INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1

Innovations of the World

INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1

It’s easy to think that everything there is to know about the Windy City is already out there in the world—Chicago was, after all, the second most-visited US city in 2018 and has remained fertile ground internationally for a variety of industries, from finance to industry to education to transportation and beyond.

But a visit to Chicago is like a canopy tour compared to the root-deep exploration of the city that INNOVATE® Chicago provides. Filled with stories of Chi-Town’s innovators and innovation enablers, this high-end coffee-table book offers an in-depth look into the city’s innovation ecosystem. Every participant—large or small, corporate or nonprofit—is hand-selected for participation in INNOVATE® Chicago. By avoiding a pay-to-play model, we bring you 250+ pages of the authentic, the innovative, the best of Chicago!

In addition to the hardcover coffee-table book, INNOVATE® Chicago is also published as an e-book, with individual stories posted below.

Featured Thought Leaders

Featured Thought Leaders

Featured Innovators

Featured Innovators

BOUNCE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION

BOUNCE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION-From Surviving To Thriving

From Surviving To Thriving, The Lives Of Chronically Ill Children, And Their Families, Are Transformed

A HIDDEN EPIDEMIC: Ten-year-old Tyler feels more like a “patient” than a “person.” Despite fourteen surgeries, he remains bright, inquisitive, fun, funny. But, Tyler can’t talk due to a tracheotomy. He travels with a portable suction to keep his lungs open, and never knows when he’ll be back in Intensive...

NUTRISENSE

NUTRISENSE-Our Mission Is To Help Anyone Reach Their Health Potential.

Our Mission Is To Help Anyone Reach Their Health Potential

Already a successful tech entrepreneur, Alex Skryl had not intended to take on another similar venture. However, Alex was deeply moved by the growing epidemic of chronic disease in the United States. He felt that it was time to put his entrepreneurial mindset towards giving back to the community. Thus,...

INSTASHIELD

INSTASHIELD-Invention and Entrepreneurship Run in the Family

Invention and Entrepreneurship Run in the Family

INSTASHIELD FILLS PPE SHORTAGE, DONATES 1 MILLION SHIELDS TO PEOPLE IN NEED InstaShield™ is a new kind of face shield that ships flat and is folded to fit over a cap or visor. The company was founded in March 2020 by Dan Brown Jr. to help fill the nation’s PPE...

Devbridge

Devbridge- Is A Digital Product And Technology Consultancy Focused On Enterprise Transformation And Custom Software Development

Is A Digital Product And Technology Consultancy Focused On Enterprise Transformation And Custom Software Development

WHO WE AREDevbridge is a technology partner for forward-thinking Global 2000 companies looking to shift to a product-centric operating model. We build extraordinary custom software that delivers measurable results for our clients and their customers.   Using our proven methodology, data-informed strategy, and proprietary Devbridge Apollo toolkit, we not only...

HALO

HALO-Impact Before Profit: Halo’s Mission to Transform the World of Investing

Impact Before Profit: Halo’s Mission to Transform the World of Investing

Halo Investing has built the first global marketplace for protective investments, empowering. Through the Halo platform, advisors and investors can easily access structured notes, buffered ETFs, annuities, and a whole suit of tools allowing them to customize, analyze, and manage protective investments tailored to their unique portfolio needs. Halo’s mission...

MATTER

MATTER-At MATTER

At MATTER, We Help People And Organizations Transform Ideas Into Solutions That Improve The Healthcare Experience

At MATTER — a global innovation hub headquartered in Chicago — entrepreneurs come together with industry leaders, scientists and clinicians from across the globe to collaborate on developing next-generation healthcare technologies. We believe that collaboration between entrepreneurs and industry leaders is the fastest, most effective way to accelerate innovation, advance...

AGILEMD

AGILEMD- SOFTWARE SAVES LIVES THROUGH BETTER CARE DECISIONS

SOFTWARE SAVES LIVES THROUGH BETTER CARE DECISIONS

Healthcare providers are overwhelmed and medical protocols change fast. AgileMD ensures that nurses and doctors can rapidly understand a patient’s status and follow the most current clinical best practices to provide optimal care. The company’s software offers real-time predictive analytics and adaptive clinical guidance that is deeply integrated into the...

