Knoxville has a world-class national laboratory just up the road, a flagship research university in its backyard, one of the nation’s largest public power providers, companies doing cutting-edge work, and a startup scene that has gone from plucky to legit.
So, are we a technology hub yet?
The Knoxville Technology Council’s answer is essentially: We certainly could be. But we need to get organized.
KTech released its first-ever Technology State of the Union Report in June, examining Knoxville’s technology workforce, emerging industries, infrastructure and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Its conclusion is both optimistic and urgent: Knoxville stands at a pivotal moment, with an unusual concentration of research, talent and investment that could establish the region as a nationally, even globally, recognized center for technology innovation.
The ingredients are here. What Knoxville has lacked, thus far, is a fully developed recipe for turning them into lasting economic growth.
As KTech Board President Matthew Kittrell puts it: “We’re sitting on a powder keg.”
He means that in the best possible way. The convergence of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and advanced energy gives East Tennessee an opportunity few regions can match, Kittrell said. The local “big three” (ORNL, UT and TVA) form an extraordinary base of research, infrastructure and talent.
Add a wave of advanced nuclear investment around Oak Ridge, growing interest in high-performance computing, and an expanding network of startups, accelerators and technology employers, and Knoxville begins to look less like a scrappy regional player and more like a city approaching a fairly consequential fork in the road.
“No one has the potential upside that we do,” he said.
Kittrell is also director of consulting delivery for CGI, a global technology consulting company with a Knoxville operation in Riverview Tower on Gay Street. Since opening in 2023, the 37,000-square-foot center has brought hundreds of technology and consulting jobs to East Tennessee, including many hires from UT.
CGI—with its two floors of expansive workstations, collaboration spaces and a ping-pong table looking out upon downtown and across to the Sunsphere—is a fitting backdrop for our conversation. It’s a tangible example of the kind of growth KTech’s report argues Knoxville is poised to attract, provided we can get all our proverbial ducks in a row.
KTech is trying to do just that or, at least get the ducks swimming in the same direction.
What Exactly Is KTech?
KTech exists to connect, develop and promote the technology industry across the Greater Knoxville region. Members include everyone from startups to big employers from a variety of industries, who recognize that technology is essential to supporting their mission and continued growth.
“Connect” largely means creating opportunities for local technology professionals to meet, compare notes and share what worked (and, on occasion, what failed spectacularly).
The organization hosts networking events and specialized user groups, including Women in Tech and a relatively new technology architecture group for senior professionals making decisions about how technology fits into larger business systems. Those conversations have become particularly important as companies race to implement AI tools without always considering what those tools may touch, or accidentally set on fire, elsewhere in the organization.
KTech’s “develop” pillar encompasses workforce initiatives, while “promote” includes raising the visibility of Knoxville’s technology sector and advocating for policies that support its growth.
The State of the Union Report grew out of a KTech board retreat in late 2024. Board members saw plenty of reports examining workforce development, economic conditions, higher education and entrepreneurship, but no single document looking at Knoxville specifically through the eyes of its technology industry.
KTech surveyed 64 regional technology professionals and stakeholders in late 2025. More than half held executive, vice president or director-level positions.
The resulting report attempts to answer two important questions: Where does Knoxville stand now, and what needs to happen next?
The Jobs Are Here. The Skills Don’t Always Match.
The report identifies talent as both Knoxville’s greatest advantage and its greatest challenge.
Technology jobs generally pay well and contribute disproportionately to regional economic growth. Nearly three-quarters of survey respondents described the technology sector as very or extremely significant to Knoxville’s economy.
But employers reported difficulty filling specialized roles, particularly in cybersecurity, data analysis and cloud engineering. The problem is a mismatch: plenty of applicants, but too few with the specific skills employers need.
Employers ranked demonstrated technical ability, job experience and attitude or soft skills above degrees and certifications when making hiring decisions. That reflects a broader shift toward skills-based hiring, but it also raises questions about how quickly colleges and training programs can adapt to technology that changes approximately every 11 minutes.
