April 5, 2013
A Boost for Biotech Startups
In an article titled “A boost for biotech startups”, published March 28, 2013 in Chicago Sun-Times, Sandra Guy discusses how the Chicago Innovation Mentors, or CIM, is beginning to impact the Chicago-area biotech scene. Launched in late 2010, CIM supports the development of Chicago-based, healthcare-oriented new technology innovation ventures. CIM matches aspiring entrepreneurs with teams of selected mentors, who provide advice and guidance towards commercialization. Since its launch, CIM has matched 147 mentors with 62 initiatives.
Guy says: “It’s a unique program nationally because rival universities — Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana — cooperate to send would-be student and faculty entrepreneurs to the matchup meetings. Other CIM members include Argonne National Laboratory, the iBIO Institute’s Propel Center, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Biomedical Consortium.”
Indeed, cooperation, and even more, collaboration, are at the very core of the CBC mission and the CBC takes great pride in being instrumental in ‘seeding’ this unique attitude in the City. It is rewarding to see how this collaborative spirit is spreading into other Chicago community initiatives which will ultimately strengthen the biomedical research and industry in Chicago — the long-term goals of both CIM and the CBC.