HABITNU

HABITNU-Set Small Goals

Set Small Goals, Build Life-Lasting Healthy Habits, And Transform Your Life. HabitNu Is Built On Proven Scientific Research

HabitNu is a digital therapeutic technology company that focuses on preventing and managing chronic diseases by helping individuals build new, healthy habits. HabitNu leverages proven scientific goal-setting research to drive new habit formation for the prevention and management of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension. HabitNu’s approach...

Freeborn & Peters LLP

Freeborn & Peters LLP-Is A Chambers-Ranked

Is A Chambers-Ranked, Leading Mid-Size Law Firm With Global Capabilities And A Vast Array Of Practice Areas

Freeborn is proud to deliver sector-specific legal advice that stems from decades of experience and a rich understanding of business and industry perspectives. Along with providing exceptional legal services, each Freeborn attorney embodies the firm’s five Core Values, integrity, caring, effectiveness, teamwork, and commitment, through high standards of client service...

ACTIVECAMPAIGN

ACTIVECAMPAIGN-We Help Businesses Grow and Build Better Customer Experiences

We Help Businesses Grow and Build Better Customer Experiences

ActiveCampaign is the leader in Customer Experience Automation (CXA), helping businesses across the world meaningfully engage with their customers. Our platform gives businesses of all sizes access to 820+ prebuilt automations that combine email marketing, marketing automation and CRM for powerful segmentation and personalization across social, email, messaging, chat and...

TECHNORI

TECHNORI-Since Launching Nearly a Decade Ago

Since Launching Nearly a Decade Ago, Our Mission Has Been Simple; Help Founders More Easily Raise Startup Funds By Building a Community Around Tech And Investing

Before Chicago became a tech hub featuring world-renowned incubators like 1871 and more than a dozen unicorns, there was Technori – a small group of early adopters and startup founders on a mission to turn Chicago into the largest and most diverse tech community in the world. And, what began...

RHEAPLY

Rheaply -Working To Make The World’s Resources Visible

Working To Make The World’s Resources Visible, Easily Transferable, And More Valuable In Our Global Marketplace

Rheaply’s platform is helping scale the circular economy — an economic model that emphasizes keeping resources in constant circulation rather than discarding them and adding to landfills. Through its resource exchange platform, Rheaply empowers organizations to better manage, exchange, and track their material resources, helping them save money and eliminate...

AZUMO

AZUMO-Manufacturer of LCD 2.0

Manufacturer of LCD 2.0, A Breakthrough Display Technology Revolutionizing A $130B Industry

Displays have become ubiquitous in our society. We find them in smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, drive through restaurants, ATM machines, thermostats, gas station pumps…the list is endless. Even still, there are notable negative impacts of displays which we have become accustomed to – excessive power consumption, subpar viewability in bright...

COHESION

We Are Transforming Commercial Real Estate With Smart Building Technology That Enhances The Workplace Experience, Streamlines Operations And Optimizes Revenue In One Single Digital Platform

The Cohesion app fulfills these demands by integrating building systems and IoT devices for seamless interactions in the workplace environment....

Aon

Aon-INNOVATION’S ROLE IN A HIGHLY VOLATILE WORLD

INNOVATION’S ROLE IN A HIGHLY VOLATILE WORLD

One of the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic experience is that companies have fundamentally changed the way they look at risk. Risks are more interconnected, so the impact is more profound. For example, increased weather events and supply chain disruptions are happening more frequently and having a greater impact...

THE FORGE ADVENTURE PARKS

THE FORGE ADVENTURE PARKS-GET OUT AND PLAY

GET OUT AND PLAY

Chicagoland is home to one of the world’s most fantastic recreation destinations: The Forge: Lemont Quarries. Since opening in the summer of 2020, the 300-acre park has been named one of the top three new destinations in the United States. The park provides authentic, purpose-driven outdoor experiences for people of...

CSC CORPTAX

CSC CORPTAX — MORE THAN 45 YEARS OF TAX TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION

MORE THAN 45 YEARS OF TAX TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION

CSC Corptax® provides technology-based tax solutions to corporate tax departments worldwide. We transform tax reporting for clients through software, business process expertise, and award-winning support, helping them achieve breakthrough performance using the first and only single system on the market for end-to-end tax. Our unmatched automation aligns tax processes, enhances...

