The world of innovation and ideas has changed and grown with our modern and complex landscape. The once romantic images of a lone innovator or inventor scribbling furiously in a notebook or casually sketching on a cocktail napkin are a thing of the past. Today’s new ideas require collaboration fostered in a fertile environment of invention, entrepreneurial drive and access to capital; tomorrow’s products are being discovered in today’s small but powerful incubators. What does an incubator do? How does it work? What does it produce? What are some of the Chicago-area success stories? And what are the differences between university and private incubator models? Local experts from the world of innovation will be partaking in a lively discussion to help the public and entrepreneurs understand why these small private and university-run idea factories are so vital to our modern academic and business landscape. From concept to market, we’ll learn how incubators work, why they work and maybe what we can expect to see produced in the near future from these spark plugs of America’s economic and research engines.

September 10, 2013
Registration from 6pm.
Presentation at 6:30pm.

1871 at 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza, 12th floor Chicago, IL 60654
Kapila Viges, Director EnterpriseWorks Chicago at University of Illinois

David Baker, Vice President for External Affairs at the Illinois Institute of Technology

Steve Collens, Senior Vice President at The Pritzker Group

John Flavin, Executive Director at Chicago Innovation Mentors

Moderator: Jim O’Connor Jr., Managing Director MVC Capital and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center

PARKING: The app SpotHero, created by a Chicago startup, can aid you in finding the most convenient and affordable parking options near 1871 (or citywide). It is reccomended by the staff of 1971 for those not arriving via public transportation. http://spothero.com/1871-parking