Overview
As competition in the global innovation landscape intensifies, there is a growing urgency to capitalize on untapped talent, technology, investment, and infrastructure. To boost competitiveness, the United States—and Tennessee—must focus on expanding and deepening both the demography and the geography of innovation, meaningfully engaging different communities and diverse populations as workers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and beneficiaries. Led by Chad Evans and consisting of mayors and economic development leaders from across the state, this panel explores how Tennessee has tapped its strengths to become a “place” of innovation.
Key Session Insights
Chad Evans, Executive Vice President of the Council on Competitiveness, welcomed a powerful slate of mayors and economic development leaders from the four big cities in Tennessee to reimagine the concept of place in the context of an ever-evolving, hyper-competitive, national innovation ecosystem. “In today's fiercely competitive tech-driven landscape, it is imperative we leverage all our assets and capabilities. That means harnessing the full potential of the talent, the technology, and the infrastructure in our communities to drive innovation and economic expansion,” Evans said.
“Today we realize innovation ‘places’ are both physical and virtual, transcending all sorts of traditional boundaries. The Council's work in the late 90s and early 2000s to define innovation clusters led to a seminal breakthrough in realizing economic activities transcend traditional political boundaries…
…So today and looking ahead, I ask this panel, what does place mean for Tennessee? Are Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville as natural a ‘place’ together as say, Chattanooga, Chicago, and Calgary? Knoxville, Kyoto, and Kuala Lumpur? Memphis, Mumbai, and Mexico City? Nashville, Nairobi, and New Delhi?...
…The question is no longer how do we become the next Silicon Valley. Rather, it is how do we make our communities the most innovative, creative, and inclusive they can be to compete in this world of turbulence and transition?”
Chad Evans
Executive Vice President , Council on Competitiveness
But according to Evans, a vast majority of the emerging technology and growth of cutting-edge industries has been concentrated in a handful of metropolitan areas, primarily along the coasts. He noted, “Between 2005 and 2017, 90 percent of private sector innovation and related job growth occurred in five metropolitan areas: Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, and San Diego.”Turning to the panel, Evans asked how places like Tennessee and communities across America can build the capacity to become hubs of innovation. One central idea posited by the panel was for communities—rural and urban—to avoid the trap of trying to mirror other regions and, instead, focus on amplifying their distinctive strengths. That is, success comes when government, business, and civic leaders develop “place-making” innovation strategies that embrace the particular characteristics of their region as a strength.
“For every dollar you put into pre-K for childcare, the return to society is eightfold. But those are investments you do not see in 10 years. It is 20 years later. And it is in our innovation economy. I think this is an area where we are making progress, but we could double down on this.”
Indya Kincannon
Mayor of Knoxville, TN
Indya Kincannon, Mayor of Knoxville , shared a great example from her city: Knoxville’s geography is hilly, which, over time, made development challenging and even uneconomical in some cases. This supposed weakness, long held as a limit on the city’s progress, is now viewed as a strength, as the attractive undeveloped hillsides have become an essential part of Knoxville’s park system—a magnet for talent looking for balance and a better place to work and live. Knoxville has developed an image of being a clean, safe, and sustainable community while offering robust infrastructure and transportation options, good schools, and access to clean and reliable energy. These characteristics help attract the highly-demanding, high-skilled workforce a community needs to run an innovation-driven economy. And it’s paying off for Knoxville. Mayor Kincannon noted that while five metro areas, including Boston and San Francisco, represent most of the growth in tech jobs, Knoxville ranks eighth in the U.S. for R&D capacity.
Moreover, across the state, Tennessee’s cultural assets, educational institutions, and international partnerships have helped create attractive, welcoming communities that increasingly appeal to a diverse workforce. That is particularly important as cities like Nashville and Memphis become even more global hubs of innovation. For example, in addition to Nashville’s healthcare industry prowess, another key reason Oracle has decided on Nashville is its high scores on many quality-of-life factors.
Another important topic surfaced by the panel was the importance of investing in the infrastructure that supports innovation. However, a challenge with innovation-enhancing investments like roads, railways, waterways, airports and, increasingly, advanced fiber is that they often require a very long-term commitment and strategy—a perspective that is often risky for policymakers focused on shorter terms, and facing an electorate with immediate needs and demands.
Jamari Brown, the Director of Economic and Community Development for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, noted the conundrum policymakers face when investing in long-term innovation projects: “You are taking the risk of making investments today that will probably not see a return in your administration. And I think that is very difficult for politicians to do—to take a risk today. They are often thinking ‘I need to run again in four years,’ or ‘I need to run again in two years.’" The implication? Many policy positions and decisions across the United States are often focused on the political calendar and political dynamic.
