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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

Research Park

    Recognition & Awards

    Features News Recognition & Awards Research Park

    Genective’s Qiaoni Linda Jing Named Entrepreneur Of The Year Finalist

    Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) announced this week that Qiaoni Linda Jing, President, CEO and Board Director of Genective was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2022 Midwest Award finalist. Entrepreneur Of The Year is a competitive business awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies who “think big to succeed.” Jing was selected by a panel of independent judges according to the following criteria – entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact – among other core contributions and attributes. Genective is a technology joint venture of Groupe Limagrain and KWS Group, the largest seed companies in France and Germany, respectively. Its offices and labs are located at the University of Illinois Research Park in Champaign. “I am thrilled for this great recognition, not only for myself, but for all the team members at Genective,” said Jing. “Three years ago, I embarked on a journey to reestablish Genective in the U.S. Midwest, putting us at the heart of one of the most vibrant AgTech innovation communities in the world.” “Genective has been on a tremendous growth trajectory over the past three years, despite the challenges of COVID-19. Our team continues to live and breathe our mission of providing novel and sustainable biotech solutions to farmers across the globe,” said Jing. The award recognizes “audacious, game-changing business leaders” who have “ushered in innovation while lifting up their employees and communities.” Genective is dedicated to the research, development, and commercialization of transgenic traits, focusing on insect resistant corn. Regional award winners will be announced on June 14, 2022. The regional winners will then be considered by the National independent judging panel, and National awards will be presented in November at the Strategic Growth Forum. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in June 2023. For over 35 years, EY US has celebrated the unstoppable entrepreneurs who are building a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous world for all. The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized more than 10,000 US executives since its inception in 1986. 

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    EnterpriseWorks Graduates News Recognition & Awards Research Park

    Inprentus Makes Final Four in ‘Coolest Thing Made in Illinois’ Contest

    EnterpriseWorks graduate company Inprentus Inc. made it to the final four of Makers Madness, a bracket-style tournament that celebrates the work and diversity of the manufacturing sector in Illinois presented by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. Although Rivian’s all-electric R1T truck was awarded the title of the ‘Coolest Thing Made in Illinois’, Inprentus was also feted by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker during a ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield. The contest highlights innovative products from across the state. 450 products were entered into the contest this year, and over 200,000 votes were cast by the public to nominate the ‘Coolest Thing Made in Illinois’.  Inprentus makes custom blazed diffraction gratings. These highly precise gratings are utilized in x-ray and ultraviolet experiments at various scientific research institutions. They are also used in optical components for semiconductor manufacturing, augmented and virtual reality glasses, and in materials, chemistry, and life sciences research. Inprentus competed against General Mills’ Fruit by the Foot, the Rivian Automotive electric truck, and Ingersoll Machine Tools’ components for the Orion spacecraft capsule in the final four of the bracket-style tournament. Following its graduation from EnterpriseWorks, Inprentus opened a corporate headquarters in Champaign. It designs and manufactures diffraction gratings sold to Fortune 500 companies, academic institutions, and government laboratories around the world. Inprentus was started in 2012 by University of Illinois physics professor Peter Abbamonte. The company was created with the mission to advance the manufacturing of precision optics using proprietary nano-scale contact-mode lithography techniques. To read the full article, click here.

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    EnterpriseWorks News Recognition & Awards Research Park

