Chattanooga to Host Tennessee Valley Corridor Fall Summit

Chancellor Bill Stacy joined U.S. Congressman Zach Wamp and Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker as they announced that the Fall 2003 Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit will be held in Chattanooga on October 6-7 at The Chattanoogan Hotel. "Where Technology Meets the Marketplace" is the theme of the summit, which will focus on how the Tennessee Valley as a region can best leverage its major regional institutions and their abundant science and technology assets for maximum private sector job creation. Invited speakers include: U.S. Senators Bill Frist and Lamar Alexander, Governor Phil Bredesen, TVA director Bill Baxter and Iceland's Ambassador to the U.S., Helgi Agustsson.

Wamp, who first founded this ongoing series of technology summits in 1995, expressed his excitement about Chattanooga being the host city for this year's important event saying it will bring top business, government, education and technology leaders together to see the real growth and progress in Chattanooga in recent years.

"It has been seven years since Chattanooga last hosted this regional economic summit," said Wamp. "There couldn't be a more appropriate time than now for Chattanooga to host this special event with all of the recent technological advances we have made and the work we are doing to position ourselves as a real technology hub for the Tennessee Valley Corridor."

Corker will serve as chairman of the event. He has recruited TVA's Billie Queen and SimCenter Director Dave Whitfield from The University of Tennessee Chattanooga as co-chairs, and together they are leading a regional blue-ribbon steering committee that is helping plan the event.

The SimCenter at UTC is a graduate education and research program in computational engineering, a tangible result of recruiting high-tech brainpower into the region. Whitfield is excited about the contribution the center is making.

“High speed computers and computational engineering are the frontiers and the SimCenter will help Chattanooga be on the cutting edge of new technology research while advancing the curriculum at our major research institution,” said Whitfield.

Energy Security and cleaner transportation technologies will also be discussed during the Summit. Chattanooga, home to the Advanced Transportation Technology Institute (ATTI), is leading the way in the research and development of advanced forms of transportation and cleaner fuels.

Visit the Tennessee Valley Corridor 2003 Summit in Chattanooga for additional information.