Laura Appenzeller on LinkedIn: Thank you to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student interns… (2024)

Today was an exciting day for the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the State of Illinois announcing the new Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP) along the lake at the large former US Steel manufacturing site, which operated for 100 years and once employed more than 20,000 employees. The site will turn to the future and new technology that will build our tech future with anchor company PsiQuantum, a leading quantum computing company building the largest and most powerful utility quantum computers in the US. This 128 acre tech park will attract the new Illinois Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) proving ground, large cryoplant for equipment cooling, shared research facility for joint computing and prototyping, and more companies currently in recruitment. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is playing a lead role of park management with other institutions and collaboration with master developer, Related Midwest. It was a gorgeous sunny day at the lake to celebrate with many partners that have made this possible. Grateful to JB Pritzker and the IL legislators for their leadership and investment in IL as a leader in this groundbreaking industry that impact capabilities for encryption, drug discovery, climate research, logistics and many more discoveries. It has been inspiring to work with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Intersect Illinois, P33 Chicago, and The Grainger College of Engineering colleagues on planning the future vibrant research and technology park. A big team effort to reach the initial milestone and I’m looking forward to construction and transformation coming soon.https://lnkd.in/gygA3-GC

171

3 Comments

Quantum Technology in Manufacturing event MxD in Chicago. United States Department of Defense Principal Director for Quantum Science, Dr. John Burke shared an excellent overview of quantum sensing and computing, state of industry, applications, supply chain, and workforce. He discussed scaling challenges and modularity, need for specialized fabrication and facilities. He acknowledges the importance of the Illinois investment in building these capabilities. Prof. Brian DeMarco from The Grainger College of Engineering highlighted new Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Illinois Quantum Proving Ground planned for the new IL quantum campus. Meera Raja updated on the quantum Tech Hub strategy.

24

Two days of hosting the U.S. Small Business Administration America’s Seed Fund National Road Show at the University of Illinois Research Park was a big success showcasing SBIR and STTR programs for small businesses. We hosted 22 federal agencies and had 200 attendees. We featured many IL startups including: Cache Energy, Inprentus, Prenosis, SimBioSys, Inc., LIVLabs.io, Natrion Inc., Hydrosome Labs LLC, Midwest Bioprocessing Center, Nucrypt LLC, Cygnus Photonics. We also shared many entrepreneurial support programs to build companies including: Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Great Lakes I-Corps Hub, Illinois Science and Technology Coalition, Evergreen Climate Innovations, Illinois Ventures, Discovery Partners Institute, Polsky Center at the University of Chicago, Serra Ventures, LLC, gener8tor. Thank you for the generous sponsorship of the Illinois Innovation Network. The Illinois FAST Center is proud to serve entrepreneurs all across the State to access SBIR and STTR funding.

64

7 Comments

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) State of Illinois announce massive investment in Quantum Proving Ground, press conference led by Gov. JB Pritzker with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, elected officials, research leaders from IL and DC. The State and DARPA pledge up to $140 million each in matching funding for quantum computing research and industry commercialization to vet algorithms, create prototypes, and provide unparalleled quantum and cryo shared infrastructure and equipment at a new Illinois quantum campus. Great leadership from The Grainger College of Engineering Brian DeMarco and Harley Johnson working with DARPA, and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to create the groundbreaking program. Illinois is the leading location for quantum computing in the US because of its research institutions, federal labs, and investment and commitment by Gov. Pritzker. https://lnkd.in/gXErT82D

225

3 Comments

Thank you Pete Wilkins for highlighting the longstanding leadership of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in computing, which make us an early leader in AI and continuing to drive the future with company partnerships with companies such as IBM, NVIDIA, and Yahoo.

5

Today I hosted the Illinois Cultivating Master Farmers program at the University of Illinois Research Park, which pairs experienced farmers with younger generation farmers to spend two years together as mentor/mentees, which enriches both with new skills and perspectives. This program is organized as a partnership with 6 organizations: Illinois Farm Bureau, Compeer Financial, Bayer, GROWMARK, Inc., Farm Credit Illinois, and Farm Progress (Prairie Farmer). Each year they arrange a trip for them to see a new area of agriculture. They visited #agtech companies with tours and introductions to scientists, founders, and students. This is a chance for the companies to share their technology and innovation direction and to have a dialogue with the farmers to get their perspective too. Thank you to our hosts: Eric Barnard from HarvestIQ, Inc, Loic Deblais from Hypercell Technologies, Michael Tai from Boston Bioprocess, Brad Pitcher from GDM, Karandeep Singh from AGCO Corporation, Masha Trenhaile from Bayer, Chinmay Soman from EarthSense, Inc., and Thomas Clark from Genective.

52

Play time at the University of Illinois Research Park table tennis tournament is an annual favorite fun competition among the companies, resulting in awards, including the golden paddle. It’s intense! 🏓🏆#tabletennis #teamyahoo

51

2 Comments

Thank you for sharing the recording, Mark Moran. I enjoyed watching it live and hearing both of you share your expertise. It’s a great discussion on AgTech and the innovation opportunities in agriculture highlighted at University of Illinois Research Park.

4

Today was a big day to celebrate the iFAB Tech Hub, which was awarded $51 million in projects by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. Its a huge win for Champaign, Piatt, and Macon counties to build bioprocessing and precision fermentation in Central, IL. Check out some of the press coverage from today. It was a fun day to celebrate at the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory with our leadership team! Biden-Harris Administration Announces Next Funding Round of $504 Million for 12 Tech Hubs Across Americahttps://lnkd.in/gqv7gjXS Gov. Pritzker, IL Congressional Leaders Announce iFAB Awarded $51 million EDA Tech Hubs Granthttps://lnkd.in/gqqjHvzc iFAB awarded $51 million EDA Tech Hubs grant to propel Central Illinois as a biomanufacturing leaderhttps://lnkd.in/gT_YtG25Illinois notches one win, one loss in feds' contest for big research grantshttps://lnkd.in/gyd3YAVJ Illinois' iFAB Tech Hub gets $51 million federal grant, Chicago quantum hub misses outhttps://lnkd.in/gF8hmN-S iFAB to receive $51 million from Biden-Harris administrationhttps://lnkd.in/g2XxufsW

294

16 Comments