“What I would share with other communities and leaders is this: you have to take the risk of putting in a long-term investment knowing it might not pay off for you in the short term. Nashville has been on this rollercoaster for 30 years. There were investments made 30 years ago that are now paying off.”
Jamari Brown
Director of Economic and Community Development, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County
What is one way to overcome this challenge? Policymakers and community leaders must engage heavily to help educate their constituents of the importance of long-term infrastructure investment as additive to a community’s attractiveness for outside investment, long-term growth, and overall well-being.
Tim Kelly, Mayor of Chattanooga, shared how this worked in his city as it made major investments in its municipal fiber network, providing 1G fiber internet for $67 a month—investments viewed at the time as controversial and risky. However, this investment paid off. Chattanooga’s fiber network is now one of the most advanced in the nation, may become an important factor in a growing quantum network in the region, is attracting significant economic development dollars, and has been a magnet for talent, especially among those with hybrid and flexible work options.
”We are working really hard at making sure that everybody in Chattanooga can take advantage of these historical infrastructure investments, and we can use this incredible opportunity to heal our historical wounds. The good news is we can fix this.”
Tim Kelly
Mayor of Chattanooga, TN
The imperative of inclusive growth and the need to integrate all sectors of society into the burgeoning innovation economy was a frequent discussion point among the panel. The mayors shared a common vision of transcending traditional economic models to foster a more inclusive growth strategy, with Mayor Kincannon emphasizing that prosperity is not a zero-sum game and Mayor Kelly advocating for intentional efforts to revitalize the black community in Chattanooga.
Mayor Kincannon stressed that “Tennessee cannot afford to waste a single person. We need everybody.”Leaders and entrepreneurs can emerge from anywhere, so more opportunities are needed for people who traditionally have had less access to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) resources and the innovation economy. Tennessee has taken steps to promote inclusivity—for example, Chattanooga has appointed a chief equity officer and established an office for New Americans to support its immigrant community.
One city in Tennessee that has embraced its diversity as a strength is Memphis, the largest majority Black city in the United States, and also home to a large Hispanic population. Ted Townsend, President and CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber, highlighted the allure of Memphis as a beacon for global talent, bolstered by its globally recognized brands like FedEx, its geographic proximity and transportation infrastructure, its welcoming culture, and a high concentration of medical device manufacturers. "We are truly an internationally connected city," he noted.
“We are seeing more and more advanced industries, namely in manufacturing, come to Memphis. Why? Because they know if they make a product in Memphis, they can get it to anywhere else in the world through all of the modalities of transportation at their disposal.”
Ted Townsend
President & CEO, Greater Memphis Chamber
But how do communities embrace the full diversity of their populations in their innovation economies? According to Nashville’s Jamari Brown, it takes collaboration across institutions and sectors, but that only works when there is trust. Innovators need the confidence that when sharing their ideas, they will still not lose control or the ability to profit. information is siloed and larger projects either never start or sputter. Additionally, trust is critical for sharing the information essential to deliver larger projects requiring diverse groups of institutional partners. With a culture of trust, ideas spread, innovations scale, and projects and businesses expand.
In addition to trust, the panelists also emphasized that access to educational opportunities must be inclusive to ensure that members across the community are able to participate in the innovation economy. Initiatives like Chattanooga 2.0, which focuses on aligning education with industry needs and creating career pathways for students, are good ways to develop a region’s innovative capabilities. As an example, Chattanooga has been actively working with Volkswagen to prepare a local workforce to meet the needs of the company and the manufacturing industry more broadly. Nashville’s Jamari Brown also brought up the Academies of Nashville community program as an example of a successful model. The Academies of Nashville allows students to have the opportunity to work with the private sector to job shadow, participate in dual credit programs, and earn industry certifications along with college scholarships. Academies of Nashville includes 35 different programs students can enroll in across 12 Nashville high schools.
As the conversation drew to a close, the panelists reflected on the broader implications of their local efforts, suggesting that the strategies they employ could serve as a blueprint for other regions striving to enhance their innovation ecosystems. The collective insight from the panel underscored a pivotal narrative: for Tennessee to thrive on the national and global stage, it must leverage its distinctive regional strengths, foster strategic collaborations, and most important, ensure its economic growth benefits all communities equitably. In an era in which geographical and demographic inclusivity can drive significant advancements in technology and economic development, Tennessee’s leaders are poised at the forefront, redefining what it means to be a place of innovation in the 21st century.