    FrostDefense Awarded 2022 Edwin Moore Family Agriculture Innovation Prize

    Champaign, Illinois (March 10, 2022) – FrostDefense Envirotech Inc., a startup company developing technological solutions to prevent frost damage at vineyards, is the recipient of the 2022 Edwin Moore Family Agriculture Innovation Prize. The award, generously funded by a family of University of Illinois alumni, rewards University of Illinois entrepreneurs focusing on agricultural innovations. The Research Park together with the Moore family presented the award to FrostDefense founder Manfredo Seufferheld and vice president Gabriel Burks during the 2022 AgTech Innovation Summit at the Colonnades Club at Memorial Stadium. The company’s scientists work out of a lab and office at EnterpriseWorks, the technology incubator in the Research Park. FrostDefense Envirotech Inc. is a National Science Foundation-funded startup company. The team develops innovative, environmentally friendly, and low-cost technological solutions to prevent frost damage for vineyards. They also work to make labor management and mechanized farm operations more efficient. Its predictive analytic system is the foundation for continued innovation in creating tools and services to support decision-making to adapt to growing practices and sustainability. The Edwin Moore Family Agriculture Innovation Prize’s goal is to encourage startup companies engaged in the development of new innovative technologies that may lead to increased productivity and/or efficiency in farming, or to create new agricultural opportunities, including new processes, new crops, and new food production systems. Previous Edwin Moore Agriculture Innovation Fund winners include:Epivara, 2021Habiterre (formerly Aspiring Universe), 2020TellTail, 2019EarthSense, 2018Soil Diagnostics, 2017 For more information about Frost Defense, visit its website here. About the Edwin Moore Family Agriculture Innovation Prize The Edwin Moore Agriculture Innovation Fund was established in 2016 with a generous gift to EnterpriseWorks, the University of Illinois  Urbana-Champaign’s technology incubator. The award honors the legacy of Edwin E. Moore (1924), who graduated from the University of Illinois College of Agriculture and began farming in Will County. Throughout his agricultural career, he and his wife, Iva, used innovative farming practices for both crop production and livestock management. Two of their four children became farmers, Edwin and Thomas (1953, College of Agriculture), and continued use of innovative farm practices. Subsequent generations of Edwin Moore’s family have continued to pursue farming and ag related careers capturing the same innovative spirit. About the Research Park at the University of Illinois The Research Park at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a technology hub for startup companies and corporate research and development operations. Within the Research Park there are 120 companies employing students and full-time technology professionals. More information at researchpark.illinois.edu. 

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    Community News Recognition & Awards Research Park

    Matt Riggs Wins 2022 Glen “GB” Brandt Prize for Ag Entrepreneurism

    Champaign, Illinois (March 10, 2022) —  Matt Riggs of Riggs Beer Company has been named the recipient of this year’s Glen “GB” Brandt Prize for Ag Entrepreneurism, an award that honors a grower/producer/farmer who exemplifies an entrepreneurial spirit and advances innovation through their business practices.  Riggs’ nomination highlighted these qualities as a farmer, brewery owner, and entrepreneur. “Faced with the challenge of preserving his family’s 142 year old farming legacy, Matt successfully created a brand new, high-margin market,” wrote Riggs’ nominator, Prof. Adam Davis, a faculty member in the department of Crop Sciences. “Since founding his brewery in 2016, his farm and brewery have vertically integrated over 155,000 pounds of brewing grain, making them the Midwest’s #1 volume “grain to glass” brewery.” The award was announced at the 2022 AgTech Innovation Summit, hosted by the University of Illinois Research Park. It was presented to Riggs by Karl Barnhart, Chief Marketing Officer of BRANDT.  Riggs said he will use the award’s $10,000 prize to buy the farm its own grain cleaner, equipment the farm has either contracted or leased previously. “The past two years have reinforced the importance of being both flexible and lean. Small farms, and small businesses in general, can remain competitive if they are able to rapidly adapt to change. They can also compete against larger competitors if they have extremely limited fixed costs,” said Riggs. Matt graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in Technical System Management in 2006. His company supports the University’s crop science program by purchasing specialty, University-licensed wheat and corn seed. His company is currently donating the use of farmland for a small brewing grains test plot located at his brewery in Urbana.  Learn more about Riggs Beer Company here. The Glen “GB” Brandt Prize for Ag Entrepreneurism was established in 2021 in honor of Glen “GB” Brandt, a legendary figure in the field of Illinois agriculture, who passed away in late 2020. The BRANDT Foundation partnered with the University of Illinois to provide the winner a $10,000 prize. The award’s first winner was Will Glazik, a farmer in Paxton.  About The BRANDT Foundation  The BRANDT Foundation was established in 2012 as a philanthropic extension of BRANDT, Inc. The Brandt family has always stood with their communities and as their company grew, so did the opportunities to give back. The BRANDT Foundation offers donations, grants, and support to the charities, organizations, and communities that reside in the same area of the company; geographically and industry-related.  About the AgTech Innovation Summit  The AgTech Innovation Summit is an interactive conference where participants learn and share knowledge about the current state of agtech and get a looking into the future through dynamic panels, inspiring keynote presentations, and networking opportunities. It is produced by the University of Illinois Research Park in partnership with the College of ACES and the Office of Corporate Relations. One of the premier AgTech hubs in the nation, Champaign-Urbana is uniquely positioned to bring together entrepreneurs, investors, academics, and industry for learning, networking, and advancing this sector. 

