About DPI
The Discovery Partners Institute empowers people to jumpstart their tech careers or companies in Chicago.
The Discovery Partners Institute empowers people to jumpstart their tech careers or companies in Chicago.
We can’t afford to wait. We are in a global war for talent. Illinois currently has 30,000 more entry-level job postings for tech workers than there are related graduates. That’s compounded by an exodus from the state each year of almost half of college-bound high schoolers and more than 20,000 millennial workers.
We need a technology magnet that makes it attractive for young talent to stay — and we need to make it easier for companies to locate their high-tech, high-paying jobs here.
By 2029, DPI expects to contribute significant economic impact to the region, including:
DPI’s permanent home will be built in Chicago’s South Loop on land donated by Chicago developer Related Midwest. The site will be a hive of activity featuring state-of-the-art lab, classroom and meeting spaces. It will be large enough to house thousands of students and more than 500 top researchers and partners.
We are thinking big. DPI’s new headquarters, designed by renowned architects OMA and Jacobs, will anchor The 78 — Chicago’s new innovation district. The building will occupy a one-acre site southwest of the Loop, and will include more than 200,000 square feet of office, classrooms, labs, and event space for DPI and its partners. An eight-story layered dome of glass and steel, the building is designed to create strong connections to the vibrant communities surrounding it, as well as the adjacent riverfront, and the future phases of the larger Innovation District at The 78.
The first floor will be populated with public spaces — a café, auditorium, and multipurpose exhibition space/classrooms. 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, becoming the first building to begin construction in The 78.
DPI will focus on two kinds of programs. First, workforce development for in-demand tech jobs. We’ll develop promising and diverse talent, focusing on high school through to the first job out of college. We’ll also train current workers for advanced jobs in data and analytics.
Second, we’ll build applied R&D clusters, funded by corporations, the federal government, and foundations, to solve problems. We’ll play matchmaker and organizer, building faculty teams and pairing their expertise with funders’ needs
Our region’s best and brightest students, workers who want to improve their skills, and top researchers from around the world. Industry will have easy access to talent, both students and faculty, while faculty will get more funding and establish powerful connections with peers worldwide. DPI will accelerate promising students’ careers and make Chicago an appealing destination for them.
Yes. DPI will initially focus on our economy’s existing strengths: data analytics and computing, and their applications in food and agriculture; health and wellness; finance and insurance; and transportation/logistics. All of these industries have a strong Fortune 500 presence in the state.
DPI is one of 15 hubs in the Illinois Innovation Network (IIN); there is an IIN hub in every city in Illinois with a public university presence, and five in the Chicagoland region. IIN hubs will utilize university assets to attack some of the state’s key issues through research, education, and outreach programs.
$235 million is for DPI and $265 million is for the other IIN institutions. All of this funding is for capital projects, so it will be spent on building and expanding new facilities at each hub.
