ML - Michigan Avenue

2015 - Issue 1 - Spring

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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THERE WAS A TIME when Chicago was just a city that entrepreneurs and venture capitalists f lew over en route from Silicon Valley to the East Coast and back again. But as tech companies like Groupon, GrubHub, and Trunk Club sprouted up, attention slowly started to shift. Now, instead of f leeing to Palo Alto, techies with big ideas are setting up shop at incubators like 1871 or applying for funding through VC firms like FireStarter. The results are impressive: a f leet of groundbreaking companies that are changing the way we do everything from order for deliv- ery to share on Instagram. Today, innovative ideas, a collaborative community, and hungry entrepreneurs looking for the Next Big Thing have come together to make Chicago a tech destination in its own right. // TECH // Our burgeoning start-up scene has made us the Silicon Valley of the Midwest. THE MEDIATOR Caralynn Nowinski, executive director and COO, UI Labs Next Big Things We're It "Chicago has a robust pipeline of early and growth-stage tech companies, and all of the pieces are in place to build a leading ecosystem from world-class university talent to engaged Fortune 500 companies to angels and venture capital funds. We have to be patient, but over the years, Chicago should emerge as one of the leading places to build a tech company in the US, if not the world." —Kevin Willer, cofounder and partner, Chicago Ventures FOUR LOCAL SPOTS WHERE THE INDUSTRY ACTION IS. BOW TRUSS COFFEE ROASTERS: Where River North techies take their midday coffee break. 406 N. Wells St., 312-222-1306; bowtruss.com THE GREEN DOOR TAVERN: Start-up teams in the official jeans-and-hoodie tech uniform dig into burgers at this River North grill. 678 N. Orleans St., 312-664-5496; greendoorchicago.com LA COLOMBE: Bring your laptop to this coffee shop to fit in with West Loop techies getting their caffeine fix. 955 W. Randolph St., 312-733-0707; lacolombe.com UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY PARK AT IIT: A South Side incubator for life-science business start-ups. 3440 S. Dearborn St., universitytechnologypark.com FIVE TECH START-UPS TO WATCH IN '15. OPTERNATIVE: Take an online refractive eye exam and get an e-mail prescription in 20 minutes for $30. opternative.com AMPY: A wearable battery pack powered by the energy you exert from exercise. getampy.com RAISE: Buy discounted gift cards or sell your unwanted or unused cards online. raise.com ROCKETMILES: Earn up to 5,000 airline miles every night by booking at select hotels. rocketmiles.com ZEALOUS GOOD: Connect with local charities that need your unwanted stuff. zealousgood.com WHY CHICAGO'S TECH SCENE IS HAVING A MOMENT. The executive director of research hub UI Labs, Caralynn Nowinski, thinks Chicago's emergence in the tech scene is long overdue. "There's a recognition among the communities—start- up, civic, university, and corporate—that if we don't break down barriers between us, we're never going to make the difference that puts us where we should be," says the Bucktown resident. UI Labs' Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII) was announced by President Obama in February 2014 after being selected by the Pentagon and is tasked with giving Epicenters of Cool: Tech new life to the national manufac- turing economy. It's one of only four national public-private innovation institutes and will operate out of a 94,000- square- foot space on Goose Island. CHICAGO'S ROLE IN THE TECH WORLD: "As the heart of the Midwest, it's extra important for us to make sure technology is not an elite community but something that's accessible to everyone from school kids through grandmothers." ON BIG DATA: "Everything that's cool right now is about data. It's going to help us make better decisions about how we run our businesses and how we run our lives." WHY CHICAGOANS MAKE GREAT TECHIES: "At the end of the day, we're a bunch of scrappy entrepre- neurs who know how to get things done and make things real." THE COOLEST CHICAGO START-UP: "Inventables has made the tools and accessories accessible for everyday people to make things, from 3-D printing to woodwork." 116 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM

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