Catalyst
The Catalyst newsletter is a monthly publication that spotlights components of the state’s innovation ecosystem. Each month, we feature a column written by a leader from the tech community, highlight innovation news in Illinois, or offer perspective on current issues in the innovation community. Catalyst is the best way to stay up-to-date on all things science and technology in Illinois.
E-Mentoring: A New Model for STEM Education
By Allie Barwise, Managing Director and Emily Cooper, Director of Programs, Illinois Science and Technology Institute By 2018, it is expected that Illinois will demand 319,820 STEM jobs, and 93 percent of those jobs will require some sort of post-secondary...
Promoting Innovation in Financial Technology through Cross-Sector Initiatives
By Rumi Morales, Executive Director, CME According to a recent report by Accenture, global investment in financial technology (fintech) companies grew by 200% from 2013 to 2014 to $12 billion, compared to 63% overall venture capital growth. Expectations are...
Impact Investing: Realizing Economic Growth and Social Progress Through Entrepreneurship
By Jessica Droste Yagan, Chief Executive Officer, Impact Engine Two years ago, Impact Engine’s Chairman, Chuck Templeton, addressed the ISTC community and shared his vision of a great ecosystem of impact investing emerging in Illinois. Today, it’s safe to say...
Making the Future: How Incubators Are Driving a New Era of Hardware Innovation and Manufacturing in Illinois
By Jeffrey Margolis, Managing Director, Illinois Science and Technology Coalition Haven Allen, Manufacturing Strategy Manager, World Business Chicago Illinois has a strong legacy as a state of makers and builders. Product development and manufacturing that...
Illinois R&D driving industry: Illinois laboratories and industry partner to advance accelerator-based technologies
By Robert Kephart, Director, Illinois Accelerator Research Center (IARC), Fermilab, and Cherri J. Schmidt, Manager, Office of Partnerships and Technology Transfer, Fermilab Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory...
Illinois Innovation Day: Partnerships driving regional prosperity through innovation
By Amy Francetic, CEO, Clean Energy Trust, Greg Baise, President & CEO, Illinois Manufacturers Association, Mark Harris, President & CEO, Illinois Science and Technology Coalition, Fred Hoch, CEO, Illinois Technology Association Today Governor Rauner opens the...
Computing, Medicine and Biotechnology: A New Partnership to Achieve Breakthroughs
By Professor Ravishankar Iyer, Professor of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Liewei Wang, Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Mayo Clinic Rochester, Professor Kevin White, Director of the Institute of...
Federal R&D Support Drives Illinois Tech
By Illinois Reps. Dan Lipinski (D-3) and Randy Hultgren (R-14) Illinois has an ecosystem of innovation that puts us in a place to lead the nation in a number of high tech fields, and our nation’s historic commitment to basic scientific research has put the people and...
Proof of Concept Program Brings Industry Feedback to Early Stage University Commercialization
By Nancy Sullivan, CEO and Managing Director, IllinoisVENTURES, and Azmi Nabulsi, Head of R&D Strategic and Professional Affairs, Takeda Pharmaceuticals International In December, representatives from venture capital and industry across the U.S. gathered in...
The New Partnership: Startups and Corporations Working Together
By Jacob Babcock, CEO, NuCurrent Jacob Babcock is CEO of NuCurrent, a leading developer of high-efficiency antennas for wireless power applications. Compliant across Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP), Wireless Power Consortium (Qi) and Power Matters Alliance (PMA)...
Illinois Medical District: Bringing the Benefits of Biomedical Research to Patients and Advancing Chicago’s Life Sciences Ecosystem
By Warren Ribley, Executive Director, Illinois Medical District Commission In the recently published Science and Technology Roadmap, the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition identified biomedical research as Illinois’ fastest growing research field and one of the...
Illinois Demonstrates the Materials Genome Initiative: Center for Hierarchical Materials Design (CHiMaD)
Dr. Peter Voorhees, Co-Director, CHiMaD, Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University Last month, the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition released a first-of-its-kind report that took a data-driven approach to identifying research strengths that...
The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research: Creating Next-Generation Battery Technology in Illinois
Dr. George Crabtree, Director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, Argonne National Laboratory Earlier this month the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (ISTC) released a first-of-its-kind report revealing areas of science and technology research...
Academic-corporate collaborations help drive technology commercialization: the Baxter-Northwestern Alliance and the success of Naurex
By Richard (Chip) Hay Jr, Director, Office of Corporate Relations, Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University Depression affects an estimated 19 million Americans, and for many of them, current treatments barely work. It’s...
Experiential Learning Drives STEM Interest from an Early Age
By Michelle Kolar, Executive Director for Professional Field Services, Dora Phillips, Director for Statewide Educator Initiatives, and Chris Kolar, Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness “Am I ever going to use this in the real world?” is a common...
NSF I-Corps: Jump-starting University Innovation in Illinois
By Jed L. Taylor, Director of Operations, University of Illinois Technology Entrepreneur Center One day the airplane you fly on will be safer because its GPS device uses authentication technology being commercialized out of the lab of Professor Grace Gao at the...
Immigration Reform Key to Innovation Economy Growth in Illinois
By: President John L. Anderson, PhD, Illinois Institute of Technology; President Douglas D. Baker, PhD, Northern Illinois University; and President Robert A. Easter, PhD, University of Illinois Graduation ceremonies are times of celebration for those of us who are...
Innovation Hubs Drive Jobs, Entrepreneurship and Return of Investment across Illinois
By Adam Pollet, Director, Illinois Department of Economic Development and Opportunity (DCEO) More than 20 innovation hubs launched by state or university dollars serve as connection points for the innovation ecosystems for regions and technologies across Illinois from...
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