Jackson Co to Participate in TVA ED Innovation Academy

August 2, 2021 Shannon Millsaps

Jackson County, Alabama is one of 8 communities taking part in this year’s TVA Economic Development Community Innovation Academy, a program and experience to help economic developers create breakthrough ideas together to better their communities.

Developed by TVA Economic Development and Guillermo Mazier, Founder of Collective Intelligence and VP of Global Innovation for Conway Data Inc., the Academy aids in unlocking the tools, tactics and skills to more effectively and collaboratively solve community problems with the goal of sparking more economic growth and shared community prosperity.

Jackson County’s participation in the TVA Innovation Academy is a collaborative effort with Academy local representation including Nathan Lee with Jackson County EDA, Meg Nippers with Northeast Alabama Community College and Sarah Stahl with The Mountain Lakes Chamber of Commerce. With Jackson County Economic Development Authority as the initiative lead.

Over a course of nine months, participating communities are completing community ecosystem maps, performing innovation capacity assessments and engaging in hours of interactive working sessions to identify a critical community challenge and incubating a solution that would solve it and in turn positively affect their local economies.

The Academy will culminate on October 21 in Nashville, TN with a pitch presentation by each participating community outlining an innovative solution to a proposed problem within their community. Teams will be seeking resources (i.e. feedback, introductions, connections, program funding) from the pitch event judges and audience members to strengthen their solution pathway.

Cities and their community networks are incredible vectors to solve complex economic development problems. The growing rate of global change and unpredictable business environments present a profound challenge to our ability to plan, manage and grow our communities these days. Companies and talent alike are increasingly looking to locate or grow in communities that welcome change, embrace creativity and build innovative environments. Challenges accelerated by the Covid 19 pandemic like workforce availability, small business readiness, corporate growth/expansion and inequality have grown exponentially more complex. How communities effectively respond to those challenges requires new thinking, new models and new collaborations. By applying community innovation, we can help places like Jackson County positively impact their long-term economic future

Guillermo Mazier, Founder Collective Intelligence and CP Global Innovation at Conway, Inc.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power companies serving 10 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation. More information is available at TVA.com.