URBANA, Ill. (AP) – Officials have picked sites at the University of Illinois’ main campus and in Springfield to become part of a Chicago-based high-tech innovation center.
The University of Illinois Springfield recently acquired a downtown business and social innovation incubator to house the first hub of the Illinois Innovation Network. The Springfield hub will connect to the Discovery Partners Institute in Chicago.
The University of Illinois system has received $500 million in state money to build DPI and to establish hubs across the state.
The Springfield announcement last week was followed by related news that the Urbana-Champaign campus will turn one of its buildings into a new data-sciences institute as part of the network. Illini Hall will be replaced with a research facility focused on data analysis and machine learning.
