Chicago Tech

Chicago Sun-Times (Nov. 4) -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at a technology summit on Monday that he want to double the number of tech jobs in the city in the next decade. Mayor Emanuel plans to expand his “recruiting efforts to bring newly graduated tech workers to Chicago by visiting four universities this year in addition to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he visited” in 2012. Also: ASEE FirstBell (Nov. 6).

Related story: Crain's Chicago Business (Nov. 5) -- Andreas Cangellaris, dean of the College of Engineering at Illinois sees a bright future for Chicago in the next phase of high tech, which he says will be dominated more by applying technology to existing industries than by developing raw computer technology. Cangellaris is bullish on UI Labs, the proposed downtown Chicago research hub that would bring top talent from University of Illinois and other top universities together with corporate R&D teams to solve commercial problems. It's chasing a $70 million Defense Department grant to create an institute for advanced digital manufacturing.

Related story: Huffington Post (Nov. 16) -- With Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on board as the city's chief tech evangelist, it's no surprise that the city itself is applying a startup, tech-friendly mentality to solving its citizens' most pressing needs. But despite all the progress and the increase in the number of startups, Chicago has been stung by startups in the past. The founders of Netscape, PayPal, Yelp and YouTube all studied at the University of Illinois, one of the best schools in the country for computer science and engineering. But upon graduation, they made a beeline for Silicon Valley.