Hardtech Innovation Accelerator

The Project involved the acquisition and rehabilitation of a historic building that became home to a HardTech innovation accelerator. This nonprofit incubator for HardTech manufacturing supports products in the fields of MedTech, Climate & Energy Tech, and the Industrial Internet of Things. The project will expand the focus on manufacturing business growth by accelerating the development and commercialization of new products, with a goal of helping underrepresented founders. In partnerships with the City of Chicago, World Business Chicago, MxD, as well as a number of area universities and colleges, the incubator provides the start-up support and business leadership training required for small businesses and high-tech ventures to launch sustainably. In conjunction with local and statewide advisory support for the project, the incubator plans to bridge tech and manufacturing within the low-income community, leading to the adoption of robotics, automation, improved supply chain, and quantum computing.