Samir Mayekar’s Post

As a Chicago lover and believer, I always like when companies put analysis and data behind the qualities of cities. This new ranking from Resonance uses data within three categories - Livability, Lovability, and Prosperity - to rank global cities. Chicago comes out #2 in the US and #16 globally! Its no surprise to me, but I think for those who don’t know Chicago well it will turn heads. I was very proud to have worked on several projects that helped support our score - from experiences like the The Salt Shed (Livability) to attractions like NASCAR, Sueños and Lollapalooza (Lovability) to innovative initiatives like the Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub (Prosperity). Coming out of COVID major cities are all competing for talent, businesses, and inclusive growth - ultimately 20 top cities around the world will have outsized opportunity. It’s good we are in that mix! https://lnkd.in/d6-nBGPd

Made a quick stop at Harvard University yesterday to guest lecture at my friend John Paul Rollert’s leadership class for 80+ graduate students from 30 countries. We discussed tri-sector leadership across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors and some of my key learnings from government service to running a startup to working in higher education with my role at the Polsky Center at the University of Chicago. A few themes emerged in our discussion, including the importance of: - Network expansion and relationship maintenance - Recruiting and retaining world class talent on your team - Setting and managing to a focused strategy that aligns with an organization’s mission - Developing personal development plans and a personal board of directors - Honing emotional resilience (especially for startup leaders) Always nice to be back in the classroom engaging with the next generation of leaders across business, government and nonprofits.

We recently had the honor of hosting my good friend Jeff Markowitz from Microsoft at the Polsky Center at the University of Chicago for a learning session on how enterprise clients are utilizing AI and the trends he’s observing for the future. Our team gained valuable insights from Jeff, including:   - Understanding the Full AI Stack: It’s crucial to comprehend the entire AI ecosystem, from computing power (including data centers and energy usage) to various language models and the data platforms that leverage them. Solutions like Co-Pilot, which interface with users, play a significant role. - Trust and Safety: Ensuring trust and safety with AI is paramount. Organizations must safeguard their data, ensuring it remains confidential and following AI ethical principles and best practices. - Tailored Models: While large language models receive much attention today, there’s potential value in developing smaller, industry-specific models. For instance, a model tailored to science-based users focusing on patents could be highly beneficial. - Piloting AI Solutions: Organizations should pilot AI solutions within their workflows. Whether it’s simple meeting transcriptions or calendar integration for daily preparation, these pilots provide valuable insights (am working on getting better at this myself!).   Jeff’s visit to Hyde Park allowed us to discuss these insights, and here at the University of Chicago, we’re committed to the full spectrum of artificial intelligence—from basic research and education to translating it into market impact and fostering startup formation. Our data science and AI accelerator, Transform, recently graduated our latest cohort of startups. Expect more exciting developments from the UChicago Data Science Institute and Polsky!

Congrats to my dear friend Maurice Cox former Chicago Department of Planning and Development commissioner on being named a Professor in Residence at Harvard University Graduate School of Design - he’s a true visionary…glad he’ll be educating future design and planning professionals. https://lnkd.in/gXM4Vt5V

