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You'll always be home, sweet home to me

 

Today’s itinerary:

 

• Enjoy a visit to Knoxville, a city once referred to as a "scruffy little city."
• A Pittsburgh company brings robotics tech to the refractory industry.
• A look at Indy's Certified Technology Parks.
• IU kicks off an eight-city tour.
• Name that Flyover City!

 
November 13, 2019

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WHEELS DOWN: KNOXVILLE

Smokey Mountain High!

Knoxville from atop Sharps Ridge:  Brian Stansberry [CC BY 3.0]

 

Ah, Knoxville. Birthplace of Mountain Dew and Kenny Chesney. Land of Peyton Manning’s alma mater, the University of Tennessee. And the place that the Wall Street Journal referred to as a “scruffy little city” when the town was preparing to host the 1982 World’s Fair.

 

Undaunted, Knoxville has embraced its scruffy spirit, taking up the pledge to “Keep Knoxville Scruffy” and hosting events like the Scruffy City Film and Music Festival and Scruffy City Vegan Fest. There’s even an entertainment complex in downtown’s Market Square called Scruffy City Hall, complete with a rooftop bar named the Scroof.

 

So Knoxville residents clearly have a wry sense of humor—but what else do they have?

 

Makers and shakers

For starters, Knoxville has a dynamic maker community, called The Maker City. The organization—which is more than 900 strong—hosts events, meetups, and an annual summit. It also maintains a searchable directory of “artisans, makers, small-scale manufacturers, and creatives” to help consumers, contractors, and businesses shop local, find craftspeople for projects, and support the maker community. The Maker City is led by the Mayor’s Maker Council and the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center.

 

And that’s a perfect segue. Knoxville is also seeing a major push toward business development and startup support. The Knoxville Entrepreneur Center (KEC) is an accelerator whose mission is “to build a community where entrepreneurs have access to the capital, customers, and talent they need to be successful.” In addition to helping The Maker City grow and thrive, KEC runs a business development program, hosts events and classes, and connects entrepreneurs with mentors to help them get their businesses off the ground.

 

Sitting pretty

Knoxville has proximity going for it, too. Atlanta and Nashville are roughly three-hour drives, and Louisville is about four. Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are a stone’s throw away, and you can drive to Asheville in a couple of hours.

 

The city is also situated amidst an abundance of outdoor attractions, like the neighboring Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Seven lakes are scattered around Knoxville, and the Tennessee River runs through town. (TUBING!) There are a million opportunities for taking scenic drives, hiking, camping, birding, biking, paddling, swimming, fishing, and llama trekking. (No, really.) And with more than 50 miles of greenway paths, it’s easy to get some exercise and fresh air even without engaging with mountains, lakes, or furry pack animals.

 

Highlight reel

Knoxville offers such a tremendous variety of attractions, events, and activities, it’s hard to imagine anyone NOT finding plenty of cool things to see and do. Here’s an abbreviated list to get you started.

 

Market Square, mentioned earlier, is a pedestrian mall that offers everything from movie nights to free theater to farmer’s markets to winter ice skating, along with restaurants, bars, and specialty shops.

World’s Fair Park has revived the area that hosted the 1982 World’s Fair. The Fair’s original amphitheater and the famous Sunsphere, with its panoramic view of Knoxville and beyond, are integrated into a space that features a water park, a festival lawn, and a performance lawn.

Downtown’s Tennessee Theater (“America’s grand entertainment palace”) opened in 1928 and has since morphed from a single-screen movie theater to a multi-use performance venue.

Knoxville offers scads of festivals, such as Big Ears Festival (a weekend devoted to world-class musical performances, not people with big ears), the Dogwood Arts Festival (“a dynamic street festival encompassing high-quality visual, performing, and children’s arts”), and Chocolatefest Knoxville, which provides “chocolate indulgence” to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House.

Ijams Nature Center, 300 acres of protected wildlife habitat, is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, with “natural surface trails, scenic overlooks, disused marble quarries, boardwalks along the Tennessee River, historic cemeteries, wooded groves, nature playscapes, creeks and wildflowers.”

Knoxville data from the flight deck

• Population (city limits): 187,500
• Population (MSA):  853,000
• Male/Female Ratio: 47.9%/52.1%
• Median age: 33.8
• Median household income: $33,494 a year
• Median home value: $175,000
• Median rent price: $1,300
• Unemployment rate: 3.2%
• Cost of living index: 93.5
  Sources: US Census Bureau; Zillow; BestPlaces

FLYOVER INNOVATION

Do you need a lift?

