As anyone who lives here (or, has visited here) can tell you: Chicago rocks!

1. Second Silicon City: Chicago
Selected for Digital Manufacturing
Institute
March 10, 2014
-Kate Kotler, Writer

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As anyone who lives here (or, has visited here) can tell you: Chicago rocks! We
have the tallest building in the US (sorry New York, an antenna does not a building
make and we refuse to give up our #1 ranking), Portillo’s and the Chicago Hot Dog
and the Italian Beef; Chicago Deep Dish Pizza; the Mag Mile; The Chicago Cubs; the
mighty Chicago Bears; The Blackhawks; the best inland beaches in the
country; we’re the home of improv and sketch comedy; we have more than 50
institutions of higher learning; are home to a pretty rad Top Chef winner and
MasterChef judge; the best St. Patricks Day Parade and green river; our city boasts
a pretty impressive list of Nobel Laureates and – oh yeah – the friggin’ President of
the United States of America is from Chicago… Despite all this overwhelming
evidence of true excellence, we gracefully accept that the rest of the country
believes us to be the “second city” (though in the hearts and minds of all true
Chicagoans we will always be #1.)
Thusly, it came as ZERO surprise to us when last Tuesday, the aforementioned
President Obama announced that Chicago will be the site of a new digital
manufacturing institute backed by $50 million in federal money and $250 million in
private money/other governmental resources.

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In its earlier days, Chicago was known for its’ manufacturing – primarily being home to the meat processing industry and
steel works through the the early 20th century. The city also led the country in printing/publishing and commodity trading,
though most recently it has been known for its’ convention business and as the home base for 29+ Fortune 500 companies
that include Walgreens, Boeing, McDonalds, Motorola and others. In the past five years Chicago has also seen a rise in the
number of tech startups making their home in the Loop and Near North commerce areas – observations that have given rise
to the proclamation that Chicago is the “next tech city” – being the local of choice for companies who cannot afford the sky
high prices of the Valley or Bay Area.
The Chicago Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute - to be housed on Goose Island and run by UI Labs –
gives this claim a particular amount of gravitas. It also will return manufacturing for a major industry sector to the city and
create thousands of new jobs (hopefully, impacting Chicago’s drastic 8.3% unemployment rate in a positive way.)
Says Michael Sacks (Mayor Emanuel’s lead advisor on the project), “This is not a think tank. This is an industry-led
partnership between business and academia, which will solve real manufacturing problems and deliver goods to loading
docks across America faster and cheaper.”
And, indeed 41 companies, 23 universities and labs and other tech-related organizations were involved in securing the
placement of this facility in the Windy City.

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“This is clearly, without a doubt, one of the most significant things to secure Chicago’s long-term economic future,” Mayor
Rahm Emanuel told The Chicago Tribune last Saturday. “It is the best insurance policy you can buy, which is major research
capacity.”
It will be exciting to see what comes out of this institute and how it impacts the influx of tech related companies and services
into our fair city.
!
~Kate Kotler, Writer