Is Chicago a new cleantech hub?
At the end of November, the听听听that it had selected听听in suburban Chicago to host the听, and bestowed upon it a $120 million grant over 5 years, alongside a $35 million commitment for a new 45,000 square foot facility from the State of Illinois.
As noted in this听, the goal for the JCESR is to improve battery technologies by a factor of five 鈥� five times cheaper, with five times higher performance 鈥� within five years.
One of the nation鈥檚听听just being launched, the JCESR has an impressive list of collaborators.听 In addition to Argonne, four other national laboratories 鈥撎�,听,听听and听听鈥� will also conduct research under the JCESR umbrella.听 University research partners include听, the听, the听, the听, and the.听 A long list of the leading venture capital firms active in the cleantech arena 鈥� including听,听,听,听听and听听鈥� will serve on an advisory panel to help focus the research on commercially-interesting opportunities.听 Corporate titans听,听and听听have loaned their names to the effort.听
Whether it was because the team didn鈥檛 want their influence or because they didn鈥檛 want to be involved, no corporate representatives from the automotive or electricity industries are part of the JCESR constellation.
Especially when paired with the听听just 30 miles away at the, where听research is a primary focus, the JCESR announcement arguably leapfrogs the Windy City into the top echelon of cleantech technology research clusters, particularly as it relates to electricity management.
