An initiative announced by the University of Illinois more than a year ago now has the funding to build its Chicago-based manufacturing hub.
Over the weekend, the US Department of Defense announced 70-million dollars in funding for the Chicago-based first of its kind digital lab. That funding was matched by the partners in UI Labs, with over 250-million. The nonprofit research group includes Midwest schools like Southern Illinois University and industrial partners like U of I’s Blue Waters Supercomputer, Chicago-based Boeing, and Peoria-based Caterpillar.
UI Labs’ Interim Executive Director, Caralynn Nowinski, says this means universities, community colleges, and different-sized companies can collaborate:
“Be able to partner together to respond to specific calls for proposals to solve manufacturing problems… and then be able to incubate and innovate on those ideas, and bring them into the marketplace through commercialization support efforts.”
The project also includes 16-million dollars in state funding.
Governor Pat Quinn says this initiative will create a ‘manufacturing revolution’ in the U-S through UI Labs. US Senator Dick Durbin says cities outside Chicago, like Rockford, with its aerospace research, will gain a competitive edge.
The Senator says both Democrats and Republicans were behind the 70-million dollar grant. Multiple sources, including CNN, say President Obama will announce the funding for the Chicago manufacturing hub Tuesday, as well as plans for another in Detroit.