Chicago’s legacy of intellectual excellence just added another Nobel Prize to its collection.

Longtime Northwestern professor of economics + history Joel Mokyr was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize for showing how ideas, not just capital or resources, drive longterm growth.

His research covers why the Industrial Revolution began in Britain and why innovation, when organized and shared, can power centuries of progress.

For builders in Chicago, it’s a reminder that growth comes from building ecosystems that connect knowledge to action.

Mokyr has spent decades at Northwestern studying how growth begins and why it lasts.

His answer: progress depends on how societies mix the science of why things work with the craft of how to make them work.

He calls this the Industrial Enlightenment which was a period when inventors, scientists, and craftspeople shared ideas openly. That openness, through publishing, peer reviews, and experimentation, created a feedback loop between discovery and application.

It’s not so different from how today’s builders share open source code, publish model weights, or write public memos.

It’s what I’m passionate about doing in Chicago. Organizing hackathons and collaborative meetups. We had one just last week focused on Chicago’s stablecoin ecosystem.

Chicago has long represented the fusion Mokyr studied where engineering meets entrepreneurship.

Our region’s manufacturing base, universities, and applied-science labs echo the same mechanics that fueled Britain’s industrial rise.

Mokyr’s work reinforces why the Midwest is well positioned for the next era of physical AI and advanced industry, because we still have deep technical talent and cultures of practicality.

Innovation thrives not just on capital but on ecosystems that value curiosity, craft, and continuous improvement, all Midwest traits.

From the Enlightenment workshops of 18th century Britain to the AI labs of 21st century Chicago, the formula for growth hasn’t changed.

Ideas matter. But more than that, the connection between thinkers and builders matters. Chicago, thanks to people like Joel Mokyr, knows that better than anyone.

There are two upcoming hackathons in the Windy City. Learn about both / sign up below:

A Chicago AI startup in stealth mode is hosting a hackathon to bring top AI/ML engineers together to network. The team will be hiring for early engineering roles starting in November so this is a great way to connect with them.

Please let me know if you’re interested and or sign up below:

AI engineers will be brought together for a hands-on hackathon exploring Model Context Protocol (MCP) which is a new open standard that lets AI securely access and act on real-world data.

We’ll build agents that use Chicago’s open source municipal data to improve transit, permits, energy, and 311 systems. This is perfect for anyone excited about AI, urban systems, and open data:

Get a single daily brief that filters the noise and delivers the signals founders actually use.

All the best stories — curated by a founder who reads everything so you don't have to.

Get the brief

Chicago Angel Investor Community Gathering

Money Moves: The Future of Investment Management

Chicago Data Night: Kemal Badur (UChicago)

The AI Collective

Hyde Park Venture Partners Founder Breakfast Club

Fireside Chat : Unlocking the Power of Context Engineering w/ Pinecone

AI Security Dinner (Chicago)

F***up Nights Chicago - Inaugural Edition

Chicago Tech Mixer and Social (Tech / AI / Data)

Chicago Tech Connect Breakfast

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram