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.