Distillery Labs

The Distillery Labs innovation hub in downtown Peoria enters its second year looking to build on initial momentum. Executive director Doug Cruitt says the small business incubator remains committed to its mission of helping emerging entrepreneurs develop their ideas and bring them to reality.

Owners of Sarah Beth's Homemade Dips in Hanna City and Tres Rojas Winery in Washington were presented with their awards for being selected among this year’s winners in the state’s “Illinois Made Makers” campaign.

A lengthy career in the finance world has taken Omar Yunus from Peoria to Europe and now back, as he works to grow a startup aimed at helping nonprofit organizations find sustainable funding.

A Peoria-based startup is developing a system aimed at neutralizing threats from active shooters and other mass attacks. ShotHawk is working on AI-driven technology that would use non-lethal deterrents such as pepper gel against would-be assailants.

The new CEO of the public-private economic development group Intersect Illinois says landing major projects for downstate is a major priority.

The Women’s Business Development Center’s Childcare Business Program offers childcare businesses tools and training. It’s available for new and existing businesses.

As the fall harvest season arrives each year, the economic significance of agriculture in the Peoria area becomes highly visible. That’s a fact Greater Peoria Economic Development Council CEO Chris Setti has come to appreciate after growing up in suburban Los Angeles.

A new resource at Distillery Labs in downtown Peoria is bringing support to women and minority-owned businesses.

After more than a decade in planning and development, and nearly a year of construction, the Distillery Labs Innovation Hub is close to opening in downtown Peoria.

Doug Cruitt says he hopes to build on his past successes - and his failures - as the new executive director of Peoria's Distillery Labs tech and innovation center.