The Accelerator’s fifth cohort features companies from five states, all working to grow and accelerate towards commercialization with the help of the TAEBC Energy Network, Launch TN.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (July 20, 2026) – The Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council (TAEBC) and Spark Innovation Center are proud to announce the fifth cohort of the Spark Accelerator. Seven companies have been selected to participate in the 2026 program: Canary Instruments, Ecoatex, Erasmus Energy, Licube, Inc., Nutrode, Inc., PAN Biologics, and Scaled Atomics.
The Spark Accelerator is a 12-week program hosted at the University of Tennessee Research Park in Knoxville, Tennessee. Since its first cohort in 2022, founders have come to the Spark Innovation Center to learn, and many have decided to stay in the area to continue to grow their businesses.
“HardTech and advanced energy companies need customers, technical experts, manufacturing partners, and capital. They need institutions that understand how HardTech products reach the market,” said Bill Malkes, Executive Director of the Spark Innovation Center. “East Tennessee has all of it. Spark helps founders put it to work.”
Spark has supported more than 50 companies, raised over $200 million in funding, and created over 200 jobs. Home to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), and the University of Tennessee, East Tennessee offers a well-established science and energy ecosystem for entrepreneurs seeking economic opportunity and personalized mentorship. It is this unique environment that makes Spark a premier program for HardTech and advanced energy startups, allowing founders to tap into the coaching and expertise they need to take their businesses to the next level. The Accelerator program offers a structured, results-oriented experience focused on building durable, scalable companies. From access to strategic partners, capital and investors, customer networks, advanced prototyping services, technical collaborators, and supply chain partners, Spark introduces companies to the resources that accelerate their path to commercialization and success.
Spark Accelerator alumni commonly note the value of mentorship through the TAEBC Energy Network. Operating with support from Launch Tennessee, the network assists Tennessee’s advanced energy and mobility startups and entrepreneurs with strategic business, marketing, and financial guidance from experienced mentors lending their time and expertise.
“Our Energy Network mentors offer coaching for startups at every level of entrepreneurship,” said Cortney Piper, Executive Director, TAEBC. “Whether it’s perfecting your elevator pitch, crafting a solid business model or go-to-market strategy, our goal is to develop quality startups in Tennessee, and give them the tools they need to scale their companies.”
Introducing the Spark Accelerator 2026 Cohort:
Canary Instruments is developing an inline sensing system that continuously monitors tritium and other low-energy radioisotopes in water. The technology is designed to give nuclear fission and fusion facilities real-time information that supports safer operations, regulatory reporting, and environmental accountability. The company was founded in 2025 by Walter Xu and Adil Ahmed and is based in Columbia, Maryland.
Ecoatex, led by founder and CEO Raha Saremi in Athens, Georgia, converts agricultural residues and marine biomass into cellulose, lignin, and nanocellulose materials. Its platform creates renewable alternatives to petroleum-based materials for textiles, packaging, healthcare products, composites, and other industrial applications.
Erasmus Energy is developing technology to produce radioisotopes more quickly and affordably for energy and medical applications. The company, founded in Los Angeles, California, in 2025 by CEO Marcos Perez and CTO Carlos Ayala, is initially focused on radioisotope power systems that could provide compact, long-duration energy for transportation, aerospace, resilient infrastructure, and medical devices.
Licube, Inc. is developing an electrodialysis platform to produce ultra-high-purity lithium and separate lithium isotopes. Its ceramic-membrane technology is designed for demanding markets such as semiconductors, aerospace, advanced batteries, and fusion energy, where chemical and isotopic purity are critical. Founded in 2024, Licube operates in Japan and the United States, with its U.S. operations based in Houston and led by Paul Monroe.
Nutrode, Inc. was founded in Knoxville by UT professors Feng-Yuan Zhang and Matthew Mench and is led by Zhang, its CEO, and CTO Weitian Wang. The company develops advanced electrodes and electrochemical systems for hydrogen production and other energy applications. Its Integrated Dual Electrode Assembly is designed to reduce precious-metal use, simplify manufacturing, and improve the cost, efficiency, and durability of water electrolyzers.
Scaled Atomics is developing the MN-350 Mobile Power Module, a 350-kilowatt nuclear microreactor designed to deploy by air, land, or sea in a standard 20-foot shipping container and operate for up to 10 years without refueling. The system is intended to provide reliable power for defense missions, disaster response, critical infrastructure, and remote operations where dependence on fuel deliveries or the electric grid creates risk. The Oak Ridge-based company is led by CEO Chris Pehrson, President Richard Lawson, and UT graduate engineer Colin Christenson. Scaled Atomics plans to continue adding new talent to its growing technical team.
Also joining the cohort is PAN Biologics, a life-science company aligned with UT’s Human Health and Wellness innovation gateway. UT organizes its research strengths around five innovation gateways, and Spark supports research-driven companies whose commercialization requires product development, technical validation, regulatory planning, customer adoption, and capital formation.
PAN Biologics Knoxville-based PAN Biologics, founded and led by CEO Kuntal De, is commercializing technology licensed from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The company is developing a unified biological platform for functional diagnostics, mechanism-based drug screening, and targeted therapeutics, initially focused on treatment-resistant cancers and infectious diseases.
Additionally, the DOE Office of Technology Commercialization recently announced that the six entrepreneur-fellows selected for the next cohort of Innovation Crossroads will also complete the Spark Accelerator: Ernesto Borrego (HAND Technologies), Eric Heikkenen (NXT MFG), Erick Hoegberg (DiNeu Technologies), Marton Krivan (Aquafer Technologies), David Preiss (Variable Machines), and Daniel Rau (Kunin Technologies).
The Accelerator begins August 24, 2026.
For more information, contact Rachel Anderson at [email protected].
About Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council (TAEBC)
TAEBC champions advanced energy as an economic development and job creation strategy. Advanced energy is technology-neutral and includes electricity and transportation. Anything that makes energy cleaner, safer, more secure, or more efficient is in the tent. No other entity in the state concentrates specifically on this robust sector. We educate public officials and business leaders about Tennessee’s advanced energy economy, establish strategic partnerships to connect assets with opportunities, and inform policy that expands and strengthens the industry. TAEBC hosts the Energizing Tennessee podcast, which explores the latest news and insights about the advanced energy sector. For more information, visit https://tnadvancedenergy.com.
About Spark Innovation Center
The Spark Innovation Center is the University of Tennessee Research Park’s commercialization platform for Advanced Energy and HardTech companies. Spark helps founders develop, validate, and deploy complex products by connecting them with customers, technical facilities, manufacturing partners, and capital across East Tennessee. The University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Tennessee Valley Authority anchor that network. Through its accelerator, incubator, and broader commercialization programs, Spark helps companies grow, create jobs, attract investment, and build lasting operations in East Tennessee. Spark’s work is supported by the University of Tennessee, the City of Knoxville, and regional and federal partners. For more information, visit tnresearchpark.org/spark.
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