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Engineering Outlook

The College of Engineering will play a key role in a major multiyear, state initiative to increase economic development through technology creation and commercialization. This initiative, known as Venture-TECH, is a centerpiece of the

Illinois state budget, which was approved this spring. Venture-TECH allocates $1.9 billion in

state spending during the next five years. $800 million in state-directed venture capital also will be made available during the next five years. It is expected that VentureTECH will spur an additional $1.9 billion in private investment within the Illinois economy.

"VentureTECH represents our investment in our future," Governor George Ryan has said. "Success takes a partnership between government and the private sector to jump-start research, manufacturing, education and the workforce. And that’s what we’re doing in Illinois," he added.

According to industry experts, the five fastest-growing occupations in the next decade will be computer engineers, computer support specialists, systems analysts, database administrators, and desktop publishing specialists. As technology changes the types of employees needed, Ryan believes government can lay a strong foundation to stimulate and support the private sector.

"By establishing VentureTECH, state legislators have recognized that the University of Illinois–the flagship university in the state and one of the leading research institutions in the country–plays a major role in statewide economic development by helping the state move the creative ideas of university faculty from the laboratory to the marketplace," said University of Illinois President James Stukel. "VentureTECH reflects a deep understanding by the legislature of the university’s special role in economic development and in educating the workforce for the new century."

With stepped-up efforts to convert research from University of Illinois labs into commercial applications, the university can create significant economic impact through start-up companies and new job opportunities. For example, the development of the Internet browser "Mosaic" in the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois has produced an impressive return on investment.

Chet Gardner, acting vice president for academic affairs and vice president for economic development and corporate relations, noted that Illinois is among a handful of states to harness university research findings to the economic engine. Those states include Ohio, which recently committed $1.5 billion to biotechnology, and Michigan, which announced a $1 billion biotechnology corridor between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. Texas, Utah, California, and Arizona have invested in biotechnology with impressive payoffs. Firms housed in the University of Arizona’s Science and Technology Park, for example, have an annual payroll of $208.5 million and indirectly create another $154 million in salaries and wages.

Illinois has the fourth largest high-technology economy in the United States, behind only California, New York, and Massachusetts, according to Gardner. High-tech companies also employ a lot of nontechnologists, Gardner added. For example, Motorola employs 24,000 people in Illinois, of whom only 5,000 are engineers.

Four major capital projects at the University of Illinois will be supported by VentureTECH. They are:

In addition, the University of Illinois has established "IllinoisVENTURES," an office to provide support services for promising start-up companies at both the Chicago and the Urbana-Champaign campuses. IllinoisVENTURES will provide companies with start-up services, including technology transfer activities and matching seed funds. The university expects IllinoisVENTURES to also help provide jobs locally for university graduates and provide an outlet for entrepreneurial interests of university faculty members and students. IllinoisVENTURES is intended to tie in closely with the state’s efforts to establish Illinois as a significant high-technology economy.