The impact of technology and technology-based enterprises on the local economy is substantial. An active technology business environment drives high-value products in the computer, information technology and life science industries including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, agricultural biotechnology, drug delivery, medical devices, nanotechnology, environmental technology, computer hardware, computer software, communications and information technology and electronic devices. The rapid change in technology applications has created substantially increased demand for new ideas and expanded applications of existing technologies and the related economic opportunities have increased substantially.

The purpose of the Technology Commercialization Task Force forums is to focus on emerging technology, the role of technologies in economic development, the process of transferring research to development and the resources necessary to create a climate where businesses can start-up and expand. The task force expects that these forums can provide a basis to develop a roadmap for the region.

Technology is one of the leading engines for economic growth in The Region. Its sectors provide education, employment, generate revenue, attract external investment and research funds and stimulate new business development both directly and in related services. There is already considerable public and private investment in scientific research and the region is home to major companies based upon technology.

With increased globalization, the need for regions to develop and protect higher value-added industries only grows. To respond, experts have concluded, "regions must have a thoughtful, strategic, quick-acting economic development process; to be effective, such a process must involve collaboration among all relevant parties, including those involved in technology development and commercialization."

The purpose of the programs are to help bring together individuals in these sectors to review the current status of technology in The Region, the relationship of technology exploitation to economic development; inventory existing assets; identify opportunities, gaps and challenges and to define a strategy and policy recommendations to promote economic development by exploiting technology assets.

In 2005, The Technology Commercialization Task Force presented a series of forums to examine the status of technology, technology development and commercialization of technology and its impact on economic development in the region. The four seminars were:

Date	Program	Location
March 22, 2005	Technology Development in the Region: Report on Assets and Suggestions for Improvement	Room 100 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago 230 S. LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois
April 26, 2005	An Assessment of the Promise of Technology Related Growth	Room 100 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago 230 S. LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois
May 19, 2005	Impacting Commercialization of Technology in the Region	University of Illinois 200 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois
September 21, 2005	Defining an Economic Development Roadmap for the Region to Obtain the Benefits of Technology	PriceWaterhouseCoopers, LLP One N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois

A result of this effort was the release of a comprehensive report, "Defining an Economic Roadmap for the Region to Obtain the Benefits of Technology." The report is the result of more then 14 months of effort by 150 volunteers including members of the task force, sponsoring organizations, forum attendees and various working committees that fashioned specific recommendations. This is not a "final report" in that anyone feels the report itself is a conclusion. Rather, it is a step, itself a major accomplishment towards expanding the benefits of technology in our future.

The study draws three main conclusions. First, Chicago is a tremendous center for technology research - at the same time the region must renew its commitment to successfully commercialize this technology. As part of this, we need to determine how to benchmark success in the commercialization of technology and to regularly publicize a scorecard codifying this progress.

The report also emphasizes the need to market locally, as well as nationally and globally the technology being developed and utilized in Chicago.

And most importantly, there is an ongoing need to build connections between the academic researchers and current and prospective entrepreneurs as well as connecting manufacturers with new technology sources and linking financial and other forms of resources with new and expanding ventures.

A centerpiece of the "Roadmap" is the evolution of an organization to provide this connectivity, this benchmarking and support for technology commercialization in the region.

Committed to driving results from the recommendations contained in the report, the EDC and its Task Force has developed a series of programs in 2006 to further the Roadmap initiative. In March of this year, the Task Force conducted a Leadership Workshop, engaging community leaders in discussion of the Roadmap and its implementation. Following the Leadership Workshop the Technology Commercialization Task Force created a series of technology forums to address the issues discussed and raised. The three forums are:

Date	Program	Location
May 15, 2006	Building a "CONNECT-like" Organization in Chicago	Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago 230 S. LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois
September 14, 2006	Manufacturing Technology Commercialization Forum	UIC Student Center East Tower 710 S. Halsted Street, Chicago, Illinois
November 14, 2006	Entrepreneur Success Stories	Conference Center at USB Tower One North Wacker Drive, 2nd Floor, Chicago, Illinois

In its comprehensive report on Manufacturing in America issued in 2004, the U.S. Department of Commerce concluded that economic development programs had to refocus to foster competitiveness and innovation to produce high-value products and services that support higher-skill and higher-wage jobs:

"There is a need for a more aggressive look at how existing economic development programs could best reinforce a community's development of a sound approach to building a more diversified and strengthened local economy."

The 2001 U.S. Competitiveness Report, published by the Council on Competitiveness and co-authored by Professor Michael Porter, stated that "the priorities for sustained U.S. economic growth and competitiveness center on strengthening the nation's innovative capacity and skills of the American workforce." In Illinois we have the right scientific platform to build upon. Illinois Universities have over 24,000 science and engineering graduate students which is 5th in the United States. According to the National Science Foundation, Illinois has nearly $13 billion dollars in annual research and development spending. It is important that business, civic and political leaders and economic development officials find ways to harness these assets and continue to develop the opportunity for technology companies and the high-quality jobs they provide in these sectors.

The payoff can be substantial. The biopharmaceutical industry during 2003 (according to Milken Institute) contributed $6.1 billion dollars of earnings including direct earnings of approximately $1.7 billion dollars and more than $4.4 billion dollars in additional earnings to the economy of the region. The jobs created in these industries provide earnings for workers substantially higher than in other private industries. Some analysts contend that for each technology job created, estimates are that 5 to 6 other jobs are also produced.

While the Chicago area ranked above average in biotechnology research activity, the Brookings Institution found that it was below average in commercialization. The lack of commercialization caused Chicago to fall just short of the 9 top biotechnology centers.

There is a need for the community to develop the consensus on how to support commercialization including providing leadership, investment and support for technology transfer from academic institutions to the commercial sector.

We expect active participation from leaders in the academic, governmental and industrial sectors to participate in these seminars and to help to define an economic development roadmap for the region for obtaining the benefits of technology. We hope to define a series of concrete achievable steps which the community can take to establish clusters and focus on areas of technology where the region has opportunities for excellence.