Champaign County EDCPosts Tagged ‘’

2018 Innovation Celebration Finalists Announced

CHAMPAIGN, IL, February 23, 2018 – The Champaign County Economic Development Corporation is pleased to announce finalists for the 13th Annual Innovation Celebration in recognition of those individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions, taken risks, and provided leadership to ensure the continuing economic success of Champaign County, the ongoing success of the University’s economic development mission, and the growth of entrepreneurial talent and energy in our community.

Innovation Celebration is not merely an award for accomplishment, but a benchmark of success for those outstanding individuals, organizations and corporations who are nominated and selected to receive this prestigious award. Additionally, Innovation Celebration serves as a tangible collaboration between the Champaign County EDC, University of Illinois, Parkland College, and the community.

The winner of each award category will be announced at Innovation Celebration 2018, held at Parkland College on Thursday, March 29, 2018 from 5:30 – 8:30 pm. To RSVP and learn more about the event, visit www.innovationcelebration.com.

Award Finalists

Entrepreneurial Excellence: Social Venture Award
Serve as change agents by creating and implementing sustainable solutions to reshape society, benefit humanity, and address social concerns.

Entrepreneurial Excellence: Student Startup Award
Formed by students in the last three years and demonstrates a commitment to continuing success through entrepreneurial talent, creativity and energy.

Entrepreneurial Excellence: New Venture Award
Formed in the last three years, and demonstrates a commitment to continuing success through entrepreneurial talent, creativity and energy.

Entrepreneurial Excellence: Advocacy Award
Actively engage, encourage, coach and mentor entrepreneurs in the community, and provide extensive support to help them achieve success.

  • Ken Taylor
  • Stephanie Larson
  • Kathie Cravens

Entrepreneurial Excellence: Management Award
Demonstrates expertise in assembling resources, creating an organization, and working to build and implement effective action plans.

Innovation: Economic Development Impact Award
Has made a significant economic development impact in the community and continues to demonstrate their commitment to Champaign County.

2018 Innovation Transfer Award—University of Illinois
Recognizes an individual or group from the University of Illinois whose research has resulted in either a discovery or a work with the potential for significant societal impact.

 2018 Alexis Wernsing Innovation Award—University of Illinois
Recognizes an individual or team from the University of Illinois that has channeled their experience living with a disability into positive change through the creation of new products, environments, or protocols that enhance quality of life.

2018 Innovation in Engagement Award—Parkland College
Recognizes an individual or group at Parkland College who has shown support of the college’s community engagement mission.

The EDC is pleased to work with the following sponsors of our 13th Annual Innovation Celebration: the University of Illinois’ Technology Entrepreneur Center, Research Park, Office of Corporate Relations, and Office of Technology Management, along with Parkland College, Lodgic, Carle, Serra Ventures, Surface 51, Singleton Law Firm, City of Champaign, Ramshaw Real Estate, Litania Sports Group, Pixo, Hatch Ag Group, IllinoisVENTURES, Huawei R&D USA, Aqueous Solutions LLC, Personify, AARP, Hanson Financial, Community Solutions Incubator at the Community Foundation of East Central Illinois, II-VI EpiWorks, Illinois Small Business Development Center at Champaign County EDC, and Busey.

 

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Press:

2018 Innovation Celebration Award finalists announced, Smile Politely

 

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/.

Champaign County EDC Reveals New Strategic Plan & Highlights Products Made in Champaign County at Annual Meeting

More than 150 people gathered at the Hawthorn Suites in Champaign, IL for the 2013 Champaign County EDC Annual Meeting on Thursday, November 21, 2013. The meeting highlighted the organization’s FY13 activities, showcased products and innovation Made in Champaign County (#MadeInCC), and revealed the organization’s new Strategic Plan.

Products were on display from the following Champaign County companies: Advanced Filtration Systems, Inc. (AFSI), Bump Nonprofit Design Studio, Columbia Street Roastery, Conair Corporation, Dart Container Corporation, Data Comm for Business, Inc., Eagle Wings Industries, Easton-Bell Sports, Flex-N-Gate, Herff Jones, IntelliWheels, Litania Sports Group, Oso Technologies, Ragle Dental Laboratory, Silgan White Cap Americas, Taylor Studios, Triptych Brewing, and Volition. Some of the products on display included bumpers from Flex-N-Gate, oil filers from AFSI, a bicycle helmet from Easton-Bell Sports, video games from Volition, and a dinosaur made by Taylor Studios.

The Champaign County Economic Development Corporation acts through public-private partnerships to continually grow the local economy by supporting local business and driving expansion and attraction.

