The Interstate 94 corridor, from Chicago to the Twin Cities in Minnesota, is filled with companies innovating in various industries including data analytics, venture funding and biotechnology.
Many of these companies find their footing inside office spaces and laboratories along the corridor. These places, listed below, have been the launching pad for some of the Midwest's fastest-growing and most successful companies.
In a recent report published by Chicago VC firm M25, several cities along the interstate were ranked among the top tech ecosystems in the Midwest. Of a ranking of 59 metros, Chicago ranked first, followed by the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro. Among Wisconsin cities, Madison ranked eighth, Milwaukee ranked No. 13 and Eau Claire ranked No. 40.
Following are tech hubs in those cities that are home to innovative companies.
1871
About: Located in Chicago's Merchandise Mart Plaza,1871, which was ranked in 2019 as the No. 1 private business incubator in the world by UBI Global, is home to about 450 tech startups with over 1,500 members. Founded in 2012, the organization provides 350 mentors to its founders, as well as access to more than 100 partnering corporations, universities, venture funds and other entities. 1871 says its 650 alumni companies have created more than 11,000 jobs and raised $1.5 billion in follow-on capital. The startup incubator is now also home to the Illinois Technology Association.
Ward 4
About: Ward 4 is Milwaukee’s startup hub, co-working space and events center located just south of downtown. Owned and operated by CSA Partners, an investment firm founded by former Milwaukee County Executive and philanthropist Chris Abele, Ward 4 houses several accelerator programs for startups produced by gener8tor, Wisconsin's premier startup accelerator; The Commons, which runs an accelerator program for college students; and the Wisconsin Veterans Chamber of Commerce.
Cream City Labs
About: Northwestern Mutual opened its 17,000-square-foot Cream City Labs across the street from its headquarters building in October 2018. Acting as working space for internal Northwestern Mutual teams as well as workers with local startups that have received investment from Cream City Venture Capital, Northwestern Mutual's $5 million investment fund, the space also is for academics associated with the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute, an educational partnership that includes Marquette University and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The space also is the location of Northwestern Mutual’s new venture studio and lab space for STEM innovation.
Global Water Center
About: Opened in 2013, the Global Water Center just south of downtown Milwaukee is a hub for water-centric companies from around the world. It is the headquarters of The Water Council and has more than 40 tenants, including the Greater Milwaukee Committee and A.O. Smith Corp. The 98,000-square-foot building was converted from a warehouse into the research and testing facility it is today and includes labs used by UW-Milwaukee and Marquette researchers, as well as startup companies.
Energy Innovation Center
About: In 2018, the Mid-West Energy Research Consortium, the Milwaukee-based organization promoting research and innovation in energy power and controls in the Midwest, completed a renovation of its 12,000-square-foot Energy Innovation Center inside Milwaukee's Century City Tower. The renovation also was a consolidation of M-WERC's WERCBench Labs accelerator program, prototyping and advanced manufacturing labs, office space, classrooms and collaboration spaces to the building's second floor.
Technology Innovation Center
About: The TIC is located in the Milwaukee County Research Park in Wauwatosa. The 80,000-square-foot Technology Innovation Center provides working and development space to dozens of emerging companies, and currently has more than 50 tenants, which include health tech startup GenoPalate, angel investor network Silicon Pastures, and 5 Lakes Institute, formerly known as the Milwaukee Institute, which supports the growth of innovation in the Great Lakes region.
StartingBlock
About: StartingBlock Madison, a 50,000-square-foot co-working space that opened in the summer of 2018, is located inside The Spark, American Family Insurance's new $52 million, 158,000-square-foot, eight-story building in the Capital East corridor of Madison. The hub occupies the second, third and fourth floors of The Spark. It includes a video studio with podcasting equipment, a classroom setup, a cafe and an outdoor terrace for hosting meetings and events.
MGE Innovation Center
About: Located on the 260-acre University of Wisconsin-Madison University Research Park, the MGE Innovation Center was once named by Forbes as one of the 12 most important incubators in the world. The MGE Innovation Center has helped more than 70 early stage companies grow since 1989, including Exact Sciences, the maker of the Cologuard colon cancer take-home test. The MGE Innovation Center consists of 113,000 square feet, of which 50,000 square feet has been designated for 27 office and 34 laboratory suites designed for early stage startup companies.
CoLab
About: Located in downtown Eau Claire, CoLab is a co-working and startup hub that also serves as an event and meeting space. In addition to offering programming for startups to help them grow their business, CoLab is the first site of the WiSys VentureHome initiative, which aims to establish startup hubs in communities with University of Wisconsin System campuses.
Osborn370
About: An increasingly popular hub for startups in recent years, Osborn370 is located in the former Ecolab tower in the heart of St. Paul, Minn. Osborn370 is home to two major accelerators, Lunar Startups and Techstars Farm to Fork. More than a dozen early stage tech companies also call Osbron370 home.
