Chicago is My Home

29
Jan

Reporter’s Notebook: An Entrepreneurial Stimulus in Chicago

Author: Adam Fendelman, Category: Business, Technology

---

Innovation doesn’t fluctuate with market gyrations and few new ideas are generated from a cut in interest rates or rebates from Uncle Sam. A prolonged down economy, however, can have a positive impact on new business development. As corporations reduce their headcounts, talented professionals have more incentives to start something on their own.

“When the macro economy declines, entrepreneurialism is on the incline,” said John Noel, who on Jan. 21 was named president of the Illinois Technology Development Alliance (ITDA). “People get laid off and then want to start their own companies.”

Noel – who is 41 and grew up in Hillside, Ill. – made a Bud Selig-like transition from prolonged interim president to head honcho of the ITDA. He believes his group, which spun out of the Illinois Coalition in 2005, can provide performance-enhancing opportunities for entrepreneurs by introducing them to public- and private-capital sources and by offering advice on strategy and sales development.

The nine-employee ITDA, which has offices at 549 W. Randolph and the DuPage National Technology Park in West Chicago, is funded in part via contracts with NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense and the Small Business Administration.

The group puts on quarterly Monday Morning Meetings that showcase new business plans to local investors and help larger corporations like Caterpillar bring new technology-based divisions to the market. Noel – who previously directed the NASA Illinois Commercialization Center – says the ITDA will be more active in partnering with local organizations and universities along with other “more visible” changes.

“I don’t know how well known the ITDA has been over the past several years,” Noel said. “It is time to get more integrated.”

The ITDA is not alone in chartering new waters in 2008. TiE Midwest, which is part of a not-for-profit global network that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship, earlier in Jan. 2008 named Kristi Lafleur as its new executive director. Previously chief of staff for Jack Lavin at the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity, Lafleur believes economic recovery should start at home.

“As we are seeing some tumultuous activity in the U.S. markets, there is a tremendous opportunity for us to focus on homegrown companies that have the ability to grow into global companies,” Lafleur said.

Lafleur – who is 33 and also advises the University of Chicago Hospitals – previously was the Midwest director for the Council for Regional Equity and a managing director for Wilhelm & Conlon Public Strategies. The Nebraska native has a strong background in helping entrepreneurs access capital in underserved markets.

One of her missions with TiE Midwest is to better connect the Chicago chapter with the group’s international initiatives through mentorship programs and educational and networking events.

By Brad Spirrison