Local institutions are working on it. Since 2016, the number of UT graduates in computer science, electrical engineering and computer engineering has increased by nearly 50%, according to the report. UT has also launched the College of Emerging and Collaborative Studies and AI Tennessee, while Pellissippi State and Roane State award hundreds of information technology and cybersecurity credentials each year.
Knox County Schools’ 865 Academies initiative is introducing high school students to technology careers through mentoring, job shadowing, industry projects and other hands-on experiences.
When KTech began working with the academies several years ago, Kittrell said, some schools were struggling to find enough technology companies willing to participate.
KTech began organizing workshops and bringing its members to the table. Today, he said, that industry-partner gap has largely been filled.
The organization is now discussing a capstone partnership with UT’s College of Emerging and Collaborative Studies that would connect students with local companies and expose them to the technology careers available here. That final piece is essential because training talented people does Knoxville little good if they immediately pack up their laptops and depart for Silicon Valley or Seattle or New York.
The report cites wage disparities as one reason technology graduates leave the region. Knoxville’s rapidly rising housing costs also threaten what has historically been one of its strongest recruiting advantages: relative affordability.
Remote work further complicates the equation. Knoxville can attract people working for companies in more expensive markets, but Knoxville companies can just as easily lose local workers to remote jobs paying salaries based elsewhere. Flexibility has become a powerful recruiting tool, yet 20% of employers surveyed remain fully in-office with no remote option.
The report’s message to employers: Adapt or enjoy scrolling past the same unfilled job listings into eternity.
Everybody Needs Some Level of AI Training
Workforce development can no longer focus solely on producing more software developers, cybersecurity analysts and data scientists.
AI will reshape jobs far beyond the traditional technology department. Customer service representatives, accountants, marketers, manufacturers, educators, health care workers and small-business owners will all need to understand how it applies to their particular roles.
Even journalists. I think back to my days of recording interviews on a tape recorder, and the hours upon hours I spent faithfully transcribing them. Now, I record on my iPhone and use Otter.ai to transcribe them within minutes. Not always perfect, but I can easily locate the section of the interview I’m looking for and review the recording for accuracy.
“What do you do with the time you save from not having to transcribe?” Kittrell asked me.
“I write more,” I said. I can talk to more people and spend more time getting in front of stories rather than chasing them. I can produce more because I’m not wasting time and energy on mindless gruntwork.
Volunteering myself here as exhibit A: Not everyone needs to become a full-stack AI developer. But nearly everyone will need enough fluency to use the technology effectively and avoid being left behind by it.
That creates a particular challenge for workers in the middle of their careers who are not going to enroll in college full time but still need accessible ways to update their skills.
Kittrell pointed to a recent AI Build Night at 121 Tech Hub, a community and co-working space in the Old City (see IOK’s 2024 story here), as an example of what that could look like. Experts helped participants with a wide range of experience levels begin building ideas using AI tools.
Projects included a recipe book, a fitness application and a platform for a micro-housing business. The event’s guiding principle was that the word “can’t” was not allowed in the room.
The learning curve can feel intimidatingly steep, Kittrell said, but once people receive enough support to get over the initial hump, it begins to flatten. Participants walked away after a couple of hours with projects taking shape and a clearer idea of what the tools could do.
Kittrell described the evening as inspiring. It also represented the sort of accessible, hands-on education that Knoxville needs much more of, which is sometimes as simple as someone sitting beside you and showing you where to click.
Research, Meet Marketplace
Knoxville’s startup ecosystem receives a cautiously encouraging diagnosis in the report: growing, but still maturing.
The region has strong support for people in the earliest stages of developing a company. The Knoxville Entrepreneur Center, UT Research Foundation Business Incubator, Spark Cleantech Accelerator and ORNL’s Innovation Crossroads program offer combinations of mentorship, workspace, laboratory access and early funding.
Innovation Crossroads alone has supported more than 50 startups, helped create more than 300 jobs and enabled more than $300 million in follow-on funding, according to the report.
The trouble comes when those companies are ready to become substantially larger. Only 8% of survey respondents said they believe Knoxville has sufficient investment or venture capital available for technology startups.
