Champaign-Urbana Reminds World of Innovation History with “You’re Welcome” Campaign
Champaign-Urbana has a rich legacy of innovation that is virtually unmatched. “You’re Welcome” is a national marketing campaign that seeks to fill the Champaign-Urbana community with pride while informing the rest of the world of its legacy of innovation.
“Champaign-Urbana is one of the most talent-dense, well educated, and diverse regions in the U.S.,” said Laura Frerichs, director of the Research Park at the University of Illinois, which is home to software engineering hubs for companies like Yahoo, Anheuser-Busch, John Deere, Caterpillar, Dow AgroSciences, Raytheon and the award-winning EnterpriseWorks startup incubator. “The university’s top ranked engineering, informatics and computer science programs have created a robust pipeline of innovators with technical skills to fuel an unusually large technology community that is balanced by an outstanding quality of life.”
The You’re Welcome website highlights Champaign-Urbana’s history of innovation, culture and quality of life. It will be an asset for local businesses and organizations looking to recruit top tech talent to the area.
Financial news website MarketWatch, published by DOW Jones, recently highlighted the You’re Welcome campaign, praising its focus on innovation and entrepreneurship while remaining entertaining at the same time.
“‘You’re Welcome’ begins and ends with innovation, as the launch pad for Mark Andreesen’s Project Mosaic which eventually became the world’s first graphic internet browser; home to Blue Waters, one of the world’s largest and fastest super computers; and educated the minds that created ubiquitous online tools like PayPal, Yelp, YouTube who are alumni of the University of Illinois’ computer science program which has been ranked in the top 5 for nearly a half-century. This history of innovation is one of the reasons the community also has 3.4 times the national average for venture capital per capita, which supports its abundant entrepreneurs.”
You’re Welcome is a true community collaboration led by the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation and the University of Illinois Research Park.
For more information, please visit YoureWelcomeCU.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Sponsorships are still available.
To celebrate this campaign, please join us for the You’re Welcome launch party on Monday, September 28th from 5-7 pm at Quality Bar in Downtown Champaign. The event is open to the public.
Read the original press release.