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GOV. BLAGOJEVICH
ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF HOMELAND SECURITY
BUSINESS PLAN CONTEST IN ROCK RIVER
VALLEY
$12,500 in
Challenge Grants Awarded to Two Winning
Teams
CHICAGO - Building on his commitment
to creating jobs and growing the
economic by making Illinois a leader of
innovation and product development in
the homeland security industry, Gov. Rod
R. Blagojevich today announced $12,500
in entrepreneurial challenge grants to
help support this growing industry in
Northern Illinois. As co-winners of the
Homeland Security Business Plan Contest,
Roc-net Holdings, LLC, in partnership
with Prairie Shield, will receive a
$7,500 award and MCJ, Inc. will receive
$5,000 in funding from the Rock River
Valley Entrepreneurship Center (RRVEC)
and the Homeland Security Innovation and
Entrepreneurship Center (HSIEC) at
Northwestern University. Both centers
are part of the Illinois Department of
Commerce and Economic Opportunity's (DCEO)
Illinois Entrepreneurship Network (IEN).
An awards committee comprised of
representatives from the RRVEC, HSIEC
and DCEO judged entries. RRVEC Director
Daniel Cataldi presented the winners
with their awards today in Rockford.
"We are committed to supporting emerging
companies engaged in the homeland
security industry," said Gov.
Blagojevich. "In helping these companies
bring their products to market, we are
also establishing Illinois as a leading
center for the development and
production of homeland security goods
and services and creating more jobs
across the state."
Rockford area companies and
entrepreneurs were invited to submit a
homeland security business plan that
would stimulate creative, innovative
business development in Northern
Illinois.
Rockford-based ROC-net and Prairie
Shield will work together to create a
comprehensive, large transmission
bandwidth infrastructure in Boone and
Ogle counties supporting an
'interoperable' wireless communication
network for emergency services and first
responder personnel. The network will
support 'real-time' use of digital
voice, data, and video information with
any authorized user in an emergency
response setting. By combining the
ROC-net network with product application
of Prairie Shield, emergency management
personnel will have the ability to share
information across multiple locations,
environments, networks and technologies.
MCJ, Inc., also in Rockford, will
receive a $5,000 challenge grant and
work with the RRVEC and HSIEC to develop
a comprehensive strategic marketing,
sales and branding plan in order to
further commercialize its "EyeCheckTM"
pupillometer. This field deployable
product uses pupil measurements in order
to detect for the presence of chemical
or biological elements in humans.
"Gov. Blagojevich and I are very
pleased by the number of businesses and
entrepreneurs from in and around the
Rock River Valley who submitted homeland
security business plans," said DCEO
Director Jack Lavin. "This competition
has been a very successful competition
to demonstrate the Northern Illinois
business community's high level of
interest in the homeland security
market."
An event was held today at RRVEC's
EIGERlab to announce the winners. All 11
contestants who submitted applications
had the opportunity to present and
display their business plans for a
homeland security product or service.
The winners of the business competition
have also been invited to apply for an
additional grant award through the
Homeland Security Market Development
Bureau's Innovative Product Grant (IPG)
program, which provides up to $150,000
in funding (with a dollar-for-dollar
private capital match) to directly
catalyze the commercialization,
improvement and production of goods and
services with an application in homeland
security and a dual use in another
sector. IPG funds are intended to help
generate employment growth and produce
economic activity in Illinois by helping
companies complete milestone projects
that are either ready-for-market or in
the later stages of development and can
be developed, produced, commercialized
or delivered from Illinois.
The Rock River Valley Entrepreneurship
Center is designed to act as a regional
hub that coordinates all small business
development, entrepreneurship training
and development activity across the
region, and provides entrepreneurs with
the tools they need to make their
ventures successful. The Illinois
Entrepreneurship Network also includes a
partnership with economic development
centers across Illinois funded by DCEO,
including the Small Business
Environmental Assistance program, Small
Business Development Centers (SBDC),
Procurement Technical Assistance Centers
(PTAC), International Trade Centers
(ITC), NAFTA Opportunity Centers (NOC),
Illinois Technology Enterprise Centers (ITEC)
and Illinois Manufacturing Extension
Centers (IMEC). There is also an IEN Web
site,
www.ienconnect.com, featuring a free
business needs assessment and a referral
within 24 hours for personalized,
face-to-face assistance. Entrepreneurs,
who call toll-free to the IEN
information center (800-252-2923), can
also connect with service
representatives who will assess their
business concerns and direct them to the
local resources that best meet their
needs.
For more information about HSIEC, please
visit
www.homelandsecurityiec.org.
DCEO's Homeland Security Market
Development Bureau (HSMD) is focused on
supporting businesses engaged in the
homeland security industry. HSMD offers
a variety of investment tools designed
to help existing Illinois companies
expand operations and utilize available
state and federal programs and services.
Among its efforts, the Bureau has
supported Illinois businesses with
employee training to keep pace with new
technologies and skills, held CEO
roundtables to engage business leaders
about the state's ongoing role in the
post-9/11 world, and hosted market
development forums featuring national
experts for Illinois businesses.
For more information on HSMD, visit
www.hsmd.illinois.gov.
Gov. Blagojevich's Opportunity Returns
regional economic development strategy
is the most aggressive, comprehensive
approach to creating jobs in Illinois'
history. Since a one-size-fits-all
approach to economic development just
doesn't work, the Governor has divided
the state into 10 regions - each with a
regional team that is empowered and
expected to rapidly respond to
opportunities and challenges.
Opportunity Returns is about tangible,
specific actions to make each region
more accessible, more marketable, more
entrepreneurial and more attractive to
businesses. It is about upgrading the
skills of the local workforce,
increasing the access to capital,
opening new markets, improving
infrastructure, and creating and
retaining jobs. Opportunity Returns is
about successfully partnering with
companies and communities, both large
and small, to help all of Illinois reach
its economic potential. |
