Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has joined the Illinois Innovation Network (IIN), a group of hubs across the state that aims to boost Illinois’ economy through entrepreneurship, research and workforce development. IIN now has 15 hubs, including all of Illinois’ public universities, and spans the entire state.
“SIUE is pleased to participate in the IIN and to join Illinois public higher education institutions to address our local communities’ and state’s most pressing challenges,” said SIUE Chancellor Randy Pembrook, PhD. “The collaborative possibilities that grow out of the IIN will leverage the strength of the state’s intellectual resources to advance discovery and innovation, while enhancing student learning opportunities and research collaboration.
“Importantly, it creates new partnerships, energy and momentum to address the state’s workforce and economic development needs, so we can retain talent and enhance our citizen’s lives. At SIUE, our mission is to ‘shape a changing world,’ and we believe that together we can address challenges and position Illinois as a national leader.”
Led by the University of Illinois System, IIN launched last August with its first hubs at the three U of I System institutions and a fourth at the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) in downtown Chicago.
Along with SIUE, hubs that officially joined today will be located at Chicago State University, Eastern Illinois University, Governors State University, Illinois State University, Northeastern Illinois University, Rockford (on the U of I regional medical campus), Southern Illinois University Carbondale and Western Illinois University.
IIN hubs will harness the intellectual strengths of universities and their communities, working in collaboration with DPI to foster research innovation that drives progress and economic growth. DPI, a purpose-driven, collaborative research center led by the U of I System in downtown Chicago, will ultimately be home to thousands of students and over 100 top researchers. They will work with IIN hubs and with academic, business and tech partners around the world on breakthrough discoveries to spark innovation, economic growth and prosperity.
SIUE proposed the creation of a new Center for Sustainable Communities and Entrepreneurship, which would expand research capacity and infrastructure to drive economic growth in southwestern Illinois. The center would focus on critical areas such as health, the environment, food and water supplies, education, and workforce training. The center also would house the Metropolitan Accelerator Research Square, a business and engineering accelerator to facilitate technology transfer and capture a greater share of the growing St. Louis startup economy for Illinois.
All of the hubs are in line for startup funding from the $500 million in capital funds that were approved for DPI and IIN last year by the Illinois legislature, if the funding is re-appropriated in this year’s budget. The SIUE hub is dependent upon the state funding and securing public or private partners.
Hubs will be able to participate in DPI programming and collaborations, while DPI researchers and students will be able to partner with the hubs for educational, research and outreach activities.
“It is very exciting to see how our state’s public universities are working together through the Illinois Innovation Network, and how they are putting innovation at the forefront of their agenda,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said. “We have so much potential if we just work together, and today’s announcement shows me that our universities are committed to that. They are our state’s key pillars of innovation and talent production, and I look forward to seeing the even greater impact they can have on Illinois’ economy through the IIN.”
The network of hubs now includes every city in Illinois with a public university presence, and each hub has recruited multiple public and private partners from its region to develop programming with both local and statewide impact.
Work at each hub will seek to grow its local and regional economy through education and innovation pinned to the academic strengths of its host university, such as clean energy, healthcare, manufacturing, entrepreneurship and food supplies. They also will work with DPI and their sister IIN hubs to identify opportunities for collaboration and resource sharing.
For more information, contact Ben Taylor at the University of Illinois System at 217-244-5045 or bktaylor@uillinois.edu.