Author: courtney

DuPage Business Beat Podcast

How Do Big Ideas Become Successful Businesses?

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DUPAGE BUSINESS BEAT | PODCAST EP. 3

Turning a good idea into a real business can be daunting. Between marketing, finance and countless logistical hurdles, it’s hard to know where to start—much less how to build a profitable, sustainable business.

In today’s episode, host Greg Bedalov introduces listeners to Innovation DuPage (ID), an incubator that provides valuable resources to local startups and small businesses.

Greg is joined by two special guests: the Managing Director of ID and the CEO of a member business. Together, they break down how local entrepreneurs can access everything from workspaces and mentorship to “Owner-2-CEO” education programs, marketing support, networking events, and investment opportunities.

Guests: Dan Facchini, Managing Director, Innovation DuPage; Larry Blackburn, Founder & CEO, Datatelligent

Host: Greg Bedalov, President and CEO of Choose DuPage

Dive Deeper:

  • Want to build a more environmentally friendly business? Choose DuPage’s Green Business Assessments provide custom, no-cost sustainability evaluations.
  • Whether you own a local business or are looking for vendors, check out Connect DuPage. This program connects minority, women, disabled, and veteran-owned businesses to helpful resources and new opportunities.
  • Learn more about one of Chicagoland’s hottest startup sectors: quantum technologies.

A special thanks to the College of DuPage for supporting today’s episode. To keep up with what’s happening in DuPage County and the Chicagoland region, follow Choose DuPage on social media or visit ChooseDuPage.com/Ready.

DuPage County Trade Apprenticeship Expo

2023 DuPage County Trade Apprenticeship Expo

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PowerForward DuPage will be hosting the 2023 DuPage County Trade Apprenticeship Expo on Wednesday, November 1st from 3:30pm – 6:30pm. The event features interactive, hands-on demonstrations by the county’s building trade organizations as well as opportunities to meet with instructors to learn more about each individual trade apprenticeship program.

“This is our annual opportunity to open the doors and invite students, parents, guidance counselors, and teachers in to learn what each trade is about and more importantly, outline the career potential that exists outside of the traditional collegiate path,” said PowerForward DuPage Executive Director Karyn Charvat. The expo started in 2018 when Charvat noticed a gap forming in the construction trade industries. It is held at the IBEW Local 701 Union Hall, home to PowerForward DuPage.

The DuPage County Trade Apprenticeship Expo is free to attend but requires online registration. Register HERE!

If you are a DuPage County educator and would like your high school to be contacted directly for participation, please contact PowerForward DuPage at 630-791-2660.

Location:
IBEW Local 701 Union Hall
28600 Bella Vista Parkway
Warrenville, IL 60555

Deborah Conroy

At “Breakfast,” Great Conversation (and Coffee) Flows

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By DuPage County Board Chair Deborah Conroy

I’ve always been a big believer in the power of a good breakfast. After all, many say it’s the most important meal of the day. And when you can combine a good breakfast with wide-ranging, open-minded conversations on topics relevant to the business community in DuPage County, well that’s even better. Get a bunch of smart people around a table, add caffeine, and magic happens.

Somehow, Choose DuPage has taken the magic of a good breakfast chat and scaled it up. We call these events Breakfast with the Chair, and since joining the Choose DuPage community, these AM get-togethers have been one of my favorite things we do.

For those who are unfamiliar, Breakfast with the Chair operates by a simple but ingenious formula. Each quarter, entrepreneurs, experts and community leaders from across DuPage County come together; we give them a good topic and a hearty breakfast, then let the conversations flow.

Often, there are formal presentations, but dialogue is the name of the game, and big, blue-sky ideas are more than welcome. Come with an opinion, leave with a nuanced perspective, a whole lot of facts on the topic and best practices that businesses employ concerning the topic.

Topics on the menu include anything that affects the DuPage community, from technology and sustainability to health and wellness. Since the beginning of 2023, I’ve attended three Breakfasts, and we’ve already covered Artificial Intelligence, Talent Recruitment, and Mental Health in the Workforce.  

The topics vary, but tying all of these Breakfasts together is that key ingredient: conversation. Perhaps many of us spend too much of our time in the world of Likes, Shares, and Posts. I consider these Breakfasts a welcome antidote to our social media-driven, 24-hour-news-cycle culture. Here’s a chance to slow down, think deeply, dance with bold ideas, and walk away with both a richer understanding of important issues and greater respect for other viewpoints.

