News RoomArchive for the ‘’ Category

Willard Airport TSA Pre✓® Local Enrollment Event

Frequent traveler? Consider enrolling in TSA Pre✓® , an expedited screening program available at 167 U.S. airports. Fly Champaign-Urbana is hosting a local enrollment event from April 25th to May 6th. Learn more/schedule your appointment: https://www.flycmi.com/tsaprecheck.TSAPrecheckLogo

From the press release:

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Air travelers who would like to enroll in TSA’s popular expedited-screening program can do so at Savoy’s Willard Airport from 10:00 A.M. to 7 P.M. on April 25 to May 6. TSAPre✓® allows passengers to proceed quickly through airport security at 167 U.S. airports without removing footwear or presenting for inspection small containers of liquid, laptops, light outerwear or belts.

“It can be quite a hassle to enroll in this program at a distant location or at a busy airport,” said Gene Cossey, Willard Airport Executive Director. “Now, this limited time event can let travelers make an appointment and apply closer to home, rather than driving considerable distances and waiting in long lines.”

For easy access to the enrollment pages and for more information about the program, interested parties can visit www.iflycu.com.

The event will be held in the Willard Airport Café Conference room and Willard Airport will validate parking for all guests attending the TSA Pre✓® Enrollment event.

To complete the application process, each person will need to bring proof of identity and U.S. citizen documentation (such as a U.S. Passport or a birth certificate and a driver license) to his or her appointment. More information on ID requirements can be found at http://www.tsa.gov/tsa-precheck/required-documentation.

The application process, including on-site fingerprint collection, will be completed at the event. TSA requires an $85 application for five years of service. The fee can be paid by credit card, money order, company check, or certified/cashier’s check. Cash and personal checks are not accepted.

About University of Illinois – Willard Airport:
Willard Airport currently has daily flights to both Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth with easy connects to more than 175 cities. In 2015 over 170,000 passengers used Willard Airport.

CEB Data Innovation Center Opens at UI Research Park

From the press release:

CEB TAPS TOP TECH MINDS TO ADVANCE TALENT ANALYTICS LEADERSHIP

Employees at new Data Innovation Center at Research Park at the University of Illinois to Focus on Emerging Technologies’ Applications for Talent-Focused Organizations

ARLINGTON, Va., March 16, 2016CEB (NYSE:CEB), a best practice insight and technology company, today announced the grand opening of its newest office at Research Park at the University of Illinois. The facility, a data analytics innovation center, will be home to nearly a dozen undergraduate and graduate students working on emerging technologies—including natural language processing, machine learning and data visualization—to enhance CEB’s leadership position in talent strategy and analytics. CEB Grand Opening

“Our own best practice insights confirm that having the right talent in place is pivotal to achieving business objectives and driving growth,” said Melody Jones, chief administrative officer, CEB. “We’re establishing our Data Innovation Center at Research Park because students here have the skills and drive to expand our market-leading talent analytics portfolio and ultimately help the world’s best companies bring new levels of precision to their talent investments.”

“It’s exciting to see a corporation like CEB, which is in the business of recognizing and fostering talent, come to Illinois to tap into the culture of innovation at the Research Park,” said University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign chancellor Barbara Wilson. “Research partnerships are critical to groundbreaking discoveries that benefit all involved, especially in accelerating the new frontiers of data science.”

CEB’s analytics offerings, including CEB TalentNeuron, its workforce surveys and Sunstone analytics, are quickly being adopted by leading global organizations to inform everything from location planning to individual candidate selection. With more than 35 billion data points under management, the company is equipping senior executives around the world with the intelligence they need to make critical talent decisions quickly.

“Analytics are key to giving our customers an unmatched level of visibility into the labor market,” Jones added. “This Center will augment our own team’s advanced analytics work designed to fulfill that promise. Given our mission to advance the science and practice of management, we couldn’t be more pleased to bring to these innovations to market in collaboration with an institution as respected for developing tech talent as the University of Illinois.”

To learn more about CEB’s leadership in talent analytics, please visit our website.

About CEB

CEB is a best practice insight and technology company. In partnership with leading organizations around the globe, we develop innovative solutions to drive corporate performance. CEB equips leaders at more than 10,000 companies with the intelligence to effectively manage talent, customers, and operations. CEB is a trusted partner to nearly 90% of the Fortune 500 and FTSE 100, and more than 70% of the Dow Jones Asian Titans. More at cebglobal.com.

Press:

Research Park welcome 101st business, The Daily Illini

New Illinois Innovation Index highlights growth of university-driven startups in Illinois

The Illinois Science and Technology Coalition released new data conveying the growth of entrepreneurial activity across the state’s universities as part of its Illinois Innovation Index, a publication that reports on key metrics of the state’s innovation economy.

A big takeaway? The report found that over the past five academic years, students and faculty at Illinois universities have created 611 startups through university technology licensing, entrepreneurship programs and competitions, and other university-financed initiatives.

We know this to be true as we have a great tech ecosystem in Champaign-Urbana & see many startups from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, several of which are located at the University of Illinois Research Park and throughout the community.

Agrible, a Champaign-Urbana startup, was located on page 12 of the report.

