Tennessee Tech University announced on Apr. 9 that it will host a statewide artificial intelligence conference this spring, bringing together leaders from academia, industry, and government for a day dedicated to advancing innovation and economic growth.
The event, titled “From Lab to Market: Accelerating AI Innovation,” is scheduled for May 19 at the Ashraf Islam Engineering Building. The free conference requires registration and is open to the public.
Organized in partnership with the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Launch Tennessee, the gathering aims to connect faculty researchers, entrepreneurs, students, and policymakers from across the state. The program will feature discussions on applied AI use cases, commercialization pathways for research, startup showcases, talent opportunities, and avenues for collaboration between industry and academic institutions.
“Attendees will gain practical insight into how artificial intelligence is being applied, commercialized and scaled in Tennessee today,” said Michael Aikens, acting vice president for research and economic development at Tennessee Tech. “The conference highlights real use cases, startup activity and industry-academic collaboration, giving participants tangible examples of how AI research turns into businesses, workforce opportunities and economic growth.”
Speakers include Aikens; Tony Skelljum of Tennessee Tech’s Advanced Scalable Computing Center; Anne Ho of AI Tennessee; Jenny Vipperman of ORNL Federal Credit Union; as well as founders from emerging companies such as Xuron, Pangea, 9+1AI and Authentrics.ai. The event supports ongoing efforts by groups like AI Tennessee’s Industry Innovation Consortium to foster connections between researchers and businesses while promoting practical deployment of artificial intelligence solutions.
Tennessee Tech has positioned itself as a leader in this field by launching the state’s first bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence this fall. The university also established its Machine Intelligence and Data Science Center in 2024 to support national priorities around education in artificial intelligence.
