KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Knoxville earned two top 10 economic rankings, according to Business Facilities magazine.
It's ranked as the number 10 city for economic growth potential and the eighth fastest growing city in the U.S.
"Our 2012 metro rankings results show that growth is synonymous with Knoxville," said Business Facilities Editor in Chief Jack Rogers in the magazine's report.
"Few cities can match the combination of assets the Tennessee city brings to the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley. Knoxville has all of the attributes that will enable it to be a growth center for years to come. With an influx of skilled workers and a world-class research infrastructure, we expect Knoxville to continue its upward climb in our key metro rankings categories," Rogers added.
The magazine noted that the area brought researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville together to create Innovation Valley, calling it "an ambitious effort to establish the region as a primary alternative energy hub."
Now, improved LED lights, high tech air filtration systems and lighter, stronger and easier-to-ship materials are all developed locally.
Business Facilities says this is "fueling a promising, and increasingly green, future for the Knoxville-OakRidge Innovation Valley," noting that entrepreneurs and local companies are involved.
The magazine also notes the work of Industrial Ceramic Solutions, which is headed by former Oak Ridge materials research scientist Dick Nixdorf. It's developing high-performance reinforcement fibers to improve durability of combustion chamber liners in coal-fired power plants.
"I believe in the adage, 'companies innovate or they die'," said Jesse Smith, technical director for the Innovation Valley partnership. "We ask companies, why would you want to be anywhere else? What better way that to tap into DOE's largest energy materials lab and the innovative products coming out of Y-12 and the many collaborative efforts with a major university?"
