Message from the Director

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1 Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity Monthly newsletter Visit Why Illinois Business Incentives Locate in Illinois Small Business Assistance Regional Assistance April 2014 Message from the Director This month was full of successes for Illinois and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity with the announcement of New Zealand's LanzaTech locating its global headquarters in Illinois, Wahl Clipper building their new corporate HQ in Sterling, the hosting of DCEO's second annual Women Owned Business Symposium, and new data coming out on significant job growth in our state s high tech and clean energy sectors. To add to all of this, we also led a small business trade mission to China, DCEO's Tourism office announced national coverage of the Mini Abe campaign and expansion into additional markets, and our Film office delivered great news on the renewal of two television programs filmed in Chicago. Through these efforts and many more, DCEO continues to work hard to create jobs and improve economic growth throughout the state. This month s highlights include: In This Issue New Zealand Bioscience Firm Locates Global HQ in Illinois Wahl Clipper Building New HQ in Sterling Second Annual WBOS Event Held in Chicago Innovation Index Shows Job Growth in State s Tech Sector Clean Energy Jobs in Illinois Employ Almost 100,000 DCEO Trade Mission to China for Health Care Expo Tourism s Mini Abe Campaign Continues to Whoa Film Office Announces Two Chicago TV Shows Renewed Stay Connected Courtesy of LanzaTech Did you miss last month s newsletter? Past issues Governor Quinn announced bioscience innovator LanzaTech will locate its global headquarters and R&D center in Skokie. Founded in New Zealand the company will relocate more than 65 employees in key operations from New Zealand and Roselle, Illinois to the new site during The company is a pioneer in the production of sustainable fuels and chemicals from waste gases. The Skokie location also will serve as the company s research and development center following an investment of more than $17 million. LanzaTech recently closed a $60 million fourth round of venture capital funding,

2 and has a multi award winning technology that captures and reuses waste carbon emissions for the production of fuels and chemicals. The new headquarters will be located at the Illinois Science and Technology Park, a 23 acre bioscience campus. LanzaTech will share a 160,000 square foot facility, occupying 41,000 square feet of lab and office space. Click here for the press release and read an article from Ethanol Producer Magazine. Courtesy of LanzaTech Courtesy of Wahl Wahl Clipper Corporation is building their new corporate headquarters in Sterling. The Illinois maker of personal care and grooming products will invest nearly $8.5 million to build a 40,000 square foot building on its Sterling campus. With nearly 900 current employees, Wahl will create five jobs and retain 114 headquarters staff positions as it responds to growing worldwide demand. Construction starts this spring and the building is expected to be finished by yearend. The new facility will provide a number of advantages, including freeing up space to grow their current facilities and providing a state of the art corporate facility as a showplace for its worldwide customer base. Click here for the full article. Wahl Clipper is a quality company and part of the economic bedrock in Sterling and Whiteside County, said Adam Pollet, DCEO director. This project not only creates new jobs but shows that helping existing businesses is a high priority of Governor Pat Quinn s administration. Courtesy of Wahl

3 DCEO hosted the second Women Business Owners Symposium (WBOS) in Chicago with over 500 business professionals, innovators, government officials and leading industry experts. The one day event entitled It s Your Time was held at the UIC Forum and sponsored by the State of Illinois and DCEO. WBOS offers current and future women business owners access to a variety of experts, programs and opportunities to help grow their businesses. On site counseling, information and resources were available to attendees in key areas. Keynote speakers included Marianne O Brien Markowitz with the U.S. Small Business Administration and Beth Reese, president of Nicor Gas. The symposium was moderated by Melissa Harris, business columnist with the Chicago Tribune. Corporate sponsors included Macy s, Nicor Gas, Verizon and Score Chicago. Click here to learn more and follow WBOS on The Illinois Science and Technology Coalition s April Index highlights job growth in the state s high tech sector. As digital technology has become essential to business operations across industries, Illinois tech economy is increasing employment in computer and Internet related services and publishing. Click here for the full story. Among high tech industries, computer related fields led the sector with a gain of 30,570 jobs between 2004 and This gain offset the loss of 21,675 manufacturing jobs during that period a trend that corresponds to the 33 percent nationwide decrease in manufacturing employment. The Illinois Innovation Index highlights innovation and entrepreneurial activity in Chicago and Illinois. The Index is a partnership of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Science & Technology Coalition and World Business Chicago.

4 Courtesy of Clean Energy Trust The Clean Energy Trust reports over 96,000 employees work in Illinois clean energy sector and will likely top 100,000 jobs later this year. Click here for the article or download the full report at Clean Jobs Illinois Survey. As of November 2013, the state s clean energy sector employed 96,875 people and 40 percent of businesses plan to hire more workers in The report also mentioned 62 percent of Illinois clean energy businesses focus on energy efficiency and 28 percent on renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal). And according to Forbes, Illinois was the sixth best state for clean energy jobs in 2013 with 3,815 total projects. Click here for the article and rankings. Courtesy of Forbes Magazine In April a DCEO led trade mission to Beijing attended the China International Nutrition & Health Industry Expo (CIHIE). China s health care and wellness industry has rapidly become a $1 trillion industry and CIHIE is the biggest industry event in Asia. Click here for more on