Darren Dunlap, Knoxville News Sentinel
February 12, 2007

University of Tennessee scientists could get help taking their innovations to the marketplace through an initiative at its College of Business Administration. As construction continues on a building for the UT Research Foundation's business incubator, the College of Business Administration is proposing a center for innovation and entrepreneurship within the incubator.

Ken Kahn, assistant professor of marketing, said the center would look at how to commercialize technologies, whether new or existing.

Graduate students pursuing master's of business administration degrees with an emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship would get a chance to work in the center. UT is seeking a grant to pay for those assistantships. The center would serve as a "bridge" to the marketplace for UT's scientific innovations. Graduate students would help answer questions about commercialization.

"Who is going to be the customer for this? How big is the market for this?" said Kahn, giving a few examples.

That's one piece of a larger picture of the center, according to Sarah Gardial, associate dean of academic programs for the college. Students and business professionals would be able to use it as a resource, a place where experiential learning takes place.

She said a second use would be as a way to fuel and develop the regional economy.

The center also would be used to develop knowledge about entrepreneurship, as to what works and doesn't work in the market, according Gardial, who is leading the task force creating the center.

"We want these companies to have every chance to be successful," said Dr. Fred Tompkins, executive director and associate vice president for research at the foundation.

The building will be 15,000 square feet and is under construction on the corner of Joe Johnson Drive and Chapman Drive, located on UT's Institute for Agriculture campus.

The building costs $2.5 million, with funding coming from federal and state sources, UT, TVA, Knox County and the Knoxville Utilities Board. An operations budget for the business incubator is in the works, said Tompkins.

The foundation expects, as announced in December 2005, that Oak Ridge-based Technology 2020's Center for Entrepreneurial Growth will assist in managing the facility.

The Oak Ridge center will help companies identify management deficiencies, put together a realistic business plan and access capital.

Tompkins projected that the building would be finished late this summer or in early fall.