From Memphis to Mountain City, entrepreneurs and innovators are thriving in Tennessee. Gov. Bill Haslam’s new economic development initiative is designed to help them achieve even greater success in the competitive global economy.

You might say he hopes to INCITE success.

The governor has committed $50 million to the new INCITE program – so named for its focus on Innovation, Commercialization, Investment, Technology and Entrepreneurship – which is designed to spark creation of knowledge-based jobs and position Tennessee for greater success in innovation-based economic development.

The initiative, part of the governor’s Jobs4TN strategy, includes co-investment in economic ventures, new business incubators throughout the state, new opportunities for entrepreneurship, and a drive for greater technology transfer.

Tennessee's Climate for Entrepreneurial Success

Tennessee is creating an environment where entrepreneurship and innovation can grow, says Michael Burcham, CEO of the Entrepreneur Center in Nashville and selected by Haslam to lead a key component of INCITE, the Startup Tennessee initiative. 

“Startup Tennessee is a great opportunity to move our state ahead of the curve in building the right climate for new businesses,” Burcham says.

Startup Tennessee, he says, will provide resources, mentors and capital to early entrepreneurs who have ideas to help them turn these ideas into real businesses. “It’s very important for our economy as we create new jobs for Tennesseans,” Burcham says.

Key elements of INCITE include:

• Innovation Coordination: Gov. Haslam's Jobs4TN strategy creates nine economic development regions across Tennessee. The Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD) will work with each one to develop a strategic plan for economic development and strategies for innovation using the region’s unique assets. The Tennessee Technology Development Corporation (TTDC) will have a key role and will partner with ECD to hold an annual Governor’s Conference on Innovation to share best practices.

• Entrepreneurship: ECD is funding a new or existing business incubator in each of the state’s nine economic development regions. The incubators will commit to meeting benchmarks, such as raising certain amounts of private capital for tenant companies. ECD will also create a statewide incubator network to share best practices and support efforts to raise private capital. A Governor’s Award for Entrepreneurship will be awarded each year at the Governor’s Conference on Innovation.

• Co-Investment Funds: Tennessee will target $30 million for creation of early stage, seed and mezzanine capital co-investment funds. These will be designed to be self-sustaining and complement existing TNInvestco and Pathway Lending programs.

• Commercialization: An important goal is to move new products and technologies from the research lab to the marketplace faster. That process is already under way in Memphis, where the governor committed $10 million in funding for the Memphis Research Consortium to enhance commercialization partnerships. ECD is working with TTDC to identify other opportunities across the state. 

Keeping Goals in Sight

Startups and jobs are the goals of the Memphis Research Consortium, says Executive Director Russell Ingram.

“Investment like this has to happen if we’re going to grow the Tennessee knowledge economy,” he says.

A portion of the funding is being used to recruit faculty members at local research universities in the growing field of computational science. Their work will be linked with the universities’ technology transfer programs, which can transform new ideas into new jobs for Tennesseans.

“We’re seeking new faculty who can come in and be innovators and feed the technology transfer pipeline,” says Ingram. “We’re looking for folks who are not only interested in research but in building their own companies.”