Letter from the Director:

To date, many of the activities of the TEC have focused around curricular activities, business plan competitions, and events for students at the Urbana-Champaign Campus of the University of Illinois. Each semester, the TEC has hosted a number of tremendously successful, vibrant, and innovative alumni as part of its Entrepreneurship Discovery Series.

These activities have been extremely successful on campus, where nearly a thousand students are taking courses in entrepreneurship through the TEC each year. As a result, we are expanding the reach and activities of the TEC to all of the Chicago-Area, St. Louis Area, and Champaign County entrepreneurs, innovators and business leaders who have a sense of pride for entrepreneurship in Illinois, whether they are one of the thousands of entrepreneurial UIUC alumni or not.

The Illini-TEC Forum has been established to expand on the Center’s mission to bring together students, alumni, and business leaders throughout the state of Illinois and provide a means to educate, inform, and create support networks within the entrepreneurial community. The Forum will provide professional networking opportunities, guest lectures, and opportunities to interact with the next generation of UIUC entrepreneurs – the students involved in the courses, business plan competitions, and other entrepreneurial activities based at the Urbana-Champaign campus.

To make these events as successful as possible, participants are encouraged to suggest speakers, workshops, or other events that would be of interest to the Illini-TEC community. The goal is that the participants and members of the Forum will help direct and organize the content of these events.

I would also like to extend an invitation to participants to be guest lecturers at our Illini-TEC Forums in Chicago, St. Louis or Urbana.  The Urbana Forum in particular is primarily made up of UIUC students interested in entrepreneurship, and taking the Entrepreneurship Lecture Series through the TEC.

Sincerely,

- Andrew C. Singer, TEC Director