The MULE-R Via D. Martin Enterprises & Youtube

 

For people who lift heavy materials for a living, it’s a good time to be alive, thanks to robotics tech. The latest industry to get a lift up is the refractory industry, thanks to a Pittsburgh company called HarbisonWalker International. It has introduced a lift assist technology called MULE-R that promises to make the industry safer, more ergonomic, and more productive for workers.

The acronym stands for Material Unit Lift Enhancer, and “MULE” is appropriate for the device, which helps the operator place heavy refractory bricks in tight spaces. Besides just lifting the heavy weights, the device also improves the worker’s range, reducing injuries and aching muscles. That’s a game changer for the steel industry, whose massive furnaces require refractory bricks and other products the MULE can handle. Partnering with HarbisonWalker on the project were Construction Robotics, a robotics firm specializing in the construction industry, and D. Martin Enterprises, a distributor of products in the steel industry.

 

That could have saved the Stonehenge guys a lot of work. 

Indiana driving innovation through tech parks

Cities all over Flyover Country are investing deeply in tech innovation. Indiana Certified Technology Parks, a program that was created as a tool to support the attraction and growth of high-tech businesses in Indiana, is a prime example.

 

How it works in Indiana

 

An Indiana code allows Indiana Certified Technology Parks to capture a maximum of $5 million over the life of a park in incremental sales and income taxes.

 

We recently received their latest list of 22 Indiana locations on this program. Here are some highlights: 

 

• City Way Certified Technology Park is located near downtown Indianapolis and encompasses The Eli Lilly Corporate Center and The Faris Campus (Rolls-Royce).
• Downtown Indianapolis CTP / 16 Tech is focused on creating a synergistic atmosphere for life sciences and technology companies and is supported by Indiana University Health (Methodist Hospital, University Hospital, and Riley Hospital for Children), plus Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and the City of Indianapolis. 
• Flagship Business Park houses the Flagship Enterprise Center (FEC), a 40,000 square-foot startup business incubator. FEC focuses on developing emerging manufacturing and electronic technologies and is supported by Anderson University and Remy International, Inc.
• INTECH Park is a 21st century business center with office, flex, and R&D space of all sizes designed to support the needs of high-growth, high-tech companies. It’s Indiana’s only privately held Certified Technology Park and includes partners such as Lauth Property Group, Purdue University, and the City of Indianapolis.
• Intelliplex Park in Shelbyville (Shelby County) houses Major Hospital’s ultra-modern cancer treatment center, which serves as an anchor for future life sciences developments. Intelliplex is supported by Ivy Tech Community College and Indiana Wesleyan University, which have satellite campuses in the park.
• Purdue Research Park of Indianapolis is a flagship business accelerator that combines a state-of-the-art office facility with resources and services proven to move emerging technology companies forward. The park is being developed in conjunction with Holladay Properties at AmeriPlex-Indianapolis.
• Nickel Plate District and North East Commerce Park was designated a certified technology park in 2016. The district includes the Launch Fishers co-working space.

 

Click the map below to view the entire list of 22 parks:

FINAL APPROACH

Business School launches annual economic forecast tour

On November 7, Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business kicked off an eight-city tour with a presentation in Indianapolis to discuss the future of local, national, and global economies and financial markets. The Business Outlook panel, which consists of Kelley School faculty and Indianapolis leaders, will offer insights into economic trends to help inform Indiana businesses, government organizations, and nonprofit groups.

 

Phil T. Powell, associate dean of Kelley academic programs at Indianapolis, said that this year’s panel will also address strategies for fostering regional development.

 

"We are continuing to present an informed view about our state and nation's economic future, but we also want to contribute to the discussion about public initiatives designed to keep Indianapolis globally competitive."

 

If you can’t make the Indy presentation, you can catch it in New Albany, Columbus, Richmond, South Bend, Schererville, Anderson, and Kokomo.

IN FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT

 

 

It's ... Name that Flyover city!

 

Useless information that is strangely fascinating.

 

We’re taking a little different track today with the Name that Flyover City. We’re going to give you a snippet from a song and you have to name the city it refers to. OK, start jammin’!

 

1. “It reminds me of the girl that came from ________ town, and how on that April day, when she took this old boy down.”—Black Crowes
2. “What’s made __________ famous has made a fool out of me.”—Jerry Lee Lewis
3. “A shade veranda under Sunday blue sky; ________ in June.” Nina Simone

 

Click here for today's answers

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