Tennessee Valley Corridor 2008 National Summit

"The sun is shining in Huntsville and Oak Ridge right now. Through regional collaboration and cooperation the Tennessee Valley Corridor can lead the country in meeting the challenges we face in today's changing world," said Congressman Wamp, founder of the Tennessee Valley Corridor. “As the southern anchor, the world-class resources in Northern Alabama provide great benefits to our region and nation.”

The 2008 Tennessee Valley Corridor National Technology Summit was hosted by Congressman Bud Cramer of Alabama at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville at the end of May. Participants included Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, Redstone Arsenal and Marshall Space Flight Center.

The event included hundreds of regional and national leaders including General George W. Casey, Jr., U.S. Army Chief of Staff, who gave a keynote address on rising to the challenges of new global threats and Dr. Thomas Barnett, a bestselling author and national security consultant who spoke on the world and American competitiveness.

"The nexus between energy, the environment and national security is the greatest policy challenge of our generation," said Zach during a panel discussion he led on energy innovation and economic opportunity in the Tennessee Valley Corridor.

Other session topics included leveraging research parks, advancing federal missions in the region, America’s Global Competitiveness, NASA and the role that Marshall Space Flight Center plays in science and space exploration, America’s nuclear renaissance and the Tennessee Valley Corridor’s leadership role in boosting America’s energy independence and the new growth and opportunities related to BRAC (Base Realignment and Closures) resulting in several new U.S. Army missions and thousands of related jobs relocating to North Alabama and Southern Middle Tennessee.

Building on regional assets, 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. This is the 19 th in a series of such events since 1995 that have strategically linked the technology-rich Tennessee Valley Corridor -- from North Alabama through Tennessee into Southwest Virginia and Southern and Eastern Kentucky.