiatives that will drive commercialization outcomes and deepen industry partnerships across the state.”
TTAC Updates
The Tennessee Technology Advancement Consortium (TTAC) is a strategic statewide initiative to support technology transfer and the commercialization of technologies at emerging Tennessee research institutions. It has now been reauthorized by Gov. Bill Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly, with a total commitment of $8 million. This includes continued support for TTAC as well as the launch of the Tennessee Innovation Exchange (more below).
TTAC now includes six participating institutions working collaboratively to advance innovation, commercialization, and industry engagement across Tennessee:
- East Tennessee State University*
- Meharry Medical College*
- Middle Tennessee State University*
- Tennessee State University
- Tennessee Technological University
- The University of Memphis
* signifies university that joined TTAC over the last year
Over the next year, TTAC aims to expand efforts through the launch of:
- A technology maturation program to advance university technologies toward industry adoption and utilization
- A university partnership program to support initiatives, events, and programming that deepen collaboration between research institutions and the private sector
Additional TTAC achievements include:
- The launch and deployment of a TTAC Proof of Concept Fund to support early-stage technology development
- The creation of the TTAC Innovation Fellowship, which introduced faculty and students to commercialization pathways
- Reporting first commercialization transactions from TTAC-supported technologies
- Development of a marketing platform to showcase TTAC-supported technologies available for licensing and industry collaboration, viewable here.
*These will be explored in greater detail in a forthcoming year-end report, anticipated in fall 2025.
Tennessee Innovation Exchange launch & feedback sought
Alongside the TTAC expansion, LaunchTN announces the launch of the Tennessee Innovation Exchange, a new centralized platform to inventory and connect startups, corporate partners, and other collaborators across the state with innovation assets, including faculty expertise, lab equipment, and intellectual property.
To aid its continued development, LaunchTN is seeking feedback from researchers, faculty, administrators, startups, and corporate R&D partners. Notes and feedback should be submitted here by Friday, June 20, 2025.
A Request for Proposals (RFP) to identify a development partner will follow once feedback is reviewed.
LaunchTN’s growing Commercialization team
- Jennifer Skjellum has joined the team full-time as Associate Director of University Engagement. While on contract, Jennifer has played a critical role in the development of TTAC over the past two years while simultaneously serving in her previous role at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. She originally led the creation of the Commercialization Counselor model and will now be taking the lead on its statewide deployment, overseeing counselor development and coordination across all TTAC institutions.
- LaunchTN is also hiring three roles focused on the continued development of TTAC and its programming.
- TTAC Operations Coordinator
- Research Development Manager
- TTAC Technology Manager