Technology Transfer and Economic Development
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
ORNL, a Department of Energy multi-program R&D laboratory with an annual budget in excess of $1 billion, is the home of some of the greatest scientific talents and research facilities in the world. UT-Battelle, ORNL's operating contractor, has responsibility for effectively managing the ORNL resources.
UT-Battelle's Technology Transfer and Economic Development (TTED) organization is responsible for interactions with commercial businesses, including business utilization of ORNL's world-class researchers and facilities, including research collaborations, contracted research, user facilities, and other arrangements, management of ORNL's vast portfolio of intellectual property, including licensing, patenting, etc.
With assistance from partner institutions, TTED seeks to effectively and efficiently utilize technology to support the objectives of business.
BWXT Y-12 National Security Complex
The capabilities attained at Y-12 in performing weapons work uniquely qualify it to make critical contributions to other missions of national interest. Today Y-12 lends its specialized expertise to other federal agencies, such as the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security, state and local governments and private-sector companies.
Y-12 projects run the gamut from supporting soldiers in combat to making our states safer to enhancing space missions. Applying our capabilities to these missions while still meeting our Department of Energy commitments ensures maximum benefit to our ultimate customer, the U.S. taxpayer.
Technology 2020
The Technology 2020 project was initiated in 1993 to capitalize on the unique resources of the East Tennessee region: the presence of the Oak Ridge National Lab, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the headquarters of the Tennessee Valley Authority, and a significant number of both large and small technology companies in the region. The Oak Ridge/Knoxville area has the highest concentration of technology expertise in the State of Tennessee.
While the region's economy has historically been highly dependent on the Federal government, forecasted declines in Federal funding and employment in the region prompted regional leaders to develop Technology 2020 as one of several regional economic development strategies designed to lessen the region's dependence on government spending and to create a strong and vibrant private sector driven technology industry. 
Its original service area was a fifteen county region of East Tennessee called Tennessee's Resource Valley. Future programs and projects will be directed to a significantly larger service area, extending from Chattanooga to the Tri-Cities area of Tennessee, a region which some refer to as the East Tennessee Technology Corridor.
Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET)
CROET, develops and subleases property and equipment owned by the U.S. Department of Energy. Situated on almost 5,000 acres, just 7 minutes from Interstate 40 in the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), CROET's facilities are ideal for all types of industry and have easy access to the sources of knowledge and equipment that are part of Oak Ridge's unrivaled heritage of leadership, cutting-edge research, and technological development.
The University of Tennessee’s Center for Industrial Services and SBIR/STTR Programs
The Tennessee Manufacturing Extension Program (TMEP) helps Tennessee's manufacturers become more productive, more profitable and more competitive. Any Tennessee industrial firm that needs help adopting technologies and methods that might not otherwise be feasible due to time, personnel or cost constraints can receive affordable, expert technical assistance.
The SBIR/STTR (Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology TRansfer) program is a multiphase federal government initiative designed to provide funding for new and innovative "high-risk" technologies.
In fiscal year 2004, Tennessee's small business community submitted fewer than 175 proposals for SBIR funding with a success ratio of 1:10. Both the level of participation and the success ratio of Tennessee applicants lagged behind national averages. The Tennessee SBIR Proposal Assistance Center will help improve the volume and success of Tennessee's small business efforts to secure these important federal grant funds.
The University of Tennessee (UT) and its partner stakeholders, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), NNSA/Y-12 National Security Complex, Tech 2020, the East Tennessee Economic Council (ETEC), the Integrated Manufacturing Technology Initiative (IMTI), and the UT Research Foundation (UTRF) have committed to begin a statewide SBIR/STTR Assistance Program through the development and placement of regional proposal assistance centers. Because of the physical proximity of partner resources in the East Tennessee area, the initial assistance center location will be in East Tennessee, though assistance is available to individuals and firms throughout the state.
For example....
ORNL & Regional Governments Develop First of Kind Science & Technology Parks
Federal, state and local officials today dedicated a new technology park at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the summer of 2006 that proponents predict will bring new companies and jobs to East Tennessee. 
The "Oak Ridge Science and Technology Park," located in the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley on land provided by the Department of Energy, is the nation's first technology park on the campus of a national laboratory. The technology park will be available for private sector companies that are collaborating with scientists at ORNL. Laboratory officials also anticipate that the new park will be used to help create new companies from technologies developed at ORNL.
Gerald Boyd, manager of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office, said, "Oak Ridge National Laboratory each year develops some of the world's most important new technologies. One of our priorities is to help make those technologies available for new companies and new jobs."
The mayors of Alcoa, Blount County and Maryville were joined by Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale to announce a one of-a-kind new technology development at the southern end of the Oak Ridge Technology Corridor in Alcoa. Over the life of the project, it is estimated that the new 450-acre park could create over a billion dollars of economic impact.
The yet to be named development is locate at the intersection of Pellissippi Parkway and Old Knoxville Highway, near the corporate headquarters of Clayton Homes, in Alcoa. The development is one of very few parks in the country to focus solely on technology, corporate research and high tec business development and also include a residential and retail component, which is expected to be handled by the property owner, Rarity Communities.
“With the resources located near this park, including the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge and the airport, along with our skilled and dedicated East Tennessee work force, we have the people, power and place to create a unique facility that we believe will be a tremendous success,” said Alcoa Mayor Don Mull.
The cities and counties plan to use the park to recruit higher skilled jobs, more corporate headquarters and more technology-related businesses to the region.
“This development is not only unique in terms of its magnitude, the size of the economic impact and the multiple aspects of the development, but also because, for the first time in this region, we have two counties and two cities working in a regional partnership for economic results,” said Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale.
In summary....
The park is one of several new facilities planned and underway in the Knoxville/Oak Ridge Technology Corridor to attract high tech companies. Other facilities include Horizon and Heritage Center at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the porposed Innovation Valley Science and Technology Park at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and a new business incubator planned on the University of Tennessee Campus in Knoxville. The resources provided by the Tennessee Valley Authority also make this location attractive and unique.