Research Park

Caterpillar
Features, Research Park

Crain’s Chicago Business Shows How Cat and Deere Leverage UIUC, Research Park for Talent

At the University of Illinois Research Park, it’s said (a bit tongue-in-cheek) that companies there receive every unfair recruiting advantage possible when it comes to access to the strong tech talent at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This week John Pletz of Crain’s Chicago Business explores how this ecosystem is delivering computing talent to two UIRP companies, Caterpillar and John Deere. The premise? That a corporate presence in both Chicago and Champaign is keeping talent in the state. “Caterpillar and Deere are setting foot on campus more often and making jobs more appealing by setting up shop in Chicago. As a result, they’re having more success in meeting their own hiring needs while giving students with high-demand skills more reasons to stay in Illinois instead of leaving for the coasts,” Pletz writes. Companies are also going beyond the traditional mechanisms to engage with students, campus colleagues told Pletz. “While traditional recruiting strategies—such as attending career fairs or participating in hackathons—are great for keeping brands in front of the broad CS audience, we have noticed companies are also adding much more targeted activities to their recruiting arsenal,” says Cynthia Coleman, director of external relations for U of I’s computer-science department. Read the entire Crain’s Chicago Business story about Deere and Cat online HERE (access may be restricted by a paywall).

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CEO roundtable
Research Park

Resource: Ceo + Founders Roundtable

Resource: Ceo + Founders Roundtable The University of Illinois Research Park hosts a CEO + Founders Roundtable open to CEOs/Founders of Champaign-Urbana scientific and tech companies. Currently, the chair is Chinmay Soman, CEO of EarthSense. Typically held 3-4 times per year, the C-U Tech CEO Roundtable provides a peer community and resource-sharing opportunities. Since 2005, the CEO Roundtable has provided a forum for local entrepreneurs and business leaders to engage in discussion and learn from each other. Participants range from early-stage startup founders to leaders of established companies. The event includes dinner, a guest speaker, and networking. The CEO Roundtable is an invitation-only event. If you would like to participate, please contact Laura Appenzeller at lfrerich@illinois.edu. Previous chairs of the CEO Roundtable are CU Aerospace’s David Carroll; Starfire’s Brian Jurczyk; and PhotoniCare’s Ryan Shelton.

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iCorps
Research Park

NSF I-CORPS

NSF I-CORPS National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Innovation Corps, or I-Corps, is a public-private partnership program for university faculty and student entrepreneurs working on STEM-related technology. I-Corps consists of a targeted curriculum to identify valuable product opportunities that may emerge from academic research. Additionally, the program provides entrepreneurship training to participants. The Illinois I-Corps Site was one of the first three I-Corps sites launched in the National Innovation Network in 2013. Originally it was a collaboration between the Technology Entrepreneur Center in the College of Engineering and EnterpriseWorks at the Research Park with participation from the Office of Technology Management and IllinoisVentures. Today, Illinois I-Corps is part of the Great Lakes Hub. Illinois I-Corps offers a series of programs to assist faculty, staff, and students in commercializing their research. Programming is a mix of online and in-person workshops. GET MORE INFO ABOUT I-CORPS   I-Corps provides education and funding to faculty and student entrepreneurs.

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