U.S. Congressman Zach Wamp and Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker announced today that the Fall 2003 Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit will be held in Chattanooga on Oct. 6-7 at The Chattanoogan Hotel.  The Summit, themed Where Technology Meets the Marketplace, will focus on how the Tennessee Valley as a region can best leverage its major regional institutions and their abundant science and technology assets for maximum private sector job creation. Invited speakers include: U.S. Senators Bill Frist and Lamar Alexander, Governor Phil Bredesen, TVA director Bill Baxter and Iceland's Ambassador to the U.S., Helgi Agustsson.

Wamp, who first founded this ongoing series of technology summits in 1995, expressed his excitement about Chattanooga being the host city for this year's important event saying it will bring top business, government, education and technology leaders together to see the real growth and progress in Chattanooga in recent years.

"It has been seven years since Chattanooga last hosted this regional economic summit," said Wamp.  "There couldn't be a more appropriate time than now for Chattanooga to host this special event with all of the recent technological advances we have made and the work we are doing to position ourselves as a real technology hub for the Tennessee Valley Corridor." 

Mayor Corker will serve as the chairman of the event.  He has recruited TVA's Billie Queen and SimCenter Director Dave Whitfield from the University of Tennessee Chattanooga (UTC) as co-chairs, and together they are leading a regional blue-ribbon steering committee that is helping plan the event.  Wamp and Corker were also joined at today's announcement by UTC President Bill Stacy.

"Chattanooga sits midway between several major research and development partners making it an ideal hub for the Tennessee Valley's technology corridor," said Mayor Corker. "During the Summit, we are looking forward to meeting and hearing from these partners, and working together to create strategies that take advantage of our proximity and lead to the creation of new businesses and jobs which raise the standard of living for all of our citizens."

Chattanooga's new SimCenter at UTC, a graduate education and research program in computational engineering, is a tangible result of going after and recruiting more high-tech brainpower into the region. SimCenter Director and Summit co-chair Dave Whitfield is excited about the contribution the center is making.

"High speed computers and computational engineering are the frontiers and the SimCenter will help Chattanooga be on the cutting edge of new technology research while advancing the curriculum at our major research institution," said Whitfield.

Energy Security and cleaner transportation technologies will also be discussed during the Summit. Chattanooga, home to the Advanced Transportation Technology Institute (ATTI), is leading the way in the research and development of advanced forms of transportation and cleaner fuels, and in June, Wamp received the national Congressional Energy Leadership Award for his outstanding legislative success in encouraging energy efficiency gains.

"The U.S. needs to focus on becoming a world leader in energy efficiency and security, and this region is working to answer that call," said Wamp.

Previous Summits have been held in Oak Ridge; Chattanooga; Knoxville; Tri-Cities, TN/VA; Huntsville, Ala.; Tullahoma, Tenn.; Washington, D.C and Nashville. Under the leadership of the Tennessee Valley's congressional delegation, the Corridor Summit Board, and regionally based Summit coordinating committees, the "Summits" have become the vehicles for monitoring the Valley's new regional economic development initiatives and identifying priorities and opportunities for continued job creation throughout the Valley.

For additional information on the Tennessee Valley Corridor 2003 Summit in Chattanooga, visit www.tennvalleycorridor.org.