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    EnterpriseWorks Media Mentions News Recognition & Awards Research Park

    Newsweek Names PSYONIC CEO One of America’s Top 50 Disruptors

    Aadeel Akhtar, CEO of EnterpriseWorks startup PSYONIC, was named one of America’s Top 50 disruptors by Newsweek magazine. 2021 marks the first year the magazine has created such a list. It includes the likes of household names such as Elon Musk and Lizzo, as well as CEOs, scientists, engineers, artists, musicians and others. “…  (A)ll of these … visionaries and innovators on Newsweek‘s inaugural list of Greatest Disruptors share this critical quality: They are agents of change who are using technology in ways that will profoundly impact our lives—mostly or wholly for the better,” wrote the magazine in its introduction to the package. The publication recognized Akhtar for his leadership in creating groundbreaking prosthetic devices. “When Aadeel Akhtar was 7 years old, he met a little girl who changed his life. His parents took him to see family in Pakistan, where they’d been born, and they were walking into a store when he saw her,” writes Newsweek reporter Ned Potter. “She was missing her right leg.” PSYONIC’s premiere product, the Ability Hand, was released in 2019. The Ability Hand is the first commercially available prosthetic hand to include multitouch sensory feedback. The device utilizes electrical currents to stimulate nerves allowing users to “feel”  what the prosthetic touches. Akhtar launched PSYONIC in 2015 and the company moved into EnterpriseWorks in 2018. Newsweek highlighted many talented individuals in the “America’s Greatest Disruptors” series. “We’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, but also making them accessible and leveling the playing field for all those people who couldn’t get access to this kind of technology before,” Akhtar says in the Newsweek article. Earlier this year, Akhtar was named to the MIT Technology Review’s list of 35 Innovators Under 35 for 2021. Akhtar received his PhD in Neuroscience and MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois.

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    Features Media Mentions News Recognition & Awards Research Park

    Starfire Industries Named a Top 10 Non-Destructive Testing Company

    Starfire Industries was named one of 2021’s top 10 non-destructive testing companies by Manufacturing Outlook Magazine. Based at the University of Illinois Research Park, the company specializes in innovative plasma engineering across a range of markets, including aerospace, defense, nuclear, homeland security, and manufacturing semiconductors. Starfire Industries uses a process that combines physics, math, chemistry, and biology to create a strategy for inspecting, examining, and testing materials for flaws, defects, and more. “Starfire Industries’ portable particle accelerators and neutron generators are not only enabling greater particle utilization for inspection and testing but also lowering the cost of implementation, transportation, and operation for industrial clients,” said Manufacturing Outlook Magazine. Four-time University of Illinois alumnus Brian Jurczyk is the co-founder and CEO/President of Starfire Industries. Under his leadership, the company has grown from EnterpriseWorks startup (graduating in 2009) to have 14,000 sq. ft. of offices and production space in the University of Illinois Research Park. It now employs about 35 individuals. “As portable products can be easily transported between locations, the clients can easily leverage them for their inspection and testing needs at their desired locations, whether it is for product testing, elemental analysis, cargo inspection, radiography, downhole well inspection, and much more; the possibilities are endless,” Jurczyk said to Manufacturing Outlook Magazine.

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    EnterpriseWorks Investments News Recognition & Awards Research Park

    EarthSense Awarded Regenerative Ag Grant

    EnterpriseWorks startup EarthSense was chosen to receive a grant of up to $50,000 in seed funding from the Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative at the University of Illinois.  EarthSense is a startup led by co-founders Chinmay Soman and Girish Chowdhary, founded with the goal of creating dramatic new possibilities for crop breeders, plant protection products developers, crop scientists, and field agronomists. TerraSentia, their first robot, improves the quantity, accuracy, cost, and speed of in-field plant trait data collection, specifically for under canopy plants.  The Regenerative Ag Grant awarded to EarthSense will be used primarily to prototype an autonomous robotic harvester with the capacity to enable large-scale chestnut farming in the United States.