In other words, these Breakfasts are old-school in the best way. They facilitate the kind of give-and-take conversations that leaders need to be having, and the fact that we host them regularly is a small testament to the distinctively collaborative atmosphere of DuPage and the Chicagoland region.

They’re also, critically, a whole lot of fun. At the end of each Breakfast, I always walk away full of fresh energy and new ideas—and hungry for more.

About the Hon. Deborah Conroy, Chair, DuPage County Board

In 2022, Deborah A. Conroy was elected as the first female Chair of the DuPage County Board. Prior to winning that election, Chair Conroy served in the Illinois State House of Representatives for ten years, beginning in 2012.

During her tenure in the General Assembly, Chair Conroy co-founded the House Democratic Women’s Caucus and served as the first Chair of the Mental Health and Addiction Committee. She advocated for expanded mental health and addiction services, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. She passed legislation expanding access to Naloxone, a life-saving drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.  Chair Conroy was also lead negotiator on legislation that expanded access to telehealth, and she sponsored legislation putting civics education back in high schools.  Prior to serving in the Illinois House, she was a member of the Elmhurst Community Unit District 205 School Board.

Chair Conroy is a dedicated public servant with a long history of supporting her community. She previously served on the board of the Elmhurst Children’s Assistance Foundation, which provides financial assistance to families with disabled or medically burdened children.

Chair Conroy attended York Community High School, the College of DuPage, and Columbia College. She lives in Elmhurst and has four adult sons.

ComEd

Customers Save More than $8 Billion on Energy Bills Through Award-Winning ComEd Energy Efficiency Program

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ComEd offerings ranked first in Midwest by national energy-efficiency research organization

CHICAGO (Aug. 30, 2023) – Since 2008, hundreds of thousands of families and businesses across northern Illinois have saved a total of more than $8 billion on their energy bills by participating in the ComEd Energy Efficiency Program.

The award-winning program, which is funded in compliance with state law, is one of the largest in the nation offering residents, businesses and the public sector a variety of options that help them cut back on their energy use, which reduces energy bills and helps the environment.

In addition to saving customers more than $8 billion on their energy bills, the program also helped customers save approximately 76 million megawatt-hours of electricity, which is enough energy to power more than 8.6 million ComEd customers’ homes for one year. The program has also helped reduce from the air nearly 65 billion pounds of carbon emissions that contribute to climate change, which is the equivalent of removing more than 6.3 million cars off the road for one year or planting nearly 35 million acres of trees.

“As ComEd works to provide customers with clean, reliable energy, we’ve also worked over the last decade to control costs and keep rates competitive,” said Erica Borggren, vice president of customer solutions at ComEd. “Part of that effort is through the ComEd Energy Efficiency Program, which enables customers to take control of when and how they use electricity to help them manage costs and lower their electric bills.”

In January, the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA) recognized ComEd’s Multi-Family Energy Savings offering with an Inspiring Efficiency Award. The offering, one of many available through ComEd’s energy-efficiency program, features assessments and free or discounted energy-saving products to help residents and owners of multi-unit dwellings lower their energy use and electric bills. In May, the program also received the highest level of recognition from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with an ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year—Sustained Excellence Award.

“Energy efficiency plays a crucial role in meeting our nation’s energy needs,” said Mike Specian, utilities manager at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and lead author of the recently released Utility Energy Efficiency Scorecard, which ranked the ComEd Energy Efficiency Program first among Midwest utility programs and fourth nationally. “It lowers customer energy bills, reduces energy burden, improves in-home comfort, enhances resilience, and improves indoor air quality.”

The scorecard evaluated 53 of the largest U.S. electric utilities on their policy and program efforts related to energy efficiency during 2021. The scorecard also looked at how utilities managed customers at risk of having their electric service disconnected, which can severely damage people’s health and well-being by depriving them of safe living temperatures, refrigeration, and the use of medical equipment, as well as evaluated utilities on how they ensure diverse workforces for their efficiency programs.

How customers can benefit from energy-saving programs

ComEd residential customers interested in taking advantage of any of the ComEd Energy Efficiency Program offerings can view a full list of services, incentives and rebates at ComEd.com/HomeSavings. Offerings for business customers are available at ComEd.com/BizSavings.