From the press release:

New Illinois Innovation Index highlights growth of university-driven startups in Illinois

Index reports highest level of startups launched over the last 5 years with 73% staying in the state

March 8, 2016 – (CHICAGO, IL) – The Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (ISTC) today released new data conveying the growth of entrepreneurial activity across the state’s universities as part of its Illinois Innovation Index, a publication that reports on key metrics of the state’s innovation economy. The announcement was made at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s University Technology Park with university leaders and leading university-driven entrepreneurs.

Based on data self-reported by the state’s universities, the report found that over the past five academic years, students and faculty at Illinois universities have created 611 startups through university technology licensing, entrepreneurship programs and competitions, and other university-financed initiatives. Roughly 80 percent of these companies remain active (or were acquired), and 73 percent of active startups were based in Illinois at the time of the survey—up from 68 percent reported in last year’s survey.

“Illinois’ universities are engines of economic growth. The significant uptick in the level of entrepreneurial activity occurring on campuses across the state is a testament to the investment our universities have been making to build programs, initiatives, and incubation spaces that cultivate entrepreneurial talent and support technology companies that are growing here in Illinois,” said ISTC president and CEO Mark Harris.

University of Illinois President Tim Killeen, who also serves as chairman of the ISTC Board of Directors, said the findings reinforce the critical role that universities play in moving Illinois forward.

“Our universities are the key to success in a knowledge-based, 21st century economy –
incubators of the breakthrough innovation that creates the new businesses and jobs of tomorrow,” Killeen said. “Illinois is home to some of the world’s most accomplished research universities, and they share a commitment to pioneering scholarship that leads the way to a new era of progress and prosperity.”

The Index also reports that university startups created since 2010–11 have raise at least $345 million, including $311 million in follow-on private funding with the remaining $34 million coming from crowd funding, university grants, competition awards, and the government in the form of SBIR/STTR grants. While companies often relocate to move closer to investors, Illinois retained roughly 62 percent of these companies that received venture capital funding.

“The recent growth in entrepreneurial start-ups, including those created by Illinois Tech students comes from both the strong interest of our students and the innovative culture and support system we now have in place” said Alan Cramb, president of Illinois Institute of Technology. “Our University Technology Park also affords opportunities for students to work directly for start-ups, such as Chris Gladwin’s Cleversafe.”

“The growth in university entrepreneurship is no surprise because we’ve placed an increasing focus on reducing the barriers to entry for passionate entrepreneurs commercializing research already happening across the University of Chicago, Argonne and Fermilab,” said John Flavin, executive director of the Chicago Innovation Exchange and ISTC board member. “By providing space, capital, and access to talent, programming and connections to industry partners, we are increasing translation of early stage ideas into commercially validated products and ventures leading to job creation and retention in Illinois.”

Activity in all four tech transfer categories—disclosures, patents, licenses, and startups—has increased over the past five years both in Illinois and at the national level as well. Illinois universities recorded especially robust growth in total number of patents – fifth nationally – and tech transfer startups continue to be led by biomedical technologies, with software and clean tech companies rounding out the top three.

“Universities provide the fuel to propel the economy forward and will be instrumental in order to advance Chicago as a top tier technology hub,” said Chris Gladwin, ISTC board member and founder of Cleversafe, which sold to IBM last year for more than $1.3 billion. “Cleversafe’s success was a result of the early partnership forged with Illinois Tech and the momentum building across many of our universities around entrepreneurship is a promising sign of even more to come.”

“SiNode Systems is a model of how university-driven clean tech innovations can successfully transition technology from the laboratory to the marketplace,” said Samir Mayekar, cofounder and CEO of SiNode Systems, which he started as a Northwestern University MBA student in 2011. “With the support of the Illinois technology ecosystem, we are on a trajectory to not only stimulate local economic growth, but also impact the environment and global economy over the next decade, as we drive the performance of electric vehicles, renewables and grid-scale energy storage to the next level.”

Press:

Midwest is super-home to tech/science start-ups, WCIA 3 News
Tech Talent Grows Here: 73 Percent of Startups Born at Illinois Universities Stay In-State, ChicagoInno
Illinois Innovation Index: More university startups staying in state, Chicago Tribune
Here’s what 611 Illinois startups have in common, Crain’s Chicago Business

 

Parkland Videos Highlight Manufacturing Companies in Champaign County

As part of our effort to highlight products and innovation Made in Champaign County (#MadeInCC), we were happy to connect Parkland College with some of our local manufacturers so they could create videos to highlight the companies, their products, work environment, job opportunities, and more.

EpiWorks, Inc.

Frasca International, Inc.

BRG Sports

HL Precision Manufacturing, Inc.

Advanced Filtration Systems, Inc.

 

Patterson Wins Cozad Entrepreneur Award

Congratulations to Lori Gold Patterson, CEO of Pixo and EDC Board member! Lori will receive the V. Dale Cozad Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Parkland College on June 8th at the iHotel and Conference Center. Read more about the award here.

Pixo was recently honored at Innovation Celebration 2016 as a finalist for the Innovation: Longevity Award.

About Pixo: Pixo is a woman-owned development house that has been a part of the Champaign-Urbana technical community for seventeen years. They comprise a team of thirty-two cross-disciplinary creative problem-solvers who thrive in a culture of vulnerability, humans over profit, and risk-taking. Pixo engages in development for companies of all sizes—from enterprises to start-ups. When a client has a vision for a product or service, Pixo has the team to design and build it. Learn more at http://www.pixotech.com/.

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