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    Community EnterpriseWorks Investments News Recognition & Awards Research Park

    EnterpriseWorks Startup Yummy Future Raises $300K to Fund Robotic Coffee Machine Technology

    EnterpriseWorks startup Yummy Future is crowdsourcing funds via WeFunder to support the further development and distribution of its fully robotic coffee shop product. The company has currently raised $300K of its $500K goal. Yummy Future is focused on integrating highly intelligent robots into everyday life. Its first product is the development of a fully robotic coffee shop with a mission to improve the coffee shop experience for both customers and store owners. Yummy Future was co-founded by two University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign engineering alumni, Guangzhe Cui and Yueming Yan. Guangzhe and Yueming developed the robotic coffee shop with an operating system that utilizes innovations from IoT, consumer robotics, and 3D printing.   The Yummy Future system will allow coffee shops to build resilience to market volatility by reducing labor cost through the use of robotic technology. Co-founder Yueming Yan said, “Yummy Future’s robotic coffee shop can run on 40x lower labor costs, and a 6x higher profit margin compared to regular coffee shops.” This machine is capable of producing one cup of coffee in as little as 30 seconds. Yummy Future’s task scheduling optimizer that is powered by edge computing, and it ensures that the robot can process multiple orders at once, and deliver the drinks to customers as efficiently as possible while keeping labor costs low. Yummy Future has enlisted the help of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as well as businesses within the Champaign-Urbana area to test and refine the robotic coffee experience. As a result of these partnerships, Yummy Future has received 25+ pre-orders for the robotic coffee shop system. Yummy Future is currently hiring for a number of positions, submit your resume to business@yummy-future.com. Find more information about Yummy Future and the robotic coffee shop here.

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    News Recognition & Awards Research Park

    Genective Named Finalist for IHS Markit’s Crop Science Award’s “Best Industry Collaboration” Award

    Genective, an agtech company that is globally headquartered at Research Park, has been named a finalist for IHS Markit’s Crop Science Awards 2021 under the “best industry collaboration” category. Genective and collaborator AgBiome were nominated for this award together.   The prestigious annual awards celebrate the best-in-class scientific, technological, and leadership initiatives.   Award winners will be announced on November 3, 2021.   Find more information about the awards here.

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    EnterpriseWorks Investments News Recognition & Awards Research Park

    EnterpriseWorks Receives 5-Year Continuation of EDA University Center Grant

    EnterpriseWorks Receives EDA Grant To Continue Supporting Entrepreneurship at Illinois Universities The grant from the EDA will continue to support development of higher education entrepreneurial ecosystems across Illinois CHAMPAIGN, IL, September 30, 2021 — The EnterpriseWorks incubator at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign, has been awarded a five-year grant of $70,000 per year from the United States Economic Development Administration (EDA) to advance incubators and entrepreneurial ecosystems associated with higher education across Illinois. The new award will enable EnterpriseWorks to continue providing assistance to other higher education incubators and entrepreneurial spaces located across Illinois. The grant will fund leadership and management for the Illinois University Incubator Network (IUIN), which was seeded by the EDA Economic Adjustment Assistance Program (2016-2021). The IUIN provides a robust array of events and services that aim to strengthen university-related entrepreneurship activities and resources by sharing resources, best practices, and programming among members of the statewide incubator ecosystem. Specific examples of resource sharing include relevant trainings, disseminating documents and information about leases, applications, program structures; benchmarking data; and fostering collaboration on grant funding opportunities. “The University of Illinois EDA University Center specializes in providing support for incubation, entrepreneurship, and technology-based economic development projects in Illinois with a primary focus on serving downstate communities,” said Laura Frerichs, director of the University of Illinois Research Park and director of economic development at the University of Illinois.  “The Center facilitates support and programming for existing incubators with an eye towards expanding entrepreneurship capacity, programming, services, and resources for technology-driven businesses. EnterpriseWorks is looking forward to working with supporting and advancing entrepreneurship across the state of Illinois.” The new five-year grant adds technical assistance and support for Economic Development Districts (EDDs) and community economic development groups in rural and underrepresented communities in Illinois. This will include the development of a referral network to aid with resources available through UI Extension, SBDCs, SBA FAST Center, regional economic development organizations, and other University resources. One of its goals is to and develop “roadmaps” as examples of successful programs developed by other Illinois communities that are aiding in economic gardening, which leverage existing assets in communities, build unique attractions, and small business support.

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