For customers who want help getting started, ComEd recommends establishing a free, online account at ComEd.com/MyAccount. Once logged in, customers can compare their current bill with last month’s bill and last year’s bill to learn more about their energy use. They can even view their bill forecast to see an estimate of their upcoming bill, so customers can make changes in energy use to manage costs before their next bill. With an online account, customers can also:

  • Click on My Usage and then Tips to find personalized, energy-saving suggestions based on the information provided in their home profile. These tips can help customers find ways to save money and energy, by cost, season, and more.
  • Sign up for free bill notifications, such as High-Usage Alerts that send notifications when energy use is trending higher than usual, and Weekly Usage Reports that summarize your daily use so you can spot trends and adjust usage before your next bill arrives.
  • Access View My Usage to obtain graphs of existing costs and energy-use patterns. In the Neighbors tab, customers get a relative comparison of energy use from about 100 comparable homes within a certain radius. To increase the accuracy of the comparison, customers can go to My Home Profile to add or change details about your home.
Quantum technology

Illinois & Chicagoland Are Leading Innovation in Quantum

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The Chicagoland region stands on the precipice of becoming a global center for quantum technologies, suggests a report released today by World Business Chicago. The transformative impact of quantum technology is expected to outpace current computational capabilities and revolutionize sectors like automotive, finance, life sciences, and beyond.

Read more in World Business Chicago’s Chicago Business Bulletin, “Chicagoland’s Quantum Ecosystem” published in partnership with the Chicago Quantum Exchange and P33 Chicago.

“The motivation behind this report was understanding that quantum, often likened to science fiction, is very real,” expressed Robin Ficke, SVP, Research, World Business Chicago. ” Though quantum applications are still nascent, the strides made by local scientists and innovators are turning heads in the investment and corporate sectors. This report illuminates the region’s opportunity to lead quantum technology’s future.

The Research Center at World Business Chicago delves deeply into the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities of both established and emergent industries. Today’s quantum ecosystem report provides an unbiased glimpse into the region’s quantum tech landscape and its broader implications in the U.S. and world.

“We join Governor Pritzker and other key stakeholders, in a commitment to see Illinois and the Chicagoland region become a global quantum hub,” said Michael Fassnacht, President & CEO, World Business Chicago. “Given our diversified economy, industrial stronghold, top-tier education system, vibrant startup culture, and strong pipeline of leading researchers, scientists and engineers, we’re not just embracing the quantum shift—we are leading it.”

“Quantum technologies have the potential to transform everyday life across multiple sectors, and the Midwest region is poised to become the heart of the nation’s quantum economy, thanks in large part to the deep cross-sector partnerships we have cultivated here,” said David Awschalom, Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago and Director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange. “Collaboration among academia, industry, and government labs have attracted substantial investment to the region and contribute to the strong quantum ecosystem reflected in this report.”

World Business Chicago’s Quantum Ecosystem report highlights increasing investments in the region’s quantum ecosystem, why the Chicagoland region is one of the top three best-positioned in the U.S. for supplying the quantum workforce of the future, details of Illinois’ status as a frontrunner in active quantum patents, leading all Midwestern states; and other reasons why the region is a magnet for quantum startups, companies, and leaders of industry. Other findings include:

  • Billions in Quantum’s Wake – Quantum startups globally have attracted an impressive $9.8 billion since 2020, a leap from the prior $1.4 billion over 2014-2019. Illinois has captured $33.2 million since 2017, solidifying its lead for quantum ventures, particularly those focused on software. This can be seen not only in the data but in the personal stories of researchers, startup founders and students who have come to the region for the richness of the quantum ecosystem. Six of those stories are detailed today in a report out by the Chicago Quantum Exchange, including those of three startups that have attracted millions of dollars in public and private investment: EeroQ, which moved its headquarters to Chicago in 2022; Super.tech, a University of Chicago spin-out was acquired in 2022 by Infleqtion (formerly ColdQuanta); and Quantopticon, which is in the process of moving its headquarters to Chicago.
  • Chicagoland: A Quantum Magnet – The region’s quantum ecosystem is more than its startups. Over 40 Fortune 500 companies, leading universities, research labs, and incubators also populate the region. This synergy of tech behemoths, academia, research, and innovative startups positions Chicagoland as a dominant quantum hub.
  • Educational Epicenter – Including nearby quantum centers in Urbana–Champaign and Madison, Wisconsin, the Midwest region is the nation’s third-largest quantum education hub. The Chicagoland region is second in spinning out the most quantum-focused doctoral graduates.

