Nurturing the region’s industry clusters is one of the main recommendations from the Human Capital chapter of GO TO 2040.  The plan directs CMAP, with the support of its partners, to perform “drill-down” analyses into specific established industry clusters, including freight, advanced manufacturing, and biotech/biomed, to better understand them.  CMAP is focusing on freight as the first in...

Private research and development (R&D) jobs have been declining in the Chicago region for the past decade according to data from the Illinois Innovation Index for February 2012.  This month's newsletter, which focuses on private R&D activity in the state, calls attention to the challenges and opportunities the region faces in industry-driven research.  GO TO 2040 stresses the importance of...

A new report from Metropolis Strategies provides some ideas for nurturing industry clusters in our region, one of GO TO 2040’srecommendations to support economic innovation.  Prepared by RW Ventures and Innovation Network for Communities, “The Chicago Region’s “Green” Economic Opportunities” reportidentifies several opportunities for economic innovation in the region’s burgeoning green sectors.  It...

On February 1, Governor Quinn delivered his 2012 State of the State address, outlining his administration's efforts to spur economic growth and improve infrastructure. 

The governor applauded the growth of automotive manufacturing jobs at Ford and Chrysler plants in Chicago and Belvidere, respectively.  He stated that Illinois exports are on the rise, having jumped 30 percent in 2011. Building...

According to GO TO 2040, research and development (R&D) jobs have been declining in the Chicago region for the past decade.  Economic innovation plays a major role in producing sustainable economic prosperity and enhancing the global competitiveness of places around the world.  Though innovation is generated primarily by the private sector, GO TO 2040 recommends that the public sector...

Economic innovation plays a major role in producing sustainable economic prosperity and enhancing the global competitiveness of regions like ours. Funding for commercialization is crucial, and the availability of venture capital is an important factor that can create incentives for innovation and innovation-to-market success.

Last month, the state launched Advantage Illinois, a new $78 million initiative...

Economic innovation plays a major role in producing sustainable economic prosperity and enhancing our region's global competitiveness.  Innovation -- the process by which new ideas are transformed into goods and services -- is not as well-researched as, for example, the education system, nor does it necessarily demand the same level of public investment.  Because innovation remains a rather...

The seven-county metropolitan Chicago region is among the nation’s few global economic centers.  GO TO 2040 seeks to maintain and strengthen this position.  A global region needs to have a modern infrastructure; a diversity of business types and economic activity; a skilled workforce, including a strong higher education system; active cultural institutions; and a high overall quality of...

While Chicago’s population declined over the past four decades, there are also signs that the City’s economic core strengthened.  Bill Testa, vice president and director of regional research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago,  examines those signs on his Midwest Economy blog, including how the City’s growth in educated, mostly young, working adults population has also diversified Chicago’s job...

Fourteen years ago, with the field of weatherization in its infancy, Rick Helwig saw an opportunity for innovation. He soon found himself taking the lead to help build a market for making homes more energy efficient.