Innovation south facility opens in UT Research Park at Cherokee farm

(Press-News.org) The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility has a new home and IACMI – The Composites Institute has new headquarters with the dedication of Innovation South.

Innovation South is an 85,000-square-foot multiuse facility in UT’s Research Park at Cherokee Farm, located just off Alcoa Highway across the Tennessee River from the flagship university’s main campus. Developed and owned by Partners Development, the building includes a 40,000-square-foot high bay and laboratory space for UT faculty, students and industry collaborators to conceptualize, prototype and test sustainable composite materials for advanced manufacturing, including precision agriculture, architecture and automotive applications.

Faculty and students from UT’s Tickle College of Engineering, College of Architecture and Design, and Institute of Agriculture will all have a presence at Innovation South.

“Innovation South is a microcosm of the innovation ecosystem developing here in greater Knoxville,” said Deb Crawford, UT’s vice chancellor for research, innovation and economic development. “Working with our private and public sector partners throughout the region, we are creating and supporting the growth of Tennessee companies and equipping Tennesseans of all ages with skills that lead to rewarding careers.”

IACMI, a 140-member-plus consortium of companies, will locate its headquarters at Innovation South, offering unique opportunities for collaboration to create commercial solutions in the advanced manufacturing of composites.

“Innovation South provides a strategic location for IACMI that will serve as a hub in the Southeast for regional collaboration,” said Chad Duty, IACMI CEO and a professor of mechanical engineering at UT. “This new location, co-located with the Fiber and Composites Manufacturing Facility, offers exceptional opportunities for public-private partnerships, providing IACMI members and industry leaders with access to innovative research, world-class facilities and shared office space in Knoxville.”

In addition to UT and IACMI, tenants slated to move into Innovation South include Cherokee Farm Development Corporation, New Day Diagnostics, Spark Innovation Center, Trimble and the U.S. Forest Service.

Innovation South also includes spaces for workforce training for K-12 students, community and technical college students, university students, and workers looking to advance their skills in their fields. In addition to training on industry-relevant equipment, Tennessee’s current and future workforce gains experiential learning in areas of critical need to U.S. competitiveness.

“This facility will be amazing for participants at all levels, because they will get hands-on experiences with everything industry needs them to know,” said UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Uday Vaidya, who cast the vision for the expanded Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility at Innovation South.

What makes Innovation South unique is that all assets are threefold, Vaidya said, allowing faculty and students to work on research and development, workforce development and industry directives.

“We will have a process flow pretty much like industry, starting with incoming material and moving up in stages,” said Vaidya. “It will be a place to conduct research and development at scale and transition innovative ideas and concepts to field commercial applications. This is unique to the East Tennessee ecosystem. Innovation South enables us to develop materials-by-design solutions that will reduce the cost, energy and manufacturing time of next-generation products.”

Brett Malone, president and CEO of Cherokee Farm Development Corporation, said Innovation South is part of the vibrant ecosystem of the UT Research Park. Malone, who joined CFDC Sept. 30, noted that “we’re just getting started.

“This facility is the result of our visionary partners working together to bring researchers, entrepreneurs and industry members together to discover, build and scale big ideas,” he said. “The energy in the research park is dynamic and exciting. We’re filling the park with the next generation of growth mindset leaders working on research, startups and industry projects that will have a global impact.”

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