Knoxville produces successful founders, but many eventually leave the region to find the growth-stage capital and support needed to scale their companies. That means Knoxville risks doing the expensive, difficult work of educating talent, conducting research and nurturing businesses only to watch much of the ultimate economic payoff pack a U-Haul and migrate elsewhere.
The report identifies one of Knoxville’s greatest opportunities as building a stronger bridge between research at UT and ORNL and commercial products that can be manufactured, marketed and scaled locally.
That is especially true at the intersection of AI, energy, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing and materials science. The goal is to launch startups that stay, grow and eventually become major local employers.
And Then There Are the Data Centers
No discussion of Knoxville’s technology future in 2026 would be complete without somebody nervously mentioning data centers. Pro tip: If you want to ruin a dinner party …
Large data centers require enormous amounts of electricity, water and connectivity. They can generate significant tax revenue and infrastructure investment, but generally do not create vast numbers of permanent jobs. Poorly planned facilities can also bring noise, resource demands and other impacts that surrounding communities understandably may not welcome with a fruit basket.
Knox County officials have been considering regulations governing where data centers can be located and how issues including noise, vibration, appearance, electricity and water use should be handled.
KTech is not formally advocating for or against data center development, Kittrell said. It is advocating for an informed conversation.
“Not all data center investors and investments are created equal,” he said.
A hyperscale facility developed by a company such as Google or Amazon is a different animal from a cryptocurrency mining operation, he said. Communities should consider who is making the investment, what the facility will do, what resources it will consume and how its financial benefits will be distributed.
Data centers are critical infrastructure for the technology industry. They are also physical developments with consequences for the people who live nearby.
The State of the Union Report calls for coordination between the public and private sectors so infrastructure investments benefit surrounding communities and preserve equitable access to essential resources.
“I don’t ever want Knoxville, Knox County or our region to be the community that says no to everything,” Kittrell said. “That’s just not an informed, educated position.”
Growth is not a hypothetical future event, he added. It is already here. The question is how thoughtfully Knoxville manages it.
One potentially valuable resource is ORNL’s Next Generation Data Centers Institute, launched in February. The institute is studying how to make AI data centers more efficient, reliable and secure, meaning one of the nation’s most credible sources on responsible data center development happens to be sitting in our own backyard. Maybe we should ask them?
Radical Collaboration … or a Lot of Missed Potential
Again and again, both the report and my conversation with Kittrell returned to the same idea: collaboration.
Knoxville already has employers trying to fill technology jobs, schools attempting to prepare students, researchers making significant discoveries, entrepreneurs forming companies and governments planning infrastructure. But those efforts are often measured separately, funded separately and pursued inside institutional silos.
The State of the Union Report calls for shared goals and measurements so the region can understand whether its talent pipeline is meeting employer demand, whether research is becoming commercially viable and whether infrastructure investment is broadly benefiting the community.
UT leaders have used the term “radical collaboration” to describe the level of coordination required. Kittrell compared it to a rowing team. Everyone must pull in the same direction and at the same pace, but each person still has a distinct position and responsibility. Knoxville needs each organization doing its own part and understanding how all the parts fit together.
That could mean employers working more closely with high schools and colleges, investors engaging earlier with promising startups, policymakers consulting researchers before writing technology regulations and institutions sharing data rather than guarding it like a secret ingredient.
The payoff could be enormous. A robust technology ecosystem creates high-paying jobs, attracts and retains talented young people, supports entrepreneurship and helps industries throughout the economy become more competitive.
Knoxville’s technological future can sound abstract when the conversation wanders into quantum computing, modular nuclear reactors and AI architecture. But technology is already threaded through nearly every part of daily life.
Kittrell pointed out that banking, work, transportation, health care, access to public services and even stuff like concert tickets increasingly depend on some kind of device. “Whether consciously or just by default, we’ve become technology-dependent,” he said.
The task is to treat technology as a tool, one capable of improving lives and creating opportunity, rather than allowing it to become a force that simply happens to us.
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