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Fermilab’s Greatest Hits — And What’s Up Next
by Timothy I. Meyer, Chief Operating Officer, Fermilab This June marked 50 years since Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) began operations in Illinois. Over the last 50 years, Fermilab has been home to some of the most advanced science and...
Getting the Most out of High School STEM Partnerships
by Allie Barwise, Managing Director, ISTI On May 11th, the Illinois Science & Technology Institute, in partnership with Northern Illinois University’s Education System Center, hosted an Employer Summit to discuss building effective learning partnerships. This...
The Federal Science Policy Landscape
Q/A with Dan Berglund, President & CEO, SSTI The Federal government plays an instrumental role in advancing science and technology innovation in the United States. Illinois is a top 10 state in receiving critical investment in basic science and R&D, which has...
Beyond the Index: Spotlighting Two Illinois University Startup Founders
Q/A with Ashley Moy, CEO, Cast 21, and Alex Niemczewski, CEO, BallotReady Earlier this month we released our Illinois Innovation Index, detailing record levels of entrepreneurship activity from Illinois universities, with over 800 companies founded and $630 million in...
Inside mHUB, Chicago’s Newest Manufacturing Incubator
Q/A with Haven Allen, Executive Director, mHUB Incubators and coworking spaces like 1871 and MATTER coalesce Chicago's digital/IT and healthtech startup communities, create jobs, and drive economic development. With the creation of the makerspace mHUB,...
An Inside Look at Argonne’s Startup Incubator
Q/A with Andreas Roelofs, Director, Chain Reaction Innovations and Nano Design Works, Argonne National Laboratories Known for its strengths in supercomputing and clean energy, Argonne National Lab has a long tradition bringing together some of the world’s foremost...
The Illinois Innovation Ecosystem
Since our inception more than 25 years ago, the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (ISTC) has worked to promote and enrich the state of Illinois' research and technology community. Over the last several years in particular, the state has experienced significant...
The Critical Role of Immigrants in Illinois’ Tech Economy
Immigration was one of the most talked about issues of the 2016 presidential election. With the election now behind us and a new administration entering the White House in 2017, immigration reform will continue to be top of mind. For this issue of Catalyst we’d like...
Reinstate the Illinois R&D Tax Credit
By Mark Denzler, Vice President & COO, Illinois Manufacturers Association, Mark Harris, President & CEO, Illinois Science and Technology Coalition and Warren Ribley, President & CEO, Illinois Biotechnology Innovation Organization Illinois’...
Growing Illinois entrepreneurship (from a southern seed)
By Michelle Chitambar, PhD, Research Enterprise Director, Office for the Vice Chancellor for Research, Southern Illinois University In 2015, Forbes ranked the top 50 entrepreneurial universities in the US, based on the number of alumni and students who have...
Catalyst Conversations: Tim Walbert, Chairman, President and CEO, Horizon Pharma plc
Q+A with prolific healthcare business leader Tim Walbert This issue of Catalyst takes you inside the mind of healthcare business leader Tim Walbert, CEO of Illinois-based Horizon Pharma. What follows is an edited interview with Mr. Walbert — about launching and...
Corporate mentorship promotes STEM education in Illinois
By Daaron Dohler, Operations Lead, R&D Strategic and Professional Affairs, Takeda Pharmaceuticals Teaching in the high school classroom is rapidly evolving as teachers embrace new technology and students gain access to information from around the globe. The...
Venture Rising: Recapping the 2016 Chicago Venture Summit
By Mark Tebbe, Chair, and Alya Woods, Director, ChicagoNEXT, World Business Chicago On April 21st venture investors and key players in the Midwest's tech scene came together for the 2016 Chicago Venture Summit, produced by ChicagoNEXT, an initiative of World...
Illinois Growth and Innovation Fund
By Michael Frerichs, Treasurer, State of Illinois As the state’s chief investment officer, it was a moment of great pride and excitement to announce the creation of the Illinois Growth and Innovation Fund earlier this year. The $220 million fund is designed to...
ISTC Catalyst Conversations: Chris Gladwin, Founder, Cleversafe
Pictured: Chris Gladwin (right) with David Baker, VP of External Affairs at Illinois Tech (left), and David Weinstein, founding chairman of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC, center) (Photo courtesy: David Baker) Q&A with one of Chicago's most...
Corporate Culture and Innovation: Changing the Game Inside and Out
By George Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer & Vice President of Caterpillar’s Marketing & Digital Division For 90 years, Caterpillar has carried the worldwide reputation as sturdy, reliable and Built For It™. We’ve earned that reputation by always being...
Winning the Race: Why the Midwest Can Be the Epicenter of IoT
By Fred Hoch, CEO, Illinois Technology Association (ITA) On November 16th and 17th, the Illinois Technology Association (ITA) hosted a two day summit on the Internet of Things (IoT). Over 550 individuals attended the event which focused on trends and...
Harnessing Postdoc STEM Talent to Strengthen Illinois’ Innovation Ecosystem
By Kristene Henne, Postdoctoral Program Lead, Leadership Institute, Argonne National Laboratory The Illinois Innovation Index STEM Talent report released earlier this month highlighted the growth of Illinois’ production of degrees in STEM fields and...