Media Room

The International Economic Development Council (IEDC)’s Board of Directors has selected seven new economic development leaders to serve on the organization’s 2025 Board of Directors for a two-year term. The board has also selected the leadership positions for the coming year. The process took place at the annual board meeting on September 15 during IEDC’s…

Maryville, Tenn. – The Blount Partnership is proud to announce that Lauren Emert, Director of Economic Development, has been named to the prestigious 40 Under 40 Class of 2024, an annual recognition presented by the Lincoln Memorial University School of Business and Knox News. The award honors 40 outstanding young professionals in East Tennessee who…

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter and Orano USA officials announced today the company has selected Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as the preferred site to construct a new, multi-billion-dollar, state-of-the-art centrifuge uranium enrichment facility. The uranium enrichment center will be a multi-structure commercial production site covering approximately 750,000…

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) announced today the approval of Tennessee’s initial proposal for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The department has been allocated $813 million as part of its initial proposal for the BEAD Program, which the state will use to locate high-speed broadband…

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) announced today $2.9 million will be awarded to seven collaborative teams through the Transportation Network Growth Opportunity (TNGO) initiative. TNGO, which received an initial $5 million in funding through the Tennessee General Assembly during the 2023 legislative session, serves as a tool to diversify the state’s…

More than 60 students from area high schools took part in the sixth annual Blount County Job Signing Day activities at the Airport Hilton as they inked with 29 local employers to begin their careers. These seniors either took career and technical education (CTE) courses on a career pathway, earned an industry certification in school,…

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter announced the state will award $162.7 million in broadband and digital opportunity grants. In total, these investments will provide broadband access and digital opportunity programs to more than 236,000 Tennesseans across 92 counties. “Broadband is essential to all Tennesseans,…

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) creates a talent pipeline for local companies, and for years it has been sustainable. However, things started to shift once artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning hit the workplace. Now, everything is changing, and the skills of emerging young professionals need to change, too. According to the Technology Skills Gap survey…

Pellissippi State Community College kicked off a three-year challenge Wednesday to attract and recruit 1,000 students into advanced manufacturing and connect them with industry partners.  More than 30 representatives from local manufacturing companies, K-12 school systems, chambers of commerce and the college were on hand to learn more about the SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers)…

SkyNano is an East Tennessee deep tech start-up success story; one that the Co-Founder, Anna Douglas has been writing for seven years. On Tuesday morning, Douglas, alongside dozens of community members and partners, celebrated the ribbon cutting for SkyNano’s new 20,000-square-foot facility in Louisville, Tennessee. SkyNano brings to market new, cutting-edge technology that helps with global decarbonization efforts.…