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- Scheme funds cutting edge research -

Described as “one of the most ambitious technology agendas in the country”, the VentureTech fund is the keystone of Illinois Governor George Ryan’s commitment to a long-term comprehensive strategic plan for technological growth. The five-year, $1.9 billion programme involves investing state resources in education, advanced R & D, health sciences, biotechnology and cutting edge information technology. One of the aims of the scheme is the creation of a virtual meeting place for universities, colleges, schools, libraries, museums, government agencies and businesses, enabling them to interact regardless of geographic location. Others include I-Wire, an advanced optical network, Illinois Virtual Campus and a digital library. The programme also provides educational grants for advanced technology training. VentureTech will be used to create a number of hi-tech centres, including a computer and engineering building at the University of Illinois and a national centre for supercomputing applications. A $500 million rare isotope accelerator is also on the drawing board, which will provide unparalleled research capabilities into the fundamental role of atomic nuclei.

The scope of VentureTech is very broad and a key area of investment will be health services and biotechnology. Funds are being made available for rural centres to expand health care services in central and southern Illinois, including telemedicine. Centres that focus on eliminating diseases such as Alzheimer’s will get grants, as will agricultural and veterinary projects. A $10 million state investment in a technology incubator on the west side of Chicago is expected to leverage a tenfold return in private sector financing. In addition, a $50 million medical research facility is being privately funded by Rush Medical Centre in the same area. The US Department of Commerce projects that the country will need 1.3 million new technology workers by 2006, and Illinois is determined to attract some of the best. Pam McDonough, director of Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA), says the DCCA has been in “high-growth mode” ever since new legislation enabled companies to gain tax credits for job creation and capital investment. “This law enables firms to get the EDGE tax credit, which stands for Economic Development for a Growing Economy,” she says. “All of our surrounding states have had it, which was an incentive for us.”

The DCCA finances technological research and has poured millions of dollars into industrial training programmes. Ms McDonough says venture capital investment in Illinois increased 850 per cent during the past year, a substantial portion of it going into hi-tech companies and start-ups. She adds that this was unusual because the state has a fairly conservative financial market. The department is also funding a major scheme to upgrade regional transport networks. “We are building the infrastructure from the bottom up and it made sense in good economic times to invest,” says Ms McDonough. “We did not build one mile of new road in 10 years because we could barely keep up with the repair and maintenance. Now we have an explosion of construction. “We have just completed a project in the Joliet area south of Chicago that is going to be the largest intra-modal transport facility in the country.”