PRITZKER GROUP

HELPING ENTREPRENEURS ACHIEVE GREATNESS

ABOUT PGVC Pritzker Group, founded by Tony and J.B. Pritzker, has three principal investment teams: Venture Capital, which provides early-stage venture funding to technology companies throughout the United States; Private Capital, which acquires and operates leading North America based companies; and Asset Management, which partners with top-performing investment managers across...

CHICAGO CONNECTORY

CHICAGO CONNECTORY-THE CENTRAL HUB OF IOT AND INNOVATION IN CHICAGO

THE CENTRAL HUB OF IOT AND INNOVATION IN CHICAGO, LEADING THE INITIATIVE AROUND THE WORLD

The Chicago Connectory is a co-creation space and IoT incubator located in Chicago’s historic Merchandise Mart. Our co-working space builds business, collaboration, and network opportunities to our community. The Chicago Connectory opened its doors in May 2017. The idea for the Chicago Connectory sparked with Bosch, a multinational engineering and...

86 REPAIRS

86 REPAIRS-TAKE REPAIRS OFF YOUR PLATE

TAKE REPAIRS OFF YOUR PLATE

86 Repairs is the repair and maintenance management platform built for the restaurant industry. Our tech-enabled solution includes on-demand repair management and preventative maintenance. With 86 Repairs, restaurants have access to data-driven insights and 24/7 support to control their facilities, reduce their R&M costs, and spend less of their team’s...

LOGGERHEAD TOOLS

LOGGERHEAD TOOLS- Award-Winning American Innovation

Award-Winning American Innovation

LoggerHead Tools’ mission is to create innovative hand tools manufactured in America. The company’s flagship product is the Bionic Wrench™, a tool that combines the convenience of pliers with the performance of a wrench. The company launched the Bionic Wrench at the National Hardware Show in 2005 and has since...

SONGFINCH

SONGFINCH - Is a Platform to Discover and Collaborate With Thousands of Musicians to Create Personalized

Is a Platform to Discover and Collaborate With Thousands of Musicians to Create Personalized, One-of-a-Kind Songs

Since launching, Songfinch has grown into the leading creator marketplace for musicians touting some of the most influential names in music and tech as investors, including music icon Quincy Jones, current music superstars Abel ‘The Weeknd’ Tesfaye and Amala ‘Doja Cat’ Dlamini, Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman, School of Rock...

ALIS - MEDTELLIGENT

Life-Changing Software For Assisted Living Facilities

ALIS is the primary offering of Medtelligent, a health-tech company serving the senior housing industry. Built from the ground up to match the needs of assisted living operators and providers, ALIS is the preferred software choice for fast-growing portfolios in the sector. Medtelligent was founded in 2005 with an original...

WAVICLE DATA SOLUTIONS

WAVICLE DATA SOLUTIONS- MAKES SMART PEOPLE EVEN SMARTER THROUGH THE POWER OF DATA AND ANALYTICS

MAKES SMART PEOPLE EVEN SMARTER THROUGH THE POWER OF DATA AND ANALYTICS

  Wavicle Data Solutions is a nimble consulting firm that focuses 100% on providing end-to-end data and analytics strategy, services, and support. Thanks to its deep technical expertise, business acumen, and proprietary accelerators Wavicle is able to help its clients drastically reduce the time, cost, and risk of collecting, analyzing,...

Load More

The Publisher

Glen Edwards

Glen Edwards was born and raised in Philadelphia. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University and served in the United States Marine Corps Services. For the next 10 years, Glen worked as a Juvenile Probation Officer in Philadelphia, counseling underprivileged children in North and West Philadelphia. In 1983, Glen left the court and went to work... click to read more

The Publisher

Glen Edwards

Glen Edwards was born and raised in Philadelphia. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University and served in the United States Marine Corps Services. For the next 10 years, Glen worked as a Juvenile Probation Officer in Philadelphia, counseling underprivileged children in North and West Philadelphia. In 1983, Glen left the court and went to work... click to read more

Other Ecosystems