Discovery Partners Institute

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Discovery Partners Institute
PurposeWorkforce development and applied research
Headquarters200 S. Wacker Drive
Location
Executive Director
Bill Jackson, Jan 2020 -- Feb 2024
Interim Executive Director
Deba Dutta, Feb 2024 --
Parent organization
University of Illinois System
Websitedpi.uillinois.edu

The Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), part of the

applied R&D and business building.[1]

Development of DPI

Planning for and development of DPI started in 2016 under the leadership of

Tim Killeen and Ed Seidel, UI's vice president for economic development and innovation, with a goal to build an institution where students and faculty from Illinois campuses and other individuals can interact with academic and business partners, take classes, do research, intern with private companies, learn entrepreneurship and work with community agencies. In October 2017, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and the University of Illinois System unveiled plans for DPI and the IIN as drivers for innovation and growth in the knowledge-based economy of Illinois.[2]

In June 2018, the Illinois Legislature approved $500 million for DPI and other IIN hubs within the state,

Chicago).[7] In October 2018 a hub was established at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.[8] These have been joined by hubs at each of the other eight public universities in Illinois, and by the Illinois Rural Hub in Rockford and the Peoria Innovation Hub in December 2018.[9]

In September 2019, Bill Sanders announced his intention to become the dean of the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.[10] The search for a successor led to the hiring of Bill Jackson, a former executive at Johnson Controls as the inaugural executive director. DPI flourished under Jackson achieving many successes including the establishment of Shield T3 which delivered groundbreaking SHIELD saliva testing for COVID-19 nationwide and globally. After leading DPI successfully for four years, Bill Jackson announced his departure effective February 16, 2024. University of Illinois System President Tim Killeen thanked Jackson for his dedicated leadership and appointed Deba Dutta as interim executive director of DPI.

Headquarters in Chicago

In September 2022, Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker unveiled the design for DPI's new headquarters in The 78, a new innovation district along the South Branch of the Chicago River. The eight-story building – a layered dome of glass and steel – will provide more than 200,000 square feet of office, classroom, laboratory and event space for DPI and its university and industry partners.[11]

Designed by architecture firms OMA and Jacobs, the building is designed to create strong connections to surrounding communities, the adjacent riverfront, and the future phases of the larger Innovation District at The 78. The building's main entry will be located at 15th Street and Wells-Wentworth, and a Richard Hunt sculpture will anchor the site's landscape. The project is expected to break ground in 2024, and will be the first building to begin construction in The 78.[12]

Workforce development

DPI runs several programs to help strengthen and diversify Chicago's tech talent pool. In December 2020, the Pritzker Foundation announced it is giving $10 million over five years to DPI to support and develop promising and more diverse tech talent in Illinois. The funding established DPI's Pritzker Tech Talent Labs (PTTL).[13] Today, PTTL operates a number of programs. They include:

Research

DPI conducts research in several arenas, including education and public health. Major undertakings include:

  • Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative (IWERC), which provides data-based analysis to Illinois policy and education leaders’ questions to help ensure more widespread and equitable education outcomes across the state. IWERC's initial funders are the Joyce Foundation, the Steans Family Foundation, the Pritzker Traubert Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and two anonymous donors.[17]
  • Illinois Wastewater Surveillance System (IWSS) is a partnership between DPI and the
    University of Illinois-Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University—test wastewater samples taken from sewer maintenance holes in Chicago neighborhoods and O'Hare International Airport to track COVID-19 for the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH).[19][20] A pilot project launched in September 2022 monitors wastewater collected from schools across Illinois for COVID-19, as well as influenza A and B.[21] In November 2022, IWSS was awarded a Chicago Innovation Award for its leadership in monitoring the ebb and flow of COVID-19 in Chicago and Illinois by detecting the virus’ presence in wastewater.[22] In January 2023, DPI announced it has launched a website to provide data to the general public on COVID-19 levels at the community level, based on its continued disease-monitoring work for IDPH.[23]

Partners

DPI's academic partners include four Chicago metropolitan area institutions which are not state universities (University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Illinois Institute of Technology[24] and Argonne National Laboratory)[25] and five international partners: Tel Aviv University,[26] Hebrew University of Jerusalem, M.S. Ramaiah Medical College, Cardiff University[27] and National Taiwan University.

