TechChicago Week showcases Pritzker's crowning achievements
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Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios
The annual TechChicago Week is back this week with prominent speakers, events and activations around town.
The big picture: Chicago's tech community has seen an uneven couple of years as investors have pulled back, forcing several big companies like Google and Meta to lay off workers this year.
Yes, but: Thanks to the movement in quantum and EV manufacturing, Illinois and Chicago are seeing huge job growth in the tech sector in 2024.
What they're saying: "Tech Week is important to Chicago," Tifair Gillespie Hamed of P33, which is organizing the week, tells Axios.
- "We want to make sure that the culture of our tech ecosystem is on display so that we can help attract funding, talent and founders to Chicago."
Driving the news: The week will get a big shot in the arm thanks to an opening night party with Gov. JB Pritzker, who is currently in the national spotlight.
- The governor just helped secure federal funding to build a quantum testing campus, and the state offered tax subsidies to other quantum hubs. He's also helped bring more biotech jobs and has been pushing to make Illinois the headquarters for EV manufacturing.
- "His presence really underscores his importance to the tech ecosystem in Illinois, as well as his ongoing support for innovation and entrepreneurship," Gillespie Hamed adds. "It's crucial."
Zoom out: The events and activations give startups, entrepreneurs and tech insiders a chance to reconnect and rediscover the energy and momentum that made Chicago's tech scene explode just a few years ago.
- Starting in 2012, Pritzker and then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel invested heavily in incubators like 1871, and wooed big tech companies like Google, Facebook, Motorola and others to set up shop in Chicago.
- They also helped convert the Merchandise Mart to a tech hub.
Zoom in: Today, tech workers make up almost 10% of Chicago's overall workforce.
Yes, but: Diversity in Chicago tech has been an issue. Only about 30% of tech company employees are women, and people of color make up an even smaller percentage.
The bottom line: TechChicago Week is trying to build on the city's recent momentum and brings focus back to the tech ecosystem in Chicago.
What's next: Events will be held at the new Lincoln Yards life sciences building.