Looking Ahead

Illinois, and the Chicagoland region, is on the precipice of becoming a global hub for quantum development. Today scientists are actively experimenting on ways to increase computer speed, improve cryptography, curate new ways to detect diseases, and more.

“Quantum is ours to win. Every dollar invested, every research paper published, and every startup incubated brings us closer to seeing Illinois and the Chicagoland region a global epicenter of quantum technology,” said Brad Henderson, CEO, P33 Chicago.

SOURCE: World Business Chicago

Chicagoland’s Quantum Ecosystem, Executive Summary 

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

Chicago is not Silicon Valley: our uniqueness lies in fostering a distinct and diverse technological ecosystem, where the collective business community carves out its own path to innovation. Chicago’s advantage lies in its diverse range of industries, which span finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and more. This diversity allows for cross-pollination of ideas, especially as quantum companies collaborate with various industry sectors, leading to innovative solutions that cater to specific, real-world challenges. Chicago’s rare environment enables rapid commercialization and practical application of quantum technologies.

In this issue of the Chicago Business Bulletin, the World Business Chicago Research Center will illustrate Chicagoland’s advantages in the quantum industry across a number of metrics, including its diverse industrial base, but also academic and research institutions, private and public investments, and intellectual property production.

Key Findings:

  • Chicago’s diverse industry base creates a wealth of real-world challenges and applications for quantum companies to address. Chicago is one of the top metro areas in the US for industries — like high tech, IT-producing, and IT-using industries — that most often acquire new technology as part of their innovation strategies.
  • Within the US, the broader Chicago region (including the Chicago, Urbana-Champaign, and Madison, Wisconsin metro areas) has the third highest number of universities engaged in quantum research activities. With respect to actual academic programs, this region has the third most universities with quantum-related academic program completions.
  • Global investment in quantum startups has increased dramatically since 2020; Illinois is a leader in US-based investments. Illinois has the second most deals made by quantum startups after California. Investment in Illinois and Midwestern quantum startups is more likely to be captured by software-focused firms, compared to hardware-focused firms.
  • Illinois has a diverse, well-balanced distribution of quantum patents across sub-niches, especially compared to other high-performing states with significant quantum presences. Notably, 47.8% of Illinois’ quantum patents fall under quantum devices, while 14.5% are in quantum optics and quantum information processing. In contrast, California — the largest quantum patent producer — has over 70% of its patents in quantum devices and only 5% in quantum optics and quantum information processing.

Fact Sheet

  • Chicagoland offers more than 40 quantum-related corporate, government, academic, and non-profit partners.
  • The Chicago metro area’s high tech industry is poised to grow by 15% between 2022 and 2026.
  • Chicago Quantum Exchange partner universities rank second in the nation for number of quantum related Ph.D. graduates.
  • Illinois quantum startups have raised $33.2 million through 27 deals.
  • With 1,273 active quantum patents, Illinois ranks fifth in the nation.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

Argonne National Laboratory

Argonne researchers win three 2023 R&D 100 Awards

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The awards program is colloquially referred to as the ​“Oscars of Innovation”

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and partner organizations have been honored with three awards as part of the 2023 R&D 100 Awards, colloquially referred to as the ​“Oscars of Innovation.” An additional Argonne project was named a finalist.

“We are thrilled to see Argonne researchers and partners recognized by this prestigious awards program for their innovative work,” said Megan Clifford, Argonne’s associate laboratory director for science and technology partnerships and outreach. ​“Argonne’s winning projects and those that were named finalists represent a wide range of cutting-edge science and engineering — from climate science to cancer research — that can have a profound impact on people and communities.”

Argonne has won 145 R&D 100 Awards since the competition began in 1963. Past winners also include Fortune 500 companies, other DOE national laboratories, academic institutions and smaller companies.

Argonne’s winning projects/technologies this year are:

CANDLE (CANcer Distributed Learning Environment) (Principal Investigator: Rick Stevens)

CANDLE is an artificial intelligence-based computer code that brings together machine learning, deep learning and cancer research to accelerate the discovery of new cancer therapies and treatments. This unique and powerful platform aims to solve three major challenges in cancer. First, it analyzes protein behaviors in tumor cells. Second, it looks at the relationship between tumors and drugs. Third, it can analyze biomedical records to extract new patterns and information. CANDLE was also used to research potential treatments for SARS-CoV-2.

