Chicago: the tech-ond city
For 18 months the city of Chicago has been working on a plan to encourage the technology industry to develop new ventures here instead of restricting itself to the three coasts. At an August luncheon for local business leaders, Mayor Richard M. Daley and U of C president Don M. Randel specified how the University can help.

To promote local economic growth, the U of C and Argonne National Laboratory will host quarterly Chicago Technology Forums. The forums are intended to attract banking professionals, corporate and civic leaders, and academics to encourage partnerships between high-tech researchers and local investors.

"The goal of the tech forums is to provide that bridge between academia-which provides the discoveries and the new ideas-and the people who can take those ideas and run with them," says Bob Rosenberg, MBA'97, assistant vice president for partnerships and technology at the U of C, who is planning the forums. "The local universities and laboratories are very good at creation, but the things that make a company valuable are the kinds of things the public sector has the resources to do."

Hosting the forum series are Robert Zimmer, deputy provost, the Max Mason distinguished research professor in mathematics and the College, and vice president for research and Argonne National Laboratory; Edward Snyder, AM'78, PhD'84, dean of the Graduate School of Business; and Hermann Grunder, director of Argonne. Mayor Daley will serve as honorary chair. The first of the invitation-only forums meets November 5 at the University's Gleacher Center in downtown Chicago. - C.S.

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