DPI's corporate partners in its workforce development efforts include Apple, Google, Cognizant, and CVS Health.

Funding

Release of the state of Illinois funding for the DPI and the other IIN capital projects was delayed

University of Illinois will build this facility in Chicago can be a selling point for Related Midwest to attract corporations to The 78.[29]

References

  1. ^
    University of Illinois
    . Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  2. ^ Rhodes, Dawn (October 19, 2017). "University of Illinois plans public-private Chicago innovation center with Rauner backing". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
  3. The News-Gazette
    . Retrieved 2020-03-14.
  4. ^ Rhodes, Dawn (August 24, 2018). "University of Illinois engineering professor to lead downtown Chicago innovation center". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  5. ^ Moore, Brenden (August 28, 2018). "UIS awarded first hub in statewide innovation network". The State Journal-Register. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  6. The News-Gazette
    . Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  7. ^ Marek, Lynne (August 31, 2018). "UIC will tap state's $500M Discovery Partners fund for expansion". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  8. ^ Rettke, Kelsey (October 10, 2018). "NIU announces partnership, plans for $23M research facility". The Times. Shaw Media. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  9. The News-Gazette
    . Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  10. ^ "blog posts Sanders accepts deanship at Carnegie Mellon". University of Illinois System News.
  11. ^ "OMA/Jacobs selected to design the University of Illinois' new DPI innovation hub in Chicago". Architect.
  12. ^ "Pritzker, stakeholders unveil design for Discovery Partners Institute". University of Illinois System News.
  13. ^ "Pritzker Foundation gives $10 million to develop diverse tech talent in Chicago". Chicago Tribune. Dec 15, 2020.
  14. ^ "Discovery Partners Institute Launches Statewide Swift Coding and Mobile App Development Training Program for K-12 Educators with support from Apple". Discovery Partners Institute.
  15. ^ "City Scholars Program Expands At Discovery Partners Institute". Discovery Partners Institute.
  16. ^ "DPI Software Developer Apprenticeship Program". Discovery Partners Institute.
  17. ^ "DPI launches new education and workforce research center". University of Illinois System News. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  18. ^ "Illinois Wastewater Surveillance System". Illinois Department of Public Health.
  19. ^ "CDPH, Discovery Partners Institute Announce Citywide System To Monitor COVID-19 In Wastewater". Chicago Department of Public Health. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
  20. ^ "How Chicago's sewers are helping predict COVID outbreaks". Crain's Chicago Business. December 22, 2021.
  21. ^ "IDPH and University of Illinois Spinoff Launch Wastewater Testing for COVID-19 at Schools". Illinois Department of Public Health. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  22. ^ "Chicago Innovation Award Winners: Discovery Partners Institute". Chicago Innovation.
  23. ^ Armentrout, Mitchell (January 10, 2023). "New website tracks and shares COVID-19 levels in Illinois wastewater to help residents 'make informed decisions'". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  24. ^ "Illinois Tech Joins Prestigious Discovery Partners Institute". Illinois Institute of Technology. July 10, 2019. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  25. ^ Ballard, Tom (September 8, 2019). "University of Illinois secures state approval for one billion dollar Discovery Partners Institute". teknovation.biz. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  26. ^ Solomon, Shoshanna (October 25, 2018). "Tel Aviv University to partner in new Chicago innovation, entrepreneurship hub". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  27. ^ "Cardiff University joins Discovery Partners Institute". Cardiff University. June 11, 2019. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  28. ^ Toppo, Greg (October 30, 2018). "Illinois Looks to Chicago for Research Site". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  29. ^ a b Ecker, Danny (February 12, 2020). "The 78 lands a big tenant draw with DPI". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  30. ^ Roeder, David (February 12, 2020). "The 78 megaproject gets backing from U of I, Pritzker – The school's Discovery Partners Institute will build on the site south of downtown". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
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