In addition, scientists are using CANDLE codes to check the performance of the most advanced DOE computing systems, including Argonne’s upcoming Aurora exascale supercomputer.

CANDLE is designed in partnership with DOE and the National Cancer Institute.

This research was supported by the Exascale Computing Project, a collaborative effort of DOE’s Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Cardinal: Scalable High-Order Multi-Physics Simulation (Principal Investigator: April Novak)

Scientists and engineers rely on simulation to predict the behavior of nuclear reactors under a variety of design conditions. Often, experiments are too expensive to carry out or are incompatible with fast-turnaround design cycles. Science modeling and simulation is particularly important to the advancement of novel nuclear reactor designs and can enable critical insight for making better design decisions to increase efficiency and safety.

Cardinal is an open-source simulation software package that delivers highly accurate solutions for a wide range of applications in nuclear energy sciences. Cardinal features state-of-the-art, scalable algorithms for achieving multiphysics solutions with neutron transport, fluid flow, heat transfer and material behavior on platforms ranging from laptops to extreme-scale computers. The physical phenomena that can be simulated with Cardinal range from neutron interactions with matter on the atomic scale to the whole-system response of nuclear reactors coupled to electric grids on the kilometer scale.

Funding for Cardinal was provided by DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.

Climate Risk and Resilience Portal (ClimRR) (Principal Investigator: Carmella Burdi)

ClimRR is a free, web-based tool that gives emergency managers and community leaders access to localized data about future climate conditions and hazards. Climate projections and visualization at the neighborhood-level scale create opportunities for local decision makers to take informed action. This information is increasingly of interest to decision makers as the impacts of climate change become more frequent and intense.

Argonne developed ClimRR in a unique partnership with AT&T and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. To create ClimRR, Argonne first used the power of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, a DOE Office of Science user facility, to dynamically downscale data from three different global climate models, and then used that dataset as the basis for rendering more than 100 unique visualizations of climate impact variables over three different timeframes and according to two greenhouse gas emission scenarios. The data in ClimRR can be combined with data from the Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool to help users understand local-scale climate risks in the context of existing community demographics and infrastructure. For example, users can include locations of vulnerable populations and critical infrastructure.

ClimRR can be used to plan for and reduce heat emergency deaths or target assistance among those communities that are most vulnerable. Communities can use the tool to protect family farms and the future food security of millions of people. Decision makers can use ClimRR to help make infrastructure more resilient against increasingly extreme conditions. Also, decision makers can use the tool to help vulnerable local seasonal economies plan for change, and preserve the cultures, resources and lifeways of indigenous peoples.

AT&T originally commissioned Argonne’s Center for Climate Resilience and Decision Science to produce the climate projections in ClimRR for the company’s own adaptation efforts, but then sought to make that data publicly available.

In addition, another Argonne project/technology was named a finalist this year:

ActivO: A Machine Learning Driven Active Optimizer for Rapid Product Design Optimization (Principal Investigator: Pinaki Pal)

ActivO is an innovative software technology developed at Argonne that provides a unique turnkey solution to speed up product design optimization and massively accelerate virtual prototyping across a wide range of industries. Imagine designing a car engine or a wind turbine. You want it to work well and use less energy, but figuring out the best design can take a lot of time and money because of having to test many ideas and prototypes.

The secret to how ActivO accelerates the design process is a one-of-its-kind combination of: advanced ensemble machine learning (ML)-driven predictive surrogate models trained on simulation data; adaptive sampling of the design space via active learning for on-the-fly refinements of the ML surrogate models; and efficient algorithms for controlling the relative degree of local (exploitation) versus global (exploration) search of the design space during optimization — all within an automated, modular and scalable workflow. ActivO can be readily coupled with any simulation tool. It can also efficiently run on high performance computing clusters/supercomputers and cloud-based platforms, owing to its highly parallelizable and portable framework. The compact and end-to-end nature of ActivO enables easy adoption by engineers in industry, even those who do not have extensive ML expertise.

ActivO has wide applicability and ability to impact multiple industrial sectors, such as automotive, aerospace, chemical, iron and steel, oil and gas, carbon capture, and biomedical. Argonne has demonstrated the capability of ActivO to speed up design optimization of automotive engines by an order of magnitude — from months to a few days — compared with other contemporary commercial software tools. Companies like Dow Chemical are already leveraging it to optimize their products. By way of drastically accelerating design optimization campaigns, ActivO can shrink industry design cycles/costs and time-to-market for advanced products.