The Champaign County EDC has set the following two-year goals (as revealed in their new Strategic Plan): provide support to create 3,000 new jobs, attract $225 million in new private investment, assist companies to grow payroll by $132 million (this will ultimately increase per capita pay to $26,000), and increase private sector influence in EDC by doubling the number of private investors.

To read the full plan, download a copy below.

EDC 2013-2015 Strategic Plan

To view photos from the event, please visit the Champaign County EDC’s Facebook album.

Buzz about the event:

Group’s aim: Per capita pay hike for county, The News-Gazette

Economic Development Corporation showcases locally-made products, The Daily Illini

Tweets (#MadeInCC)

Contact:

Carly McCrory, Communications Director
Champaign County EDC
217-359-6261
carly@champaigncountyedc.org

 

2013 Innovation Celebration Winners

Innovation Celebration Logo

Over 200 people gathered at the National Center for Supercomputer Applications for the Eighth Annual Innovation Celebration on the evening of February 28th to recognize those individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions, taken risks, and provided leadership to ensure the continuing economic success of Champaign County, the ongoing success of the University’s economic development mission, and the growth of entrepreneurial talent and energy in the community.

Innovation Celebration is not merely an award for accomplishment, but a benchmark of success for those outstanding individuals, organizations and corporations who are nominated and selected to receive this prestigious award. Additionally, Innovation Celebration serves as a tangible collaboration between the University of Illinois, Parkland College and the community.

Award Winners

Innovation Discovery Award (University of Illinois Award) – Martin Burke

Innovation Transfer Award (University of Illinois Award) – Yoram Bresler

Innovation in Engagement Award (Parkland College Award) – Don Bergfield

Social Entrepreneurship Award – Illinois Green Business Association (IGBA)

Entrepreneur Advocacy Award – Andrew Singer, U of I Technology Entrepreneur Center

Economic Development Impact Award – Champaign Organization of Developers and Engineers (CODE)

Entrepreneurial Excellence in Management Award – Chris Harbourt, Waterborne Environmental, Inc.

Longevity through Innovation Award – Cobalt Digital

Student Startup Award – Oso Technologies

New Venture Award – Spinlight Studio

The winners were chosen out of more than 150 nominations.

The event was sponsored by the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, the University of Illinois’ Technology Entrepreneur Center, Research Park, Office of Corporate Relations, Office of Technology Management, and Office of the Vice President for Research, along with NCSA, Parkland College, Singleton Law Firm, Serra Ventures, Hanson Financial, Ramshaw Real Estate and Surface 51.

Thank you to 40 North for producing the videos for all the winners.

Buzz about the event:

News-Gazette Article

News-Gazette Photos

Storify (#InnCel2013)

Champaign County EDC Photos

SASE TV Video (Awards Ceremony)

Contact:

Carly McCrory, Communications Director
Champaign County EDC
217-359-6261
carly@champaigncountyedc.org

Champaign County EDC Partners with Champaign Unit 4 Schools for #AskUnit4 Twitter Chat Series

Champaign County EDC is partnering with Champaign Unit 4 Schools to implement a series of Twitter chats on various topics relevant to the school district and Champaign County.

The first #AskUnit4 Twitter chat will take place on Friday, February 15, 2013 from 2-4 pm on Twitter. The first hour will be dedicated to questions about the Future Facilities Process where participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback. Participants will also be encouraged to take an online questionnaire to offer their input on the District’s school facilities options. The second hour will be solely a Q&A opportunity for all those participating to ask questions to Champaign Unit 4.

“We are excited to partner with the EDC on our first Twitter chat,” said Stephanie Stuart, Community Relations Coordinator for Champaign Unit 4. “Parents, students, and community members here in Champaign are talking about the things that matter most to them on Twitter. We hope this is the first of many opportunities to have an open dialogue with the community using this platform.”

Stuart and Carly McCrory, Communications Director for the Champaign County EDC, will both moderate the chat and various representatives from the Unit 4 School District will be on hand to answer questions.

All community members are invited to participate in the chat. To participate, log in to Twitter and search for hashtag #AskUnit4. To be included in the chat, the hashtag must be included in your tweets.

Follow Unit 4 (@Unit4Schools) and the Champaign County EDC (@CHCEDC) on Twitter.

If you have questions about the Twitter chat and/or would like more information, please contact:

Stephanie Stuart at stuartst@champaignschools.org, 217-531-0252
Carly McCrory at carly@champaigncountyedc.org, 217-359-6261

For more information on the Future Facilities Process, please visit:
http://futurefacilities.champaignschools.org

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