Plenty of local companies may be telling their employees to go ahead and stay home this week while the Democratic National Convention is in town, but some of Chicago’s top tech accelerators and startup incubators have a very different message.
"Put yourself in position to meet people, go to the public events at the convention center, go put yourself in the pathway to increase your chances of meeting people that might be able to help you over time," Betsy Ziegler, CEO of 1871, told Chicago Inno.
The nonprofit innovation hub will join mHub and more than 25 other Chicago tech organizations including Current and Evergreen Climate Innovations at mHub's "Innovation House" on Wednesday. Held at mHub's new headquarters, blocks from the United Center, the event aims showcase some of the new technology being developed in Chicago.
Steven Chen, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of YouTube, will give remarks of what it takes to build a thriving startup ecosystem. The open house, co-hosted by P33, the Illinois Manufacturers' Association and World Business Chicago, will also feature more than 50 startup and product demonstrations.
MHub CEO Haven Allen told Chicago Inno that the companies selected to give demos at the event included a swath of some of its venture companies such as JustAir. An air monitoring system out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, JustAir is scaling up operations after participating in a six-month accelerator program at mHub. The independent hard-tech and manufacturing innovation center was the first investor in the startup.
"It's a good example of how Chicago plays this instrumental role in commercializing companies from around the country," Allen said.
Allen said having the convention in Chicago presents a rare opportunity to push ideas around commercializing innovation to leadership at the committee level by showcasing how some of Chicago's most innovative products will impact our economy, health and environment.
Allen's message to mHub portfolio companies is similar to Ziegler's: Take advantage of the moment.
“Be present,” is Haven's suggestion to the tech community. “Some people in Chicago are hunkering down, but all of our community is showing up. They’re going to be here, ready to engage with elected officials to make those connections. It’s a tremendous collection of our business leaders and high-profile tech leaders that are coming to town for this."
Former Chicago tech startup founder Samir Mayekar, who was involved in the bidding process for the DNC when he was working at the mayor's office and is now head of the University of Chicago's Polsky Center, said that any time you have the national and global spotlight and have stakeholders from industry, nonprofits, and government leaders all coming together, it's going to lead to exciting exposure for entrepreneurs.
"I know we're going to have several of our UChicago Polsky startups featured in many different ways in these nonpartisan events, where you have government funders, venture capitalists, large corporations all here," he told Chicago Inno. "That's tremendously exciting outside of what's happening on the political front."
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