University of Illinois Research Park

Happy Friday! It was another busy week in the Research Park: thank you to everyone who joined us for events, including a Professional Development Lunch, our annual Table Tennis Tournament, an AI User Group, and the monthly EnterpriseWorks tenant breakfast. Learn more about Research Park events: https://lnkd.in/g5uzW7u

The 13th Annual Table Tennis Tournament 🏓concluded yesterday following two days of friendly competition. On the first day, participants played Round-Robin games to determine the seeding for the single-elimination tournament on day two. During the single-elimination matches, companies earned points based on their players' placements for a chance to take home the Golden Paddle. Special congratulations to Synchrony Emerging Technology Center for winning the Golden Paddle for the first time in tournament history! We also celebrate our first-place winners in each bracket: Felix Yun from EverFox, who claimed the beginners' championship; Dian Jin from Electric Power Engineers Center for Energy Innovation, the intermediate winner; and advanced victor Fei Wang from Yahoo. Thank you to all participants and supporters for making this tournament unforgettable. Read more on the Research Park website for the full list of winners: https://lnkd.in/g4AAm3Xt

We're excited to be hosting the America's Seed Fund Road Tour, one week from today on Wednesday, July 17. Learn More: https://lnkd.in/ebZTveJe

We love seeing how Research Park companies like Genective promote team building and community engagement all year round. It's always a great day to work in the Research Park!

With America's Seed Fund Road Tour's Illinois stop only 10 days away, we wanted to share a few highlights from its past stops. The U.S. Small Business Administration has been on the road since February in the South, Southeast, and Coastal Regions. This event connects entrepreneurs to early-stage funding and encourages research and development to help move innovative technologies into the commercial market. We'd love to see you at the Illinois stop on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. Learn more about this event: https://lnkd.in/ebZTveJe #SeedTheFuture #UniversityOfIllinois #ResearchPark Photo Highlights from: Florida High Tech Corridor, The University of Georgia Innovation District, Kentucky Science & Engineering Foundation, LaunchTN

Congratulations to The Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing (iFAB) Tech Hub for being awarded $51 Million from the Tech Hubs Program through the U.S. Economic Development Administration! This funding will have a tremendous long-term impact on biomanufacturing research in Central Illinois, including the work done in the Research Park. As a partner of iFAB, we want to extend a huge thank you to Beth Conerty, Carly McCrory-McKay, Nicole Bateman, Kim Kidwell, and everyone else whose hard work paved the way for this funding. We are excited to see iFAB continue leveraging University of Illinois resources and expertise to fuel prosperity in our backyard.

There are 18 DAYS until America's Seed Fund Road Tour stops in the Research Park. Registration is still open, so visit the Illinois University Incubator Network website to learn more: https://lnkd.in/ebZTveJe 📃 Lightning talks, panels, and breakouts included, you can view a draft of the agenda here: https://lnkd.in/gtzgFCK2 See you there!

We had a great time at last night's "Fire At Five" Happy Hour celebrating Pride at the Park and honoring the 2024 Research Park Hackathon winners: 🏆 1st Place: Capital One, "Class Connect" 🏆 2nd Place: EnterpriseWorks/AbbVie/John Deere, "Wandertunes" 🏆 3rd Place: Kohler, "Refugee Haven Search" 🏆 Notable Innovation: EnterpriseWorks/AbbVie/John Deere, "Wandertunes" 🏆 Seamless Integration: Capital One, "Class Connect" 🏆 Skillful Execution: COUNTRY Financial, "GeoGroove" We'd like to thank Hackathon coordinators James Kabbes and Bryan D. Goode for all of the hard work that went into planning this event and judges Bryan D. Goode, Dustin Mayfield-Jones, Matt Ahrens, and Jarai Carter, Ph.D. Thank you to everyone who participated in and supported this event! We would also like to give a special thanks to the U of I Community Credit Union for sponsoring this month's Fire At Five.

The Research Park Hackathon is in full swing! Our teams are coding, collaborating, and creating groundbreaking solutions. Thank you to the companies participating in the Hackathon. We can't wait to see your final products at tomorrow's presentation.