December 2015 Research Park Announcements
Stay Connected:
Get these announcements emailed to you by signing up for our listserv.
“Like” our Research Park Facebook page to track events, RSVP, and see event pictures.
Follow us on Twitter @uiresearchpark.
Check out videos from events we tape and content about our clients on YouTube Channel, researchparkuiuc.
UPCOMING RESEARCH PARK EVENTS
Wednesday, December 9, 12:00 PM
Event: EIR Workshop: What’s your story?
Location: EnterpriseWorks Conference Room 130
About the Event: James Janega, who helped launch Chicago Tribune’s Blue Sky innovation platform, will present The SUCCES metric for telling simple, unexpected, concrete, credentialed, emotional stories that will stick with your audience, no matter who they are.
Sponsors: EnterpriseWorks
Friday, December 11, 3:00 PM
Event: Hanukkah Snack Time
Location: EnterpriseWorks Atrium
About the Event: Come have a late afternoon snack in celebration of Hanukkah! We will have potato pancakes and fried donuts in honor of the Jewish festival of lights, and possibly a rowdy game of dreidel. First come, first served.
Sponsors: EnterpriseWorks
Wednesday, December 16, 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Event: Research Park Holiday Party
Location: EnterpriseWorks Atrium
About the Event: Come join the companies of Research Park for an evening of fun, food, and camaraderie, celebrating the holidays and the past accomplishments of 2015!
Sponsors: Research Park
Thursday, January 21, 12:00 – 1 PM
Event: EIR Workshop: 7 Mistakes Scaling Companies Make
Location: EnterpriseWorks Atrium
About the Event: If your company reaches that rarefied air of scaling the company rapidly, you won’t want to miss this EIR workshop. Craig Vodnik, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at UIRP, will share 7 mistakes that inexperienced entrepreneurs make. Craig will share his own experiences and mistakes made over the past 9 years and will offer insight into how entrepreneurs can avoid them.
Sponsors: EnterpriseWorks
Friday, January 22, 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Event: 11th Annual Innovation Celebration
Location: Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (Main Lobby)
About the Event: Innovation Celebration provides 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.
Sponsors: Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, University of Illinois, and Parkland College
Finalists announced today: http://www.champaigncountyedc.
SAVE THE DATES
Thursday, February 18, 2016 8:30 AM- 3 PM
Event: Agriculture Technology Innovation Summit
Location: iHotel and Conference Center
About the Event: : Modern agriculture is being transformed by a confluence of advancing technologies. As a result, record breaking investments in the sector are supporting new ventures. Illinois is uniquely positioned where agriculture, engineering, and technology intersect and is on its way to becoming a hub of agriculture entrepreneurship activity. This event will include speakers from industry, investors, and successful examples of entrepreneurship. Registration will be available soon.
Sponsors: University of Illinois Research Park, the College of ACES, the Office of Corporate Relations, and the Office of Technology Management.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016 4:30 PM – 7 PM
Event: Research Park Career Fair
Location: iHotel and Conference Center
About the Event: The 10th annual Corporate Internships & Careers in the Research Park will be held on March 15th, 2016 at the i-Hotel and Conference Center at 1900 South First Street, Champaign. The Career Fair is a great way for students who are specifically interested in working in the Research Park to meet with employers, both startups and corporate operations. Students do not need to register for this event. For more information visit the Facebook event page.
NEW ENTERPRISEWORKS TENANTS/AFFILIATES/STUDENT STARTUPS
SoIL DIagnostics
Soil Diagnostics Inc. is in the business of helping growers manage their most valuable asset, their soil. We are a small startup with a big vision: We want to bring cutting edge, low cost, high resolution monitoring services for soil nutrients and soil-dwelling pathogens to enable growers to maximize their profitability while reducing their input costs.
PSYONIC
PSYONIC is commercializing a low-cost, 3D-printed prosthetic hand that can be controlled by neural signals from remaining muscles in the forearm of a person with an amputation. PSYONIC was the first-place winner of the 2015 Cozad New Venture Competition’s University-funded track, has participated in the I-Corps site program at EnterpriseWorks, and was in the iVenture Accelerator program last summer.
Nardo Technology
Nardo Technology develops technology that interfaces with mobile devices to turn them into chemical detection devices for use in the agriculture and forensic field. Nardo Technology was founded by chemistry doctoral candidate Kandis Gillard, and the company has participated in the I-Corps site program at EnterpriseWorks.
Environmental Sorbent Engineering LLC
ESE aims at developing smart adsorbent materials for energy and environmental applications.
RESEARCH PARK ANNOUNCEMENTS
Illinois Cooperative Work Study Program Seeks Support Letters
The Illinois Cooperative Work Study Program is a grant funded by the IL Board of Higher Education that gives grant funds to support organizations within the state that provide high-quality internships to University of Illinois students by reimbursing wages/salary earned by the students (40% of earnings, up to $2000 per eligible student). Research Park companies have participated in this program in the past. If your company is interested in participating, completed applications must be signed, scanned, and returned to Jennifer Neef in the University of Illinois Career Center via email by December 15 for inclusion in the proposal. Contact Laura Bleill for more information ([email protected]).
Holiday Gift Collection for Crisis Nursery
This holiday season, the AbbVie Innovation Center will coordinate a Crisis Nursery “Giving for the Holidays” campaign on behalf of the Research Park. Any Research Park company employee may obtain name tags with requested gifts from children in the care of Crisis Nursery to fulfill. Masha Trenhaile, Abbvie Site Manager, has volunteered to manage the Research Park’s donations for the campaign. If you are interested in participating, please contact Masha at [email protected]to request tags (please put Crisis Nursery in the subject line). Once you receive your wish list tags, just fill the request on the tag and bring the gifts unwrapped to the Abbvie Innovation Center on the second floor of the Atkins Building by December 15th for delivery to Crisis Nursery prior to the holidays. If you need more information, please contact Masha at (217) 390-8623.
EnterpriseWorks Holiday Closures
Due to the University holiday schedule, EnterpriseWorks will be closed on the following days in the next two months: Dec. 24, 25, 31, Jan. 1 and 18. The building will not be staffed on those days. If you are an EnterpriseWorks tenant or affiliate and your employees do not have after-hours access to the building, please contact facility manager Jim Wells at [email protected].
EnterpriseWorks Data Center Rack Space Available
Rack space is available in the EnterpriseWorks data center. The EnterpriseWorks data center includes: 1Gb Connection to UIUCnet, locked security cages, Card-reader access-controlled doors, Security cameras, Redundant cooling units, Back-up generator power, UPS power to bridge main/emergency power transition, clean agent fire-suppression system, and environmental monitoring. There is no additional charge for power consumption
Contact Laura Bleill for a quote.
RESEARCH PARK IN THE NEWS
Granular Celebrates Opening of New Regional Headquarters in Champaign
Granular, a leader in farm management software, has expanded its operations to the Midwest, opening a regional headquarters in the University of Illinois Research Park. This new location will fuel the growth of Granular’s customer success, data science and engineering teams. Additionally, it will serve as a live training center for customers, and will allow Granular to work closely with farmers as they look to boost profitability across their operations. https://www.granular.ag/
On November 6, 2015, Agrible, Inc. held a ribbon cutting ceremony for its new headquarters located in the Research Park at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The new office reflects Agrible’s expansive growth and recent milestones, including the launch of its flagship product, Morning Farm Report, its $4.1 Million in Series A Funding led by Serra Ventures, and its partnership with ADM Crop Risk Services.
AWARE Grant to Broaden Participation in Entrepreneurship
A National Science Foundation grant will fund a new program to encourage and support the participation of more women and those from underrepresented groups in the science and technology entrepreneurial ecosystem at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The AWARE (Accelerating Women And underRepresented Entrepreneurs) program is a collaboration among the College of Engineering, the Office of Technology Management, and the EnterpriseWorks incubator at the University of Illinois Research Park. The $100,000 award will support entrepreneurship training, counseling, and networking. For more information on AWARE, contact Jenny Kim ([email protected]).
IntelliWheels Selected as Local InnovateHER Business Challenge Winner
In partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Illinois Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Champaign County EDC is pleased to announce IntelliWheels, Inc. as the local winner of the InnovateHER Business Challenge. A panel of judges selected IntelliWheels as the first place winner with MakerGirl as the runner-up and Helion Comics as the third place finalist. Ten business proposals were submitted for the local challenge.
Brian Jurcyzk, Starfire CEO, Profiled in News-Gazette
The News-Gazette featured Starfire’s President Brian Jurczyk as this week’s “high-tech difference maker”. You can read his Nov. 30 interview for the paper’s Wired In column here.
Ryan Shelton, PhotoniCare CEO, Profiled in News-Gazette
“Part of the reason I’m ambitious about solving this problem is that both my children had chronic ear disease in the first year of their lives. Tube surgery is the most common surgery in children. No other product can look through the eardrum like that.”
Wired In: James Langer from Serionix, Materials science filtration company
Co-founders James Langer, Weihua Zheng, and James Economy created a filtration product removes toxic and smelly compounds from the air.
The News-Gazette features Hot Spot Response founder Lance Liggett
Hot Spot Response is a reliable, affordable, and easy-to-use system for emergency responders to keep track of each other by phone or computers.
Intelligent Medical Objects Named Top Work Place by Chicago Tribune Intelligent Medical Objects, Inc. has been named Top Workplace by the Chicago Tribune for two consecutive years (2014-2015). Top Workplaces recognizes successful companies as the ones that the employees believe in. Read more about Top Workplaces.
Quicket Solutions Named Winner In Amazon Web Services City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge
“Quicket has been recognized as a leader in cutting-edge technology solutions that help improve law enforcement operations and citizens’ lives. We are extremely excited that Quicket has been selected as the winner in the 2015 competition,” said Christiaan Burner, Quicket’s President and CEO. As a winner of the AWS City on a Cloud Innovation Challenge, Quicket will receive $25,000 in credits for AWS services.
The News-Gazette Features Xerion Advanced Battery Corp. CEO John Busbee
The News-Gazette featured Xerion Advanced Battery Corp. CEO John Busbee as this week’s “high-tech difference maker”.
Caterpillar Hosts Startup Challenge
On November 4, Caterpillar hosted a Startup Challenge at their Industrial Design Center in Mossville, Illinois. Ten companies participated in the challenge including an EnterpriseWorks graduate, Autonomic Materials, Inc. Read more.
CAMPUS EVENTS OF INTEREST
Wednesday, January 27, 6 PM – 8 PM
Event: SocialFuse
Location: Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
About the Event: SocialFuse is a recurring pitching and networking event that brings students, faculty and community together from a variety of majors and backgrounds and fuses them through skills, ideas and entrepreneurial ambition. Attendees can pitch their startup ideas, find teammates, improve presentation skills and get feedback. The event begins with a round of short pitching and idea sharing followed by informal networking. Registration is mandatory in order to pitch.
Sponsors: Technology Entrepreneur Center
February 3 and 4, 2016
Event: Spring 2016 Business Career Fair
Location: Activities and Recreation Center, Champaign
About the event: Meet top-notch students—and connect with potential candidates—at our Business Career Fairs. Registration opens in early November. More information: https://business.illinois.edu/
Sponsor: College of Business
February 11, 2016
Event: Engineering Career Services/Founders Startup Career Fair
Location: Activities and Recreation Center, Champaign
About the event: ECS/Founders Startup Career Fair, being held at UIUC on Thursday, February 11th at the Illini Union. Everything you need to know about the fair can be found by clicking here. Startups will be charged $400 (includes 2 reps). The cost of additional representatives, up to 2 more, is $50 each. Startup Companies located in the University of Illinois Research Park will be charged $200 (includes 2 reps). The cost of additional representatives, up to 2 more, is $50 each, with a maximum of 4 reps.
Sponsor: Engineering Career Services/Founders
February 19-21, 2016
Event: HackIllinois
Location: Siebel Center
About the event: The area’s largest collegiate hackathon. The adventure begins again. Join us February 19 – 21st, 2016 and explore new frontiers. To register or learn more about participating and sponsorships, visit www.hackillinois.org.
LOCAL/REGIONAL EVENTS OF INTEREST
1776 Challenge Cup
1776 Challenge is a worldwide tournament for the most promising startups to win cash prizes while making international connections. Apply for a chance to win $1 million before December 20th. 1871 will host the #1776Challenge Cup in Chicago on January 19. To apply and learn more: visit http://www.1776.vc/challenge-
Clean Energy Trust Challenge 2016 Accepting Applications
The Clean Energy Trust Challenge is a nationally recognized accelerator program and the largest single-day clean energy pitch competition in the nation. The Challenge has jumpstarted more than 60 startups in the Midwest to date, including the 2014 winner from EnterpriseWorks, EP Purification. The Clean Energy Challenge event is the premiere cleantech networking event in Chicago. Over 400 entrepreneurs, investors, business executives, students, and university faculty attend each year. The event combines a business plan competition with presentations by leading clean energy thinkers and doers. http://cleanenergytrust.org/
FLC National Meeting, April 26 – April 28, 2016, Chicago
Hear from some of the most forward-thinking minds in technology transfer at the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer’s (FLC) 2016 national meeting, From Discovery to Commercialzation in Chicago, Illinois, April 26 – April 28, 2016. With a membership of approximately 300 federal laboratories, research centers and parent agencies, the FLC is responsible for implementing federal technology transfer and working to ensure that the knowledge, facilities, and/or capabilities developed under federal research and development funding are utilized to fulfill public and private needs. More info: http://www.cvent.com/events/
SBIR and STTR Announcements
Experienced SBIR professionals have all been contracted by EnterpriseWorks to assist companies with SBIR and STTR applications with free consulting services to East Central Illinois applicants. Request technical assistance at: http://researchpark.
DOT SBIR 2016
Release Date: 10-14-2015; Due Date: 12-16-2015
www.volpe.dot.gov/sbir
Topics:
External Lighting Enhancements to Reduce Bird Strike Events
Technological Enhancements to Improve and Expand Casual Carpooling Systems
Connected Bicycle: Communicating with Vehicles and Infrastructure
Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection Devices for Transit Buses
NOAA FY 2016 SBIR Solicitation
Release Date: October 20, 2015
Application Due Date: January 14, 2016
For a complete list of open solicitations go to: https://www.sbir.gov/