For seven decades, researchers and scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the Knoxville, Tenn., metro area have made considerable scientific advancements. It began with work on the atomic bomb during World War II and continues today with the new Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), the nation’s largest science project.

One of the goals of ORNL, and the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley metro in general, is to turn that scientific research into commercial applications.

That’s why business executives and officials in the Knoxville-Oak Ridge metro turned out in May for the announcement that the nation’s first technology park located at a national laboratory will be built in Oak Ridge.

The Oak Ridge Science and Technology Park will be available for private sector companies and will be used to help create startup companies from technologies developed at ORNL. The technology park will be built on the massive ORNL campus.

The park already has a commitment from engineering services company Pro2Serve Professional Project Services. The company will build a $15 million, 100,000 square foot facility to serve as the company’s national security engineering center and corporate headquarters. Pro2Serve plans to add about 200 employees to its staff.

The decision to locate within a national lab was based on strong relationships with Department of Energy and ORNL in deploying national security technologies, said Barry Goss, president of Pro2Serve.

Holrob Investments will build a separate $15 million, 100,000 square foot office building, and the company is seeking several tenants.

ORNL has constructed nearly $2 billion in new facilities in recent years, including the SNS and the Center for Computational Sciences, which is assembling the world’s fastest super computer.

The $1.4 billion SNS has about eight times the beam power of the world’s previously leading pulsed spallation source.

The SNS generated its first neutrons in April.

It will enable 2,000 researchers from around the world to study the science of materials that form the basis for new technologies in energy, telecommunications, manufacturing, transportation, information technology, and biotechnology and health.

Jeff Wadsworth, director of ORNL, said the technology park, in combination with the lab’s nanotechnology, biotechnology, computing capabilities and energy research, will attract universities, and large and startup companies.

“Each can benefit from the unique resources we have in Oak Ridge,” he said.

Gerald Boyd, manager of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge office, said ORNL develops some of the world’s most important new technologies.

“One of our priorities is to help make those technologies available for new companies and new jobs,” he said.

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