Chicago Tribune (Feb. 22) -- The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded $70 million to create the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute. It will be based in Chicago and led by the University of Illinois' UI Labs. Areas of focus include using supercomputers to do virtual prototyping, using software to link bigger pools of vendors and customers in a virtual supply chain and using wireless sensors to create "smart factories," said Bill King, a University of Illinois professor of mechanical engineering who will be chief technology officer for the project. Also: Chicago Tribune (blog, Feb. 24), Crain's Chicago Business (Feb. 23), Inside Indiana Business (Feb. 24), DoD Buzz (Feb. 24), Galesburg Register-Mail (Feb. 24), WGN TV (Feb. 23), Chicago Sun-Times (Feb. 23), Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette (Feb. 22) WLS (ABC7, Feb. 25), Inside Higher Ed (Washington, D.C., Feb. 25), San Francisco Chronicle (from The Associated Press, Feb. 25), Marketplace (Feb. 25). Editor's note: As a national story, the pre-announcement, official presidential announcement, and details regarding the new Digital Labs project have generated several hundred news articles across the country.
Related story(ies): Chicago Tribune (Editorial, Feb. 25) -- A who's who of Illinois political leaders rose as one over the weekend to celebrate the selection of Chicago as the site for a new research hub to be financed in a broad government-private partnership. What's most exciting is that 73 companies, universities, nonprofits and research labs have pledged more than $200 million for the project. Among them are industry giants known for making smart bets such as General Electric, Procter & Gamble and Dow Chemical. Leading the project is the respected UI Labs, a nonprofit affiliated with the University of Illinois. The organization will resemble a hub-and-spoke, with a brain center in Chicago coordinating R&D performed across the country. Also: Crain's Chicago Business (Feb. 24), Channel 2 (CBS, Chicago, Feb. 25).
Chicago Sun-Times (Feb. 25) -- Chicago’s new national Digital Lab will launch in a 50,000-square foot building on Goose Island to house software teams and a small demonstration factory where prototypes could be tested. According to the proposal to the DoD, the Digital Lab, when it ramps up, will have 80 full-time employees and an annual operating budget of $22 million. University of Illinois staffers at UI Labs — a U. of I. nonprofit spinoff — are the nucleus of the group, working out of Microsoft offices in the AON Building in Chicago until the Goose Island facility is open.
Crain’s Chicago Business (March 3) -- A profile of the CEO of UI Labs, Caralynn Nowinski.