Congressmen Wamp and Davis Announce Tennessee Valley Corridor National Technology Summit to Return to Oak Ridge, Tenn. on May 27-28, 2009March 23, 2009

Oak Ridge, Tenn. The Tennessee Valley Corridor, a multi-state regional economic development organization, is bringing this year's National Technology Summit back to Oak Ridge, Tenn. where the first Summit was convened by Congressman Zach Wamp nearly 15 years ago.

Taking place on May 27-28 at the Y-12 National Security Complex's New Hope Center, the major themes of this year's event will focus on new missions and opportunities for Oak Ridge and the Corridor; energy innovation in areas such as solar, nuclear and fuel cells; and how to best advance entrepreneurship and regional economic development in the region. Complete information about the event can be found online at www.tennvalleycorridor.org.

"In 1995 we convened a regional economic development summit in Oak Ridge where a core group of East Tennessee leaders began working together to link and leverage the many science, technology, education and business assets we have in the Tennessee Valley for new regional job creation," said Congressman Zach Wamp.

"What first started as a small regional summit in Oak Ridge has now grown nearly 15 years later to become a national award-winning regional economic development organization uniting 10 congressional districts across five states, all working together to demonstrate 'national leadership through regional cooperation' and to create the jobs of the future," Wamp said. "Now, Congressman Lincoln Davis and I are looking forward to being joined by several of our other Congressional colleagues and hundreds of other top leaders as the 2009 National Summit returns to Oak Ridge for the first time since it all began there in 1995."

The upcoming Summit in Oak Ridge is the 21st in a series of such events that have strategically linked the technology-rich Tennessee Valley Corridor -- from North Alabama through Tennessee into Southwest Virginia, Western North Carolina and Southern and Eastern Kentucky.

"New opportunities in energy production and energy conservation are at the forefront of the national debate in Washington, and Oak Ridge and the Tennessee Valley Corridor can play a key role in determining the future," Congressman Lincoln Davis, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said. "I look forward to participating in this important National Summit with Congressman Wamp and so many others from throughout the Corridor."

Building on such regional assets as NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal, the U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center, the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the National Transportation Research Center, the Center for Rural Development, the National Safe Skies Alliance, several world-class research universities and dozens of corporate leaders in science and technology, the Tennessee Valley Corridor organization has helped showcase the region's superior quality of life and the people, business, natural and scientific resources needed for high-tech research, development, business and investment in the 21st Century.

Previous Corridor Summits and regional Partnership Events have been held in Chattanooga, Kingsport, Knoxville, Johnson City, Nashville, Oak Ridge and Tullahoma, Tenn.; Decatur and Huntsville, Ala.; Somerset, Ky.; Greenville, SC; Asheville, NC and Washington, D.C.

In 2004, the Tennessee Valley Corridor was recognized by the U.S. Department of Commerce as one of the top two regional economic development organizations in the country. The Corridor tied with the famed Research Triangle Partnership in North Carolina as the nation's most outstanding organization's for enhancing regional competitiveness.

For complete information on the Tennessee Valley Corridor or for a draft agenda of the upcoming National Summit please visit www.tennvalleycorridor.org.