ChampaignArchive for the ‘’ Category

SBA Administrator Linda McMahon Visits Champaign

Through our Illinois Small Business Development Center at Champaign County EDC and in partnership with University of Illinois Research Park, we were honored to host U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Linda McMahon in Champaign today, September 24.

This visit is a continuation of the Administrator’s nationwide SBA Ignite Tour dedicated to highlighting SBA programs that help entrepreneurs start businesses, grow their companies, and create jobs in the local community.

We highlighted small businesses in our community, including Serionix, AirScout, Petronics, and Reconstruct – all located in EnterpriseWorks at University of Illinois Research Park.

In addition to showcasing small businesses, we also talked about our local entrepreneurial ecosystem and the services / programs we have in place to help small businesses succeed, including services through the SBDC / International Trade Center and programs like University of Illinois Research Park’s Shared Services Program and the City of Champaign’s Small Business Incentive Program.

View photos here.

About the U.S. Small Business Administration: The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.

Press:

JB Pritzker and Juliana Stratton Visit Champaign-Urbana

Today we hosted JB Pritzker and Juliana Stratton in Champaign-Urbana to showcase our community & meet local employers. We heard from many about why they choose our community – low cost of living, great companies to work for, access to talent, no traffic.

Cathy Singer, VP Engineering, gave us a tour of Oath, the largest employer in University of Illinois Research Park. They are a Hadoop Center of Excellence & lead data projects for the company. Employees were happy to share their love for #chambana, one moving here from CA for better quality of life.

Next stop was Granular in their beautiful space (with live plant walls!). Landon Frye, Business Development, & team shared history of company & why #chambana – it’s the place where technology & ag thrive together. Many employees grew up on farms & went to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Heard from Ben, COO of EarthSense, about their advanced machine-learning and robotics products to manage urgent threats to agriculture. Their TerraSentia robot is currently being used by leading crop breeders & plant scientists.

Ron van Os, CEO of Inprentus Inc., shared their history, including growth from EnterpriseWorks into new location in Champaign. Provider of ultra-high precision optical components (diffraction gratings). The company was founded in 2012 by UIUC Professor Peter Abbamonte.

The LifeFoundry team shared their startup story which began in 2017. Company applies robotics, synthetic biology, & machine learning to accelerate the R&D of biotechnology. Since start, have grown to about 15 employees.They are located in EnterpriseWorks.

Ryan & Ryan at PhotoniCare, founded in 2013, shared their mission to revolutionize healthcare by providing physicians with better diagnostic tools. Complete with demo, showcased technology focused on ear infections – focuses on diagnosis, treatment & monitoring.

Lori, CEO of Pixo, shared company start & success in attracting talent. Located in Urbana, they have only ever needed to recruit two people outside of #chambana in 20 years. Here because: talent, cost of doing business, and culture of community/region.

View photos here.

Governor Bruce Rauner Visits Champaign-Urbana

Together with the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce and community leaders, we hosted Governor Bruce Rauner in Champaign-Urbana on July 3, 2018.

We toured Wolfram Research, Granular in University of Illinois Research Park, & A&R Mechanical. We also got the chance to chat with Agrible.

View photos here.

Thanks to Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District for the ride!

II-VI Incorporated Opens New Facility for Epitaxial Wafer Manufacturing

As part of the II-VI Epiworks event, a Proclamation was read by Council Member Angie Brix (on behalf of Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen) declaring May 15, 2018 as II-VI EpiWorks Day in the City of Champaign.

From the press release:

PITTSBURGH, May 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – II‐VI Incorporated (NASDAQ:IIVI), a leading provider of compound semiconductor epitaxial wafers, today announced the opening of its new high tech compound semiconductor material center of excellence in Champaign, Illinois.

This represents a significant milestone in II-VI’s ongoing investment in its manufacturing footprint to ramp up production capacity of high performance compound semiconductor epitaxial wafers. These products serve growing markets and are at the core of 3D sensing, optical networking, wireless communications and power electronics. Since the groundbreaking for this expansion, in November 2016, II-VI continues to actively recruit managers, engineers and technicians to join its experienced team.

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner was present at the inauguration’s ribbon cutting ceremony.

“On behalf of II-VI, I would like to express my thanks to the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity for its ongoing support and unwavering commitment to our success,” said Quesnell Hartmann, General Manager and co-founder of II-VI EpiWorks. “The completion of this phase in our expansion provides us with the critical infrastructure to scale our production, advance our technology, and enable us to serve the rapidly growing demand from our global customer base.”

“II-VI and the State of Illinois have formed a strong partnership, sharing a vision that businesses with leading edge technology and advanced manufacturing capabilities are the most competitive over the long-term,” said Dr. Chuck Mattera, President and CEO, II-VI Incorporated. “With support from Illinois, we expect to continue to invest in this Champaign facility, by adding state-of-the-art manufacturing capacity, improving process capabilities, broadening the product portfolio and recruiting and developing a lot of talent to fill the anticipated growth in jobs and opportunities for career growth.”

“It’s a thrill to participate in the opening of a manufacturing facility that will develop key technology enabling some of the most exciting new consumer electronics in the world.” Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner said. “It showcases how local industry, strong university systems and state government can partner to realize a bold vision for a globally competitive semiconductor manufacturing center of excellence that’s built right here, in the heart of our wonderful State of Illinois.”

II-VI develops and manufactures compound semiconductor epitaxial wafers that enable devices to achieve high bandwidth, power efficiency and reliability.  II-VI’s global compound semiconductor production capabilities include multi-purposed 6 inch wafer fabs with both epitaxy and device fabrication capabilities for GaAs, SiC and InP compound semiconductors.

View event photos here.

 

Champaign County Freight Study: Stakeholder Survey

We invite you to participate in a short survey to help the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission develop a freight plan for Champaign County.

The freight plan aims to identify and address the challenges of freight movement on the transportation network in Champaign County. To help ensure the needs and priorities of the business community are represented, they would appreciate your input on the following topics:

  • Challenges that your company faces when moving freight in Champaign County
  • Needed improvements to the freight infrastructure
  • Possible future changes to your supply chain decisions and freight activities

Link to survey: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4315651/FreightStudy

Your responses will help shape the policies and projects that will make the freight system in Champaign County more reliable, efficient, and resilient.

The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Please submit your responses by Friday May 11, 2018.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to:

Shuake Wuzhati
Transportation Planner
swuzhati@ccrpc.org
217-819-4072

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