Turning research into real-world solutions with market value is the focus of an intensive, three-week workshop that kicked off today at the University of Tennessee’s Cherokee Farm.

Chancellor Beverly Davenport speaks during the opening session of the I-Corps South event at the Cherokee Farm, Joint Institute for Advanced Manufacturing (JIAM) Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017.

UT Knoxville is hosting the event for the first time after joining the National Science Foundation-funded “Innovation Corps” program in June. For some participants with start-up ideas, there’s a potential prize, too. NSF-funded grants of $50,000 are possible for participants whose ideas and plans for turning them into reality are deemed promising enough to win the cash to pilot them.

Scientists and engineers representing Georgia Tech, Louisiana State University and Tennessee Tech University are hearing from experts on thinking through and launching a startup. Participants will then conduct 20 customer discovery phone interviews to test their ideas with customers for evaluation.

The lineup kicked off with a welcome from UT Knoxville Chancellor Beverly Davenport.

“I’d like to spend every day welcoming innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs who are thinking about tomorrow and what kinds of needs can be met and what kinds of jobs are going to be created,” Davenport said. “There’s no better incentive than a need, a problem, around which to develop a solution. I’m excited that the University of Tennessee is bringing people together to think in terms of the end user, the applications and what use they might be.”

A team led by University of Tennessee, Knoxville, researchers is one of five selected by NASA as part of an overall investment of nearly $50 million to lead the next aviation revolution.

The goal of UT’s team is to produce much more aerodynamically capable aircraft, with NASA providing $9.9 million for the efforts upon final negotiations — believed to be the largest NASA award for a UT-led project.

“It is hugely gratifying to see the University of Tennessee recognized in this way,” said Chancellor Beverley Davenport. “This is a great example of how a public-private partnership and inter-institutional cooperation can result in solutions that address important challenges facing our world.

Graduate education at UT earned high marks in the new U.S. News and World Report rankings, with programs in business, law, engineering, information sciences, nursing, and education listed among the best in the nation.

Three of UT’s overall graduate programs took big steps forward in the lists:

• The Haslam College of Business graduate program is now 29th among public universities, up five spots from last year.
• The College of Law is now 31st among public institutions, up five spots from last year. Its clinical training program ranks 11th.
• The Tickle College of Engineering graduate program is now 33rd among public universities, up three spots from last year. Its aerospace engineering program is 25th and its computer engineering program is 28th. Biosystems engineering, a collaboration with the UT Institute of Agriculture, ranks 21st.