ActivO was developed under a Technology Commercialization Fund project funded by the Decarbonization of Off-road, Rail, Marine and Aviation program of DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Vehicle Technologies Office.

The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility provides supercomputing capabilities to the scientific and engineering community to advance fundamental discovery and understanding in a broad range of disciplines. Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program, the ALCF is one of two DOE Leadership Computing Facilities in the nation dedicated to open science.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

Learn more about opportunities to partner with Argonne National Laboratory.

DuPage County to Host Community Forums to Help Shape County’s Future

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DuPage County will host four community forums in September for residents to provide feedback as the County works to update its strategic plan.

The forum will provide an opportunity for residents to discuss their budgetary and community priorities for the new strategic plan, which will guide the County for the next five years.

“This is a valuable opportunity for our residents to provide insight on the strategic plan. I wholeheartedly believe the feedback we receive will be crucial to creating a strong, inclusive plan that benefits the entire County. I want to thank the residents for taking the time to provide us with their thoughts, which will help us shape our community’s future,” said Sadia Covert, Chair of the County’s Strategic Planning Committee.

The four forums will be held:

  • 12 to 1:30 p.m. Sept. 6 at West Chicago Public Library, 118 W. Washington St., The Meeting Room, West Chicago.
  • 6:30 to 8 p.m. Sept. 6 at Elmhurst Public Library, 125 S. Prospect Ave., Kossmann Room, Elmhurst.
  • 12 to 1:30 p.m. Sept. 7 at Wheaton Public Library, 225 N. Cross St., Meeting Room A, Wheaton.
  • 6:30 to 8 p.m. Sept. 7 at Lisle Public Library, 777 Front St., Meeting Rooms A and B, Lisle.

Residents who are unable to attend the forums can still provide feedback by taking a survey or providing comments online at https://berrydunn.mysocialpinpoint.com/dupagecountyil.

Breakfast with the Chair

Breakfast with the Chair: Leveraging AI for Business

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DuPage County business leaders gathered on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, at Hamilton Lakes in Itasca for an important, roundtable discussion about artificial intelligence (AI) and how to leverage it for business. A variety of businesses and organizations throughout DuPage engaged in meaningful conversations about AI’s applications, risks, and corporate policy around AI.

The Hon. Deborah Conroy, Chair of the DuPage County Board opened the discussion by sharing the incredible growth of platforms like Chat GPT and added, “I believe Chat GPT and the larger questions around AI will all be answered in the context of our human needs. These systems are not, in fact, human. They use the data that humans feed them. And sometimes, the information they spit back out is false. It’s flawed, as are the humans in charge. These systems will not replace the human experience… The most effective communication will always tap into these uniquely human experiences to connect with others. For that, we will always depend on our own human perspectives.”

Following Chair Conroy, Bert Nuehring, Partner and Kim Yin, Machine Learning Technology Lead at Crowe LLP gave a presentation on the applications, capabilities, benefits, and potential impact of AI. Some of the benefits include:

  • Faster product development. For example, it can be used to generate 3D architectural designs and floor plans based on client requirements. Or create app prototypes based on high-level specifications.
  • Enhanced customer experience. AI can be used as virtual assistants – providing personalized support and recommendations to customers or create personalized ad experiences based on behavior and preferences.
  • Improved employee productivity. AI can automate routine document preparation or streamline manual processes.

Attendees shared how they use AI in their businesses, ranging from summarizing text to generating ideas. 

Following Crowe LLP’s presentation, Rathje Woodward LLC gave a presentation on the risks of AI, and what companies should consider when building acceptable use policies. Attorneys Heather Kramer and Yates French shared that the risks include:

  • Hallucinations: liability for inaccurate information, fraud, defamation.
  • Confidentiality: protecting trade secrets or other highly sensitive information.
  • Privacy: protecting clients, consumers, or partners.
  • Copyright: Protecting your materials or using copy written materials.

Their presentation pointed out that when you ask a platform like Chat GPT a question, the answer is based on previously written words on the internet. It’s not looking for truth, it’s looking for the most popular answer available, and in some cases, it may be making it up entirely.

Heather and Yates also warned that businesses should be cautious about what they put into public AI platforms, sharing real-life examples of businesses that have put confidential information into Chat GPT and the implications it had on the company.

In summary, artificial intelligence can be leveraged to enhance efficiency and decision-making, but it’s important to align AI initiatives with your business goals and consider factors like data privacy and ethics throughout the process.