Last week I had the honor of joining a bipartisan delegation of Midwest government, civic & business leaders to China led by my dear friend Pin Ni and CGCC Chicago. Our travels took us to Shanghai, Zhangjiagang, Qingdao, and Beijing where I visited executives from a range of companies: - Haier the largest global manufacturer of appliances that acquired GE Appliances in 2016, increasing it’s US workforce from 1,200 to over 16,000 - COFCO International the largest processor of agricultural products which imports 100M tons of soybeans from the US (and has a large presence in the Midwest & Chicagoland); also manufacturers The Coca-Cola Company products for the China market - CRRC Corporation Ltd. a top manufacturer of high speed and metro rail cars (including our own 7000 Series cars for the Chicago Transit Authority which are the first to be made in Chicago in 50+ years by local union labor on the South Side). - Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd the 5th largest brewer of beer globally - PICC Capital Equity Investment Company Ltd. China’s largest insurer with $1.2T assets under management - StepStone Group, a fund of funds investing $150B globally Despite the significant challenges the US and China face at the national level, engagement at the sub-national, business and people-to-people level remains vital. From my perspective, cooperation between the two largest economies in the world is essential to tackle issues like climate change and public health. And the people of China remain warm and hospitable - it was wonderful to see so many old friends from my University of Chicago and Northwestern University networks. Some interesting trends particularly struck me over the course of the trip: - Student exchange: We currently have 300,000 Chinese students studying in US universities but only 800 Americans studying in China. This is a metric that needs to improve over the coming years if we are to have future business and government leaders in the US who understand China - Interest in cross border investment: The red carpet was rolled out for our delegation from provincial governments hungry for US corporate investment in their region, and Chinese companies are aggressively looking to invest in the US to tap into the steadily growing US economy (and recognizing the slowing growth of the maturing Chinese economy). - Speed of wealth creation: It took the US over 100 years to create 800 billionaires…China has accomplished this over just the past 20 years (highlighting the sheer pace of economic growth and change). I was glad to be joined on this trip by my friends Michael Fassnacht the former CEO of World Business Chicago and John Atkinson the current chair of Intersect Illinois. We all stressed the fact that Illinois and Chicago remain open for business for Chinese companies and investors (an example of which is the upcoming $2B Gotion Inc. battery factory near Chicago which will create 2,600 local jobs). Now some R&R for the 4th!

Some good Chicago news - latest office occupancy data shows we are #1 of big cities on return to office (71% on peak days) based on Kastle Systems swipe data. Big spread between in-office on mid-week vs Fridays which is not surprising.

Big day for the Polsky Center at the University of Chicago team as we hosted our annual Deep Tech Ventures Summit with a record 300+ entrepreneurs, investors, corporate partners, students, and alumni in attendance. The audience heard pitches from 22 startups commercializing technology in quantum, data science & AI, cleantech, and life sciences. Additionally, our keynotes speakers shared valuable insights. Sheila Ann Mikhail the Co-Founder of Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc. (AskBio) discussed how she creatively funded her company in the early days and eventually led a $4B acquisition from Bayer. She explained how commercializing small molecules is more akin to baking while biologics is farming. In her early days she had to seek venture philanthropy and grants such as SBIRs while she built a CDMO (Contract Development & Manufacturing Org) in Spain with significant support from the Basque government. Our second keynote was Satyajeet Salgar a key leader on Google's AI team who discussed a few themes about how we are entering a new age of data and AI: - The current state of AI models is good, but just as the internet evolved on PCs to smartphones, AI will take time before it can be truly native and applications can be more seamless with less friction. - For those tracking the rates of improvement with AI models, you can see the trajectory and what may be possible (some of this is codified in the 2024 AI Index) - Video is proving to be very complicated with AI models so will take more time to develop - Just as in the gold rush, the companies making picks and shovels will do well (see NVIDIA becoming the world's most valuable company today). Events like this are a good reminder of the innovation happening in our ecosystem in Chicago and why we should keep supporting entrepreneurs working on tough tech issues that ultimately will have a major impact on society and the economy.

Chicago struck gold in the hyper competitive The Kavli Prize, a $1M award recognizing scientists for outstanding work in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. Two amazing Chicago leaders were awarded the prize for pioneering work in nanoscale materials for medical applications. Our leader at University of Chicago, President Paul Alivisatos won the prize and is a global thought leader on quantum dot technology. And Northwestern University chemistry professor Chad Mirkin was awarded for his discovery of spherical nucleic acids, nanostructures containing a nanoparticle core and spherically distributed DNA or RNA strands. This means nearly 70% of the 2024 winners of this globally competitive scientific award are right here in Chicago, and the work of researchers like Paul and Chad have led to multiple company formations and market impact. Chicago = nanomaterials capital of the world!