With many of Chicago's startups looking to hire after raising record venture capital funding this year, the city is working to help fill these roles by connecting top grad students from around the country to Chicago's tech scene.
The city today announced the launch of the ThinkChicago Advanced Degree Exchange 2021, a program designed to connect graduate students and PhD talent to Chicago's growing startups. The three-day virtual event, which begins Tuesday, intends to give a "behind-the-scenes" look at Chicago's tech ecosystem to nearly 200 top university grads and professionals. Selected students will have access to keynote speakers, panels and networking sessions with Chicago tech firms.
The program is led by World Business Chicago, the city's economic development arm, and P33, a non-profit organization that's looking to boost Chicago's tech reputation. Others involved in the program include the University of Illinois System, Discovery Partners Institute and GET Cities.
It's the first-ever program from ThinkChicago designed specifically for graduate and PhD students. Since 2010, ThinkChicago has served as World Business Chicago's STEM talent attraction and retention program, offering a range of different programs around events like Lollapalooza and Chicago Ideas Week.
"Chicago’s startup and innovation ecosystem has seen incredible momentum,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement. “With many fast-growing, local companies in need of top-tier talent, our ThinkChicago efforts have never been more critical, allowing us to continue accelerating our post-pandemic recovery and expand job opportunities for our students.”
P33 is also undergoing a separate initiative to convince around 10,000 techies who left the city to come back to Chicago to further their careers.