Breakfast with the Chair events are hosted by Choose DuPage, with Hon. Deborah Conroy, DuPage County Board Chair. This series of events is an opportunity for local business leaders to connect, learn and discuss important topics effecting DuPage County. Special thanks to Hamilton Partners for hosting us at their Hamilton Lakes office development in Itasca.

DuPage office leases

CoStar’s Quarterly List of Market-Leading Deals Include Two DuPage County Office Leases

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Top Office Leases Recognized for Chicago

Published by: CoStar Research | August 2, 2023 

Prominent office leases signed by Molson Coors, Antares Capital and Raymond James negotiated by top dealmakers from Riverside Investment & Development and Cushman & Wakefield are among the second-quarter office leases recognized by CoStar.

As big-ticket items involving sizable investments, commercial property transactions often have a wider impact within the community. CoStar will recognize the largest leases completed each quarter and the dealmakers who made them happen in their respective markets.

Here are the Chicago office leases selected as the second-quarter 2023 winners of the CoStar Power Broker Quarterly Deal Awards:

Molson Coors
320 S. Canal St., Chicago, IL
Space Leased: 83,848 SF
Deal Type: New Lease
Size: 1,497,211 SF

Molson Coors, the wholesaler of popular beverages including Blue Moon, Coors, Miller and Topo Chico, finalized a lease in the second quarter to move its headquarters across the Chicago River to the BMO Tower in 2024. The beer giant is slated to occupy the 34th through 36th floors of the tower developed and owned by Riverside Investment & Development. The deal is the latest example of the so-called flight to quality across the country, with tenants moving into newer, higher-end spaces. For Molson Coors, the never-used space at BMO Tower is less than half the roughly 167,000 square feet it now leases just across the river about a block east at 250 S. Wacker Drive.

Antares Capital
320 S. Canal St., Chicago, IL
Space Leased: 79,657 SF
Deal Type: New Lease

Set to join Molson Coors is Antares Capital, a financial services firm that signed a rare relocation and expansion at BMO Tower. The company currently occupies 69,646 square feet at 500 W. Monroe St., though it will occupy nearly 80,000 square feet when it moves to BMO Tower. The skyscraper opened last year along Union Station and includes a 1.5-acre, privately owned park along the west side of the building. It is now more than 70% leased.

Raymond James
120 S. Riverside Plaza, Chicago, IL 
Space Leased: 58,196 SF
Deal Type: New Lease

Investment banking giant Raymond James is opening a new Chicago office after signing a lease at 120 S. Riverside Plaza. Owned by Ivanhoe Cambridge for a decade, the 22-story tower includes a recently renovated lobby, two redeveloped plazas, a fitness center, tenant lounges and on-site restaurants. Other tenants in the building include Husch Blackwell, Home Partners of America and Levenfeld Pearlstein.

Sikich
1415 W. Diehl Road, Naperville, IL
Space Leased: 42,895 SF
Deal Type: Renewal

National information technology management firm Sikich signed a lease for a new office at Hub 1415. The Naperville office is the company’s headquarters and houses its specialized training and development program for employees, dubbed Sikich University. Hub 1415 is a Class-A office building consisting of two properties connected by a skyway. The building also offers a full-service cafeteria, on-site parking, multiple tenant lounges and outdoor areas.

Barstool Sports
400 N. Noble St., Chicago, IL 
Space Leased: 39,251 SF
Deal Type: New Lease
Size: 58,765 SF

Sports and pop culture media company Barstool Sports signed a deal to occupy 39,251 square feet at The Bishop building in Chicago. Given Barstool Sports’ youthful brand image, the company requires an office environment that fosters creativity, collaboration and innovation. The new location will include a full-size basketball court, a golf simulator, music studios and other space for media content creation. NanoGraf leasing the remainder of the building for its new corporate headquarters.

HNTB
1 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 
Space Leased: 32,176 SF
Deal Type: New Lease

HNTB signed a lease in One South Wacker where the engineering firm will open its first office in Illinois. HNTB operates in 34 states and primarily focuses on infrastructure needs. One South Wacker, also known as OSW, opened in 1982 and is home to such tenants as Invenergy, Rise Interactive, Charles River Associates and Avison Young. The 601W Cos. owns the Helmut Jahn-designed building.

