🔙 Highlights from Last Week

We hosted 100+ student founders from 10 Midwest schools at our office for Intercollegiate Demo Day:

The pitches were inspiring. We saw everything from autonomous robots to AI lab assistants. This all started when two students approached me with the idea and we ran with it. 👇🏽

On Saturday, I drove down to Urbana for the second annual BuildIllinois Founder Summit:

BuildIllinois is a student-led club at UIUC that’s grown fast. I was their first guest speaker in 2023 and now they’re drawing 250+ students for a March Madness-style pitch comp. 👇🏽

Illinois is one step closer to building more large-scale nuclear reactors:

Our state leads the nation in nuclear energy, but growth has stalled. That may change: Governor Pritzker just signaled support for a new bill removing the 300-megawatt cap on new reactors. With rising AI energy demand, this could be a major unlock.👇🏽

How Chicago’s Data Ecosystem is Powering the Next Wave of AI

In the race to build AI, models are no longer the moat. Data is.

The most powerful systems today aren’t just defined by the algorithms they run, but by the data they’re trained on.

And this is where Chicago has a real edge. We’re home to some of the country’s most structured, high-signal, and often open-sourced datasets spanning sectors like oncology, logistics, insurance, and public safety.

Let’s take a look at how we got here and how we stand out:

The First Open-Sourced City

Chicago was the first major US city to open-source its municipal data.

Since launching the Chicago Data Portal in 2010, our city has published over 900 datasets covering everything from building permits to crime reports, sanitation schedules to transit data. And it’s all made publicly available in usable, structured formats.

Our early commitment to transparency helped seed an ecosystem of data-driven innovation.

SpotHero was born at a civic hackathon. Investigative journalists rely on city data to uncover critical stories. Residents use it to understand and navigate their neighborhoods.

In Chicago, open data isn’t just a governance tool, it’s a catalyst for startups, research, and smarter cities.

UChicago’s Urban Labs

The University of Chicago’s Urban Labs has become a national model for how cities can use data to solve real-world problems. They’re focused on five core areas: crime, education, health, energy & environment, and economic opportunity. Each lab partners directly with city agencies to test, refine, and scale data-driven interventions.

One example: the Crime Lab’s Officer Support System (OSS), built with CPD, uses 10+ years of data to flag officers at risk of serious misconduct, those identified are six times more likely to offend. OSS shifts the focus from punishment to early intervention.

Another example is the Violence Reduction Dashboard, which launched in 2021. This data gives us real-time data on shootings and assaults, filterable by neighborhood or victim profile. It helps outreach groups and city leaders target resources faster and more equitably.

Chicago’s Private Data Advantage

Chicago’s private sector is filled with companies built on structured, high-signal data often in complex, regulated industries. This is also a nod to the diversity of our ecosystem.

• Civis Analytics (Drive portco) started from Obama’s 2012 campaign and now powers data science for governments, nonprofits, and Fortune 500s.

• FourKites turns real-time freight and supply chain data into visibility tools used by giants like Coca-Cola and Walmart.

• Tempus, which went public in 2024 at a $6.6B valuation, is building one of the world’s largest clinical and molecular datasets to transform cancer care through AI.

These companies aren’t just applying AI, they’re shaping their industries by owning and activating massive, structured datasets.

Why Chicago Has an Edge

Chicago’s strength lies in the depth and structure of our data-rich industries. We have everything from insurance, logistics, public health, to finances. Fields where information is standardized and essential to operations. This creates fertile ground for startups looking to apply AI in new ways.

We have both the datasets and domain expertise needed to build high-performance, real-world AI systems. It’s time we talk about it more.

📆 Events Around the City

AI Tinkerers #17

• Hosted by Drive Capital

• Tuesday

• RSVP

All About LLMs - Practical Uses for Biz

• Tuesday

• RSVP

1 Million Cups Chicago

• Wednesday

• RSVP

Health2Tech Chicago

• Wednesday

• RSVP

Emerging Tech Innovation Summit

• Wednesday

• RSVP

🗞 Previous Newsletter Editions:

#103 - Why Illinois has Two National Labs

#102 - How Chicago Startup Compensation Compares to the Coasts

#101 - The Internet Started in Illinois

#100 - Connecting Chicago, One Email at a Time

👋 See you next week!

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