Future of Food Week, it’s on!
Learn more about how leaders in Chicago's food innovation scene want to 'step up' at Future-of-Food Week in the wake of Dom's and Foxtrot's recent closures.
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Future of Food Week, it’s on!
Learn more about how leaders in Chicago's food innovation scene want to 'step up' at Future-of-Food Week in the wake of Dom's and Foxtrot's recent closures.
We are incredibly proud to continue the vital work of championing equity in tech and driving sustainable change in #Chicago.
After years of collaborative work toward equity in tech, we have bittersweet news to share about our initiative. The current iteration of GET Cities is coming to a close as we transition this impactful work into the broader community with a focus on sustainable, long-term impact. When we launched GET Cities, powered by SecondMuse Foundation, we had an audacious mission - to increase the power and influence of historically excluded people in tech, with a focus on gender equity. We wanted the industry to truly reflect the diverse lived experiences in our society. Our vision for how to get there was by harnessing collective efforts across cities and sectors to center gender in the conversation, to discover and disseminate best practices, and to use the learnings from on the ground to accelerate national change. With deep collaboration across our ecosystem partners in Chicago, DC, and Miami, GET Cities achieved remarkable milestones. We deployed over $3.2 million into equity-focused programs, hosted 204 events, piloted 37 innovative interventions, facilitated the raising of $22,656,000 by founders across our three cities, and engaged over 3,600 stakeholders. Together, we've laid the groundwork for a more equitable tech future and we are proud of the impact we’ve made. And even though we are sad to say goodbye, we are overflowing with gratitude for the transformative work we achieved together and the vital groundwork we laid. We’re also thrilled to share we will be passing the torch to three of our partners through a Transition to Community. Last Mile Education Fund, Radical Partners, and World Business Chicago will carry forward our mission of fostering gender equity in tech. Transition to community is a proactive and intentional step, fostering resilience within communities and encouraging strong relationships with other ecosystem innovators and funders. We are so proud of the catalytic groundwork we have activated across our cities and networks and for our partners to continue and expand upon the work of building a tech industry that reflects and addresses the needs of all lived experiences. These organizations will build on a portfolio of work piloted here at GET Cities; continue the work of convening the ecosystem and engaging power holders, bring on board some of our team members; and expand a gender lens to their ongoing work to achieve equity in tech. So stay tuned, as we share details on final GET Cities activations and investments over the coming months. #GETTransition
We salute Neal Sabin and the entire Weigel Broadcasting Co. team for continuing to set the bar high. 🙌 Since 1964, Weigel has been a pioneer in television broadcasting, and 60 years later, they’re still leading the way. Next up for Weigel: MeTV Toons—a new national network, airing from #Chicago, featuring classic cartoons 24/7. 🔗 Read More ⬇ by Crain's Chicago Business reporter Corli Jay
We're delighted to welcome Grindr's new engineering hub to Chicago! 🌈🏙️ Grindr's decision to expand here underscores Chicago’s reputation not just for top tech talent, but as an affirming, welcoming city where everyone can be their authentic self. The office and engineering team in Chicago are led by Joel Keating, with plans to grow the overall team to nearly 100 members over the next few years. Grindr is specifically hiring in roles focused on Android, iOS, Java/Kotlin, Full Stack, Data Engineering, Cloud Engineering, and Engineering Management. We look forward to having company CEO George Arison, Joel and the #Chicago team as active participants in the city's tech and innovation ecosystem. “I could not be more excited to celebrate the opening of Grindr’s engineering hub in Chicago,” said Grindr CEO George Arison. “With its leading business community and its vast talent pipeline, Chicago represents the ideal location for Grindr to expand its vital engineering function as we continue to grow our team and work to create a world where the lives of our users are free, equal, and just.” #ChicagoTech #Innovation
Today, we are proud to lead a business delegation with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to Canada (Ville de Montréal) promoting Chicago's commitment to becoming a leader in the blue and green economy. Today's business roundtable featured leaders in the sustainable development, transportation, water management, and clean energy sectors with an interest in investing or expanding in Chicago. Chicago's robust infrastructure, university, and research network, and actively engaged elected officials working alongside business leaders, position us incredibly well to drive growth in sectors that prioritize long-term environmental and economic health. A special shout out to the Chicago contingent joining the mayor on his first business prospecting meeting out of the country including Charles Smith, Vice Chair, World Business Chicago, Alaina Harkness, Executive Director, Current, Adrienne Tongate, Executive Vice President, World Business Chicago, and Angela Tovar, Chief Sustainability Officer, City of Chicago. #ChicagoLeads #SustainableChicago #BlueGreenEconomy
This week, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson joined Mayor Valérie Plante of Montréal, QC, Mayor Bruno Marchand of Québec City, QC, and Mayor Cavalier Johnson of Milwaukee, WI, in signing a historic pledge to transform the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin into a thriving blue-green economic corridor - including a 10-year plan to foster sustainable, inclusive and resilient economic development while protecting the basin’s freshwater resources. “This international mission of the Mayor, conjugating policy and economic development, set the stage for more business opportunities, cultural exchanges and attraction of investment in the Chicagoland. As a North American leader of social policy and green economy, we see Chicago as a natural partner. The mayor’s visit is a unique opportunity to unite our forces and even more.” -Jean-François Hould, Québec’s Delegate in Chicago Joining the mayor were the City of Chicago chief sustainability officer, Angela Tovar, WBC Vice Chair Charles Smith, WBC EVP of Global Strategic Initiatives Adrienne Tongate, and Current Executive Director Alaina Harkness.