Insight Global
353 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 
Space Leased: 27,043 SF
Deal Type: Renewal

Insight Global renewed its offices in Mesirow’s headquarters building at 353 N. Clark St. in River North. The staffing agency has leased space in the building since 2014, the same year building owner Heitman acquired the property for $715 million.

Helix Logistics
227 W. Monroe St., Chicago, IL 
Space Leased: 25,632 SF
Deal Type: New Lease

Helix Logistics provides logistics and transportation services to clients. The company will open a new office at The Franklin after reaching a deal with building owner Tishman Speyer for the 42nd floor of the 60-story tower. The high-rise was built in 1989 in the city’s Loop business district and is also home to Eversheds Sutherland, AllianceBernstein, Madison Capital Funding and Steptoe.

Roetzel & Andress
70 W. Madison St., Chicago, IL 
Space Leased: 23,909 SF
Deal Type: Sublease

National law firm Roetzel & Andress has elected to move to a larger office at 70 W. Madison St. in downtown Chicago. The firm leased 23,909 square feet on the 30th floor for five years. Moving to a larger office indicates the firm’s intention to expand its presence in downtown Chicago and grow in key practice areas, including its recently added cybersecurity practice. The firm’s previous Chicago office was at 30 N. LaSalle St.

Kone
3333 Warrenville Road, Lisle, IL 
Space Leased: 22,238 SF
Deal Type: New Lease

Kone signed a lease in Central Park of Lisle where the Finnish elevator company will establish its U.S. headquarters. GFH Financial Group, an Islamic investment bank previously known as Gulf Finance House, owns the Broadcom-anchored building.

For more information about available office space in DuPage County, IL please contact Choose DuPage.

Advanced manufacturing dupage

Innovation in Manufacturing & Chicagoland’s Advantages

Posted on | by courtney

World Business Chicago recently published a new research report, Innovation in Manufacturing & Chicagoland’s Advantages. This comprehensive report delves into the transformative impact of innovation on the Chicago region’s thriving $99 billion manufacturing industry, which as of 2022, stands as the nation’s second largest.

As the manufacturing sector faces growing competition in an increasingly globalized economy, the industry has embraced innovative technologies and processes to maintain its leadership position. With over 410,000 employees working in the Chicago region’s manufacturing sector, the adoption of tools such as automation, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT) has revolutionized operational efficiency and productivity across the 12,000+ manufacturing firms in the area.

One key highlight of the report is the collaboration between manufacturers, suppliers, and academic institutions to foster innovation within the sector. This cooperative approach has led to the formation of robust innovation ecosystems that empower the industry with a distinct competitive advantage.

Key Findings from the Report include:

  • Diverse Innovators: The report reveals that for every high-tech manufacturer engaged in innovation, there are three fabricated metal manufacturers actively innovating. This indicates a widespread commitment to advancing manufacturing processes and technologies across the sector.
  • Knowledge Exchange: Most manufacturers in the Chicagoland region rely on their customers or suppliers to provide specialized knowledge that cannot be acquired or developed in-house. This collaborative approach encourages knowledge sharing and promotes open innovation initiatives.
  • Regional Advantage: Chicagoland offers manufacturers a unique edge, as they can access a robust ecosystem of suppliers and customers within the region. Astonishingly, manufacturers in Chicago source nearly 50% of their inputs in-region, further solidifying the area’s status as a manufacturing hub.
  • Diverse Government Support: Nearly half of the manufacturers using government support for innovation reported using programs other than tax incentives or credits. This highlights the diversity of initiative available to foster innovation in the region.
  • Illinois as an Innovation Hub: The report underscores Illinois’ prominence as a hub for innovation, ranking #5 in the U.S. for its contributions to the advancement of technology and manufacturing.

“The World Business Chicago’s Research Center is excited to present this report that delves into what manufacturers need in order to successfully innovate and the critical role of innovation in driving the success of the manufacturing industry in the Chicagoland region,” said Robin Ficke, SVP, Research, World Business Chicago. “The findings underscore the impact of our dynamic and collaborative manufacturing ecosystem, positioning the region as a key player in shaping the future of the manufacturing landscape.”

The Innovation in Manufacturing & Chicagoland’s Advantages report showcases the regional commitment, by and through the Greater Chicagoland Economic Partnership, to staying at the forefront of technological advancements to drive sustainable growth for the region’s manufacturing industry.

To access the full report and learn more about the innovative strides made by the Chicagoland manufacturing sector, please visit [https://infograph.venngage.com/pl/ifI7Kt8rVAc]