Research Park

The agenda featured panels on hot topics including sustainability in agriculture, carbon strategy, opportunities in alternative proteins, the future of the agtech workforce, and the intelligent farm. The event concluded with a panel of growers and producers from across Central Illinois sharing their perspective on many of those topics addressed in earlier discussions. The moderators and panelists represented a range of the actors in agtech, including startups, investors, academics, industry, media, growers, government, and non-profit. The AgTech Summit is a free event that is open to the public, true to the land-grant mission of its host institution. Thanks to the 2023 AgTech Summit sponsors who made the event possible:  John Deere, World Business Chicago, Bayer, Corteva, Cargill, GDM, Sikich, and Kin + Carta. The AgTech Summit is hosted by University of Illinois Research Park with support from the University of Illinois, the College of ACES, and the Office of Corporate Relations. The AgTech Summit is the flagship event for Champaign-Urbana AgTech Week. 2023 was the fourth annual C-U AgTech Week. Save the date for next year’s AgTech Summit on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. NEWS BITES: March 7, WCIA: U of I kicks off AgTech Week March 6, WCIA: AgTech Week back for fourth year For more information on this year’s event, go here. Access the AgTech 2023 media gallery here.  See below for the 2023 agenda.  7:30 AM REGISTRATION OPENS  8:00 AM WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS  8:05 AM CHAMPAIGN-URBANA WELCOME WEEK PROCLAMATION 8:15 AM THE JOURNEY OF SUSTAINABILITY 9:15 AM OPPORTUNITIES IN ALTERNATIVE PROTEINS 10:15 AM BREAK 10:30 AM CARBON STRATEGY IN AGTECH 11:30 AM GLEN “GB” BRANDT PRIZE FOR AG ENTREPRENEURISM  11:45 AM LUNCH 12:30 PM THE FUTURE OF THE AGTECH WORKFORCE 1:30 PM MOORE INNOVATION PRIZE AND STARTUP PRESENTATION  1:45 PM BREAK 2:00 PM THE INTELLIGENT FARM 3:00 PM PERSPECTIVE OF GROWERS & PRODUCERS 4:00 AGTECH SHOWCASE & NETWORKING RECEPTION  You’re invited to join us for the AgTech Showcase & Networking event immediately following the Summit at the Illinois Conference Center. The AgTech Showcase is an opportunity to connect with other attendees and see what innovations companies are working on. Snacks and beverages will be provided.

Agtech, cleantech and energy, tech workforce, and manufacturing were among the hot topics during Rep. Nikki Budzinski’s visit to Research Park on Feb. 23.   Her itinerary included attending the monthly meeting of the corporate innovation site leads; a tour of the new ADM Science and Technology Center; and time with RIPE chief researcher Prof. Steve Long and a trip to see groundbreaking research at the RIPE greenhouse.  More from WILL. 

Applications have now opened for the fifth cohort of Illinois Reboot, a free virtual coding pre-academy that gives participants a strong foundation in data science literacy. This year American Family Insurance and the University of Illinois Research Park have partnered together to fund this awesome program so that young professionals hoping to expand their tech skills can do just that. The overall goal of the program is to diversify the tech workforce and make these important skills more available to a wider population. The hope is that the course will help create a more inclusive technical society and open up these critical skills to underrepresented populations that are hoping to break into the industry. Women, people of color, and other minority groups are encouraged to apply to the program. Illinois Reboot is a 9-week program that educates participants on a variety of coding languages and programs such as UNIX, GitHub, SQL, and Python. Other topics introduced include image processing and statistics. The program also provides supplementary mentoring and coaching opportunities from local tech professionals that have extensive experience in the tech field. Illinois Reboot “opened my eyes to the many different programming languages that I didn’t even know existed,”  said Anita Hines, who successfully graduated as part of the spring 2021 cohort. “This program aims help those seeking to pivot in their career path and enter the Central Illinois tech economy, which may lead to high-paying, stable careers in data science,” said Laura Appenzeller, executive director of the University of Illinois Research Park. “We were thrilled with the results of our past three cohorts and can’t wait to welcome more students as together we work toward a more equitable and innovative tech workforce.” Corporate partners, including Carle, Caterpillar, and Wolfram Research, have been an integral part of the program by teaching topics and giving career advice. The program is free thanks to grant funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. Additional resources from American Family Insurance will allow Illinois Reboot to fund scholarships for students to pursue more training after completing the course. The Spring 2023 program will begin on Monday, April 10, and continue through mid-June. A University of Illinois Research Park certificate is awarded to those that successfully finish the course. The deadline to apply is February 27, 2023. For any questions or to request more information, email Emily Neal at ewick@illinois.edu.

The UIRP LLC is seeking a developer for a special purpose project to construct a greenhouse for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which will support the U.S. Department of Energy funded Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI). RFP #20230209BW Illinois Public Higher Education Bulletin Request for Proposal: Developer Selection Greenhouse Project Sealed proposals will be accepted below until 3:00 PM, Monday March 13, 2023. The University of Illinois is soliciting qualifications and proposals from experienced development teams for the award of a concession involving land owned by the University on the UIUC campus in Champaign, Illinois to select a developer who would have the exclusive right for two years to develop and build a Greenhouse project on a specific site at the Research Park which is designated for such a use by the Master Plan. Subject to the Pre-development Agreement, the proposed Greenhouse facility will consist of two components: approximately 8,000 SF greenhouse and approximately 5,000 SF headhouse. For more information, please visit the Procurement Bulletin listing.  Find the RFP and background about CABBI online here. 

This past holiday season, Chesterbrook Academy Preschool instilled leadership into its students’ young minds. The school has made an effort to encourage its students to participate in community service through its annual Holiday Giving Initiative. This program makes serving those in need a part of its academic curriculum. Each year, the students choose an organization to give to. Organizations helped in previous years include local hospitals, Make-a-Wish, and the Crisis Nursery in Urbana. This year the students chose to give to Eastern Illinois Food Bank. The youngsters were able to gather 150 non-perishable items to give to the organization. The program helps the kids to see first-hand the significant impacts that they can make on their local community. “I want them to be worldly and realize there’s more to life than what’s in their home and school because we see the same thing every day here. It’s important to have that diversity and see some people aren’t as fortunate as others. It helps us put into perspective what’s important”, said Chesterbrook Pre-K 2 teacher Sarah Webb. Chesterbrook, which is located near Research Park, also hosted a food drive that occurred this past November. These experiences have helped the students to embrace diversity both inside and outside of the classroom. The school stresses the importance of introducing kids to community service so that they can continue to volunteer as they age. Webb says that the preschool is hoping to expand the initiative to more than just a holiday program so that it can help more organizations. Read more about this story here.