Skyline
News from the University Technology Park at IIT
In This Issue
In the News
New Tech Park Client: Sword Diagnostics
Invest in Spain Funding Opportunity
Save the Date for Midwest CleanTech 2010
2010 Brinks Innovation Competition
BioParks 2010 Hosted by the Tech Park
New Metra Stop Construction
In the News

Skyline

Chromatin, Inc.'s CEO Daphne Preuss and Director of Transgenic Programs Otto Folkerts participated in discussions on the business and technology implications of the company's work in separate panels at the BIO International Convention 2010, which occurred in May at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL. The international convention, hosted by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), is the largest global event for the biotechnology industry. Read the full press release here.

Chromatin develops and markets novel proprietary technology that enables entire chromosomes to be designed and incorporated into plant cells.


ProOnGo


ProOnGo's
expense reporting application for iPhone was praised in its review by Appletell.comin March 2010.
Read the full story here.

The company also released a version of its expense reporting application on Android Market for free in April 2010. Read more here.

ProOnGo was also featured in the May 24, 2010 Minding Your Business column in the Chicago Tribune. Read more here.

ProOnGo helps mobile professionals manage and submit their business expenses with ease and efficiency through mobile device applications.


UTP Logo


The University Technology Park at IIT is a unique combination of wet and dry labs and office space that accommodates companies at every stage of growth and connects them to the outstanding research faculty and resources at one of the nation's leading universities, the Illinois Institute of Technology.


Wexford Logo

Wexford Science + Technology is a private real estate investment and development company that focuses on serving the real estate needs of university, healthcare, science and technology-based organizations.


Tech Park
Technology Business Center exterior.

Tech Park Interior
Technology Business Center atrium: upper level.

Tech Park
Technology Business Center atrium: lower level.
Issue: #13   Summer 2010
Greetings!

Welcome to our quarterly University Technology Park e-newsletter, designed to give you quick updates about new and growing companies within the Tech Park and to announce lectures, workshops, conferences, and networking events of interest to the Tech Park community.

The Tech Park is pleased to receive $1.2 million from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and $0.8 million from the Illinois Board of Higher Education. This $2 million provides local match funding for the $4.5 million U.S. Economic Development Administration construction grant for the 28,000 square foot Incubator-South building. Construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2010.

Three new companies now make the Tech Park their home:  Sword Diagnostics, Medtech BioScience, and CGC Products. In this issue, we'll cover Sword Diagnostics in detail.

If you have comments, questions or suggestions, drop me a line.

Sincerely,
Daniel F. Marselle
Director, University Technology Park at IIT
[email protected]

New Tech Park Client:
Sword Diagnostics
Sword DiagnosticsThe Tech Park welcomes its newest client, Sword Diagnostics, a life sciences company committed to improving healthcare through the use of innovative detection technology. Its offices are located on the 2nd floor of the Technology Business Center.
 
Sword Diagnostics' customers are life science researchers, pharmaceutical drug developers and clinical diagnostics companies with a need for high performing biological detection technology. Diagnosis and treatment of many diseases depend on identifying biomarkers or disease markers that indicate the presence of disease in the body, from asthma to cardiac disease to cancer. Sword has developed a detection kit that assists researchers in identifying disease markers early without the need for expensive instrumentation or costly, time-consuming test redesign.
 
David Dingott"Diagnostics today are just not sensitive enough to identify disease markers as early as needed. Just imagine if the proteins secreted from a tumor were detectable when the tumor was only 1/10th of the size currently needed for detection?"
 - David Dingott, CEO, Sword Diagnostics
 
CEO David Dingott states that Sword Diagnostics was attracted to the Tech Park because it not only provides a larger, more flexible environment for its team but also the metropolitan location necessary to attract top talent - all key factors in its continued growth. The company's staff looks forward to collaborating with IIT researchers and other companies at the Tech Park and in the Chicago area.
 
As a high growth, early stage company, Sword Diagnostics is looking for additional partners and collaborators to utilize its technology in new tests and new markets, talented individuals with the backgrounds and expertise that will help it grow, and investors, board members and advisers to help guide and support its growth. To learn more about Sword Diagnostics, visit www.sworddiagnostics.com or contact David Dingott at 312-235-3660.

Invest in Spain Technological Fund
FEDER LogoThe Invest in Spain Technological Fund has been established to aid innovative foreign companies set up operations in Spain. Grants up to 200,000 Euros are available. Companies that are already established in Spain but wish to begin research and development activities are also eligible for funding.

The Technological Fund is a special area of funds from the European Union created to promote business research and development in Spain for the 2007-2013 period. The deadline for submitting an application for funding is September 30, 2010. For more information, please visit the Invest in Spain website.
 
Save the Date: Midwest CleanTech 2010

Midwest Clean Tech 2010 will be held in Chicago on September 14-15, 2010 in conjunction with the International Manufacturing Technology Show at McCormick Place Convention Center.  Global Midwest Alliance, The Midwest Research University Network, and Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione invite you to a program exhibiting Midwest excellence in clean technology innovation, products and services - connecting innovators with financiers, business management expertise, and the international community. 

For more information, visit www.midwestcleantech2010.com.

Call for Entries:
Brinks Innovation Competition
Brinks Innovation CompetitionGlobal Midwest Alliance, The Midwest Research University Network, and Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione are sponsoring the 2010 Brinks Innovation Competition, which is being held as part of Midwest Clean Tech 2010.

Now in its second year, the Brinks Innovation Competition was created to help emerging and venture-ready clean tech companies gain visibility and make connections. The Innovation Competition will showcase new technology developers who offer competitive returns for investors and customers while providing solutions to global challenges. Winners from last year's competition can be viewed here.

Competition entries may include, but are not limited to, the areas of environmental technologies, renewable & alternative energy, infrastructure & community, and green building science. Applications are due by July 19, 2010. For more information, visit the 2010 Brinks Innovation Competition website.

Tech Park Hosts BioParks 2010
BioParks 2010On May 1, 2010, the Tech Park hosted a reception for BioParks 2010, a conference organized by the Association of University Research Parks. Participants had the opportunity to tour the Tech Park, and a reception was held in the Technology Business Center atrium, showcasing both company development and IIT academic research taking place in the Tech Park.

BioParks 2010 was held in conjunction with the 2010 Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) International Convention. More than 15,000 industry leaders from 49 states and 65 countries attended the convention, which was held at McCormick Place Convention Center. BIO represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations.
 
Construction Underway on 35th Street Metra Stop
Work is underway to build the a new Metra commuter rail station at 35th and Federal Streets, adjacent to the west side of the University Technology Park. The station will be a stop on Metra's Rock Island District Line, which runs from Joliet to downtown Chicago.

35th Street Metra StationIIT provided Metra an easement on its property to facilitate the construction of the station, and $4.9 million in federal money secured by U.S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Chicago), a longtime supporter of the project, and an additional $6.8 million from the federal stimulus bill, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is funding construction of the station. It is expected to be finished by the end of 2010.

During the current phase of construction, the right-most lane of LaSalle Street as well as parking to the north of the Incubator building has been closed.

Read more about the new station here. Metra will be naming it the  Lovana S. "Lou" Jones/Bronzeville Station after the longtime Assistant Majority Leader for the Illinois House of Representatives who represented the area for nearly 20 years.