As the nation’s hub for food innovation, Chicago boasts the largest food manufacturing workforce in the U.S., supported by rich farmland and a robust transportation network. Generating $10.4 billion annually—a growth of 41.7% over the past five years—and leading in food science education, the Chicagoland region is setting the stage for what promises to be an inspiring week. Explore how Chicago's food and beverage sector continues to innovate and drive growth as we prepare for Future of Food Week! We've even gamified the week thanks to our partner foode! #Chicagoland #FutureOfFoodWeek #EconomicDevelopment
WELCOME to Chicago, Bedrock Materials! "On behalf of Chicago's residents and businesses, I extend a sincere welcome and congratulations to Bedrock Materials for choosing our city as the location for its Research & Development headquarters,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. "This decision reflects the strength of Chicago's talent pool, our esteemed research and academic institutions, and the vibrant tech ecosystem emerging here. We look forward to the positive impact Bedrock Materials will have on our city's growing tech sector."
Pioneering battery tech startup Bedrock Materials has selected #Chicago for its R&D HQ. Bedrock chose to #BeinIllinois because of the state’s access to talent, #EV tech and #manufacturing ecosystems, quality of life, and tremendous R&D community. "The choice to come to Chicago was an easy one. There is arguably one active laboratory in America that has produced a successful automotive battery chemistry, and it’s here,” said Bedrock CEO Spencer Gore. Read the press release here: https://bit.ly/4bkFzGC Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, World Business Chicago, mHUB
Current has spearheaded Great Lakes ReNEW, a regional innovation engine, that has awarded up to $160 million over 10 years from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to invent new ways to extract valuable minerals and toxic chemicals from our wastewater. This is the type of business and innovation that we hope to continue to spur and invite into our city.
Great Lakes ReNEW is a project so broad and ambitious that, at first glance, it might seem pie-in-the-sky. The nascent initiative being directed out of Chicago aims to develop technologies that would “turn waste into wealth” by extracting critical minerals from industrial wastewater to be reused in domestic production of EV batteries and other electronics. Read how a federally funded initiative seeks to re-imagine the Great Lakes! Brandon Johnson | City of Chicago | World Business Chicago | Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning | Cleveland Water Alliance | National Science Foundation (NSF) | Alaina Harkness | NSF ENGINES: Great Lakes Water Innovation Engine (Great Lakes ReNEW) | Current | Dow | Whirlpool | Whirlpool Corporation | Exelon | American Family Insurance | Argonne National Laboratory | Junhong Chen | University of Chicago | Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago | Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation | JobsOhio | Bryan Stubbs | Ohio Department of Development | Gary Daughters #technology #waste #industrial #project #greatlakes #waterways #ev #electricvehicle #siteselection #economicdevelopment
🎬 NEXT WEEK at The Music Box Theatre... ‘Songs of Earth’, directed by Margreth Olin – a documentary that explores the profound resonance between nature, our lives and the stories we tell. Don’t miss the limited-screening next week – including a special Q&A with the director following its debut showing! Use voucher code: STRAND before checking out for $2 off tickets