Northeastern Illinois University's Business Innovation & Growth Center (BIG Center) aids start-ups and existing businesses to fuel their entrepreneurial growth.
The BIG Center supports businesses from pre-launch to exit:
- Entrepreneurial mindset, ideation and proof of concept
- Commercialization and financing
- Rapid growth through new products, new markets, sales and marketing channels with a focus on technology and digital marketing
- Scaling of operations
- Non-organic growth such as vertical integration, acquisitions, and joint ventures
NEIU's BIG Center also paves a path for students, alumni and the area's local start-ups into Chicago's entrepreneurship pipelines, educational programs, and mentoring.
Measurable outcomes
- Entrepreneurial new venture launches (both for-profit and not-for-profit)
- New jobs, internships and apprenticeships
- Customer revenue gains
- Financing secured (debt, equity and grants)
- Business growth projects with measurable results (tech commercialization, proof of concept, digital marketing, new product, new market, acquisition, generational transfer)
- NEIU revenue (tuition, grants, ROI-seed money, business project fees, incubator fees, finance and vendor lead generation commissions)
Blue1647 partnership
Northeastern Illinois University has partnered with Blue 1647 to provide workshops based on technology, programming and game development to the community focusing on our future leaders ages 10 and up. The next workshop is:
Learn the Basics of Coding and Engineering using Arduino!
Students learn the fundamentals of circuit design and programming on an Arduino microcontroller. By the end of this course, students will understand concepts in electronics such as current, voltage, resistance and Ohm’s Law, as well as how to build circuits with LEDs and push buttons. This course is mainly intended for students who have little to no experience with computer programming or electronics.
Saturday, March 30
Noon-3 p.m.
El Centro
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