Kaleb Medina

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (Aug. 21, 2026) —The University of Illinois Research Park and EnterpriseWorks incubator have been recognized by TIME and Statista as one of America’s Best Incubators & Accelerators 2026. The inaugural ranking identifies the most outstanding hubs offering incubator and accelerator programs in the United States, evaluating each on track record, peer recommendations from industry experts, and measurable outcomes for the founders they serve. The Research Park was recognized as one of 13 incubators and accelerators operated by a university in the United States and among six incubators designated by TIME in the State of Illinois. EnterpriseWorks is a startup incubator located in the University of Illinois Research Park. It supports early-stage scientific and tech ventures affiliated with the university, including faculty and graduate student-founded teams, as well as other deep tech companies that have located their business at the Research Park for its support services. The incubator has 43,000 square feet of space and hosts 50 tenant companies at time. More than 400 startup companies have incubated at EnterpriseWorks in the Research Park in Champaign, IL since its opening. The companies have collectively raised over $1.6 billion in venture capital and secured more than $216 million in SBIR/STTR awards. The State of Illinois provided funding to build EnterpriseWorks, the early-stage tech firm business incubator in 2003, and it has been fully leased since it opened to companies that are accepted continuously. It is a significant bridge between research at the university and commercialization of technology by faculty, staff, and students. EnterpriseWorks is owned and operated by the University of Illinois as part of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation. EnterpriseWorks offers furnished offices and wet labs with advanced equipment, shared equipment labs, and a maker lab. Amenities include free parking, EV charging, kitchen, conference rooms, shower, mail services, and phone booths. LabWorks is an aligned growth-stage wet lab incubation facility in the Research Park funded by the Rebuild Illinois Wet Lab Capital Program. It offers turn-key labs for life sciences, short-term leases for industry partners, and access to shared equipment and support services. The incubator provides extensive support programs such as Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR), Designer-in-Residence, SBIR/STTR grant assistance through the IL FAST Center, Student Shared Services, and the Catapult New Venture Program. It also hosts events like Startup Café, CEO Roundtables, and workshops on topics like investment due diligence, intellectual property, and pricing strategies. In total the Research Park hosts more than 200 events annually with more than 10,000 participants, creating a vibrant technology hub in Champaign, IL. The Research Park has plans to expand its incubation capacity with a new EnterpriseWorks 2.0 (EW 2.0) growth stage incubator support with state capital, including grant funding awarded by the Illinois Department of Commerce (DCEO) Tech Incubator Enhancement Grant (TIEG) and funding as part of the IFAB Tech Hub. EW 2.0 is designed to be a new incubator (adjacent to EnterpriseWorks) to accommodate startup companies beyond the current incubator with an emphasis on laboratory, manufacturing, and office suites for scaling companies. This facility would include a combination of company suites along with shared collaboration space that continues to engage the Research Park community. ###