Hey Friends! 🚙 👋🏽
Welcome to the 34th edition of the Driver’s Seat!
Highlights from Last Week:
I spent time at Carnegie Mellon University hosting 1:1s with founders 👇🏽
One of our new teams, Architect Health, officially relocated to Chicago from NYC. Shoutout to World Business Chicago for helping us welcome the team to our city. 👇🏽
We hosted a Fuel Up Friday at the office with the Chicago founder community to foster spontaneous connections / collaboration.👇🏽
📍 Today’s Lineup:
💾 Chicago’s Semiconductor Strategy
🧬 Our New Life-Sciences Lab
📊 Chart of the Week
🗺 Events Around the City
🔙 Previous Issues of the Driver’s Seat
Let’s dive in! 🚙 🚙 🚙
💾 Chicago’s Semiconductor Strategy
High Level Insights
Chicago is in the running for a new $11B semiconductor facility.
Governor Pritzker announced our major bid last week.
The plan is to leverage our recent quantum hub designation as a way to push for this new semiconductor center.
Recent Wins
This new hub would build upon recent wins we've seen in Chicago:
The University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were named two of 31 tech hubs for quantum technologies by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Samsung partnered with UIUC's Grainger College, investing $5M for scholarships and a new semiconductor program starting fall 2024.
Chicago was selected by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for a new $250M biomedical hub
The Midwest Hydrogen Hub project involving Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan received $1 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Why This Matters
Semiconductors are the backbone of modern electronics, and are especially important for the LLM revolution (as we see a higher rate of computing)
By advancing semiconductor development, Chicago can position itself at the forefront of technological innovation.
🧬 Our New Life-Sciences Lab
The New Lab
Illinois Tech secured a 34,000+ square foot floor plan in Fulton Market for their new life-sciences lab opening next fall.
The lab will be in Fulton Labs, which currently houses the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub and Portal Innovations.
The plan is to house faculty, researchers and students in the lab.
What’s Next
This deal is the latest step in our city’s effort to become a top US life science hub.
Biotech and life science innovation doesn’t need to be fully concentrated on the coasts. This lab is apart of a larger initiative to create the next major life science hub in Chicago, potentially bigger than ones already in Boston and San Francisco.
📊 Chart of the Week
Here’s a chart of Chicago’s talent supply compared to other top metro areas.
The data is a little over a year old / includes degrees for physics, computer engineering, chemical engineering, computer science, and electrical engineering, spanning Associate's through to Ph.D. programs.
🗺️ Events Around The City
Windy City Tech Connect
Hosted by Discover
Monday November 6
Chicago EdTech Coffee Meetup
Hosted by Peter Pellizzari
Tuesday November 7
Chicago Climate Connect
Hosted by CCC
Tuesday November 7
AI Tinkerers Round Two
Hosted by Drive Capital
Wednesday November 8
Health Equity Quest
Hosted by Loyola Chicago and MATTER
Wednesday November 8
AI Revolution: Informing Public Decision Making
Hosted by 1871
Thursday November 9
Fireside Nights: Brian Barnes, Founder & CEO @M1
Hosted by Claude Cimeus
Thursday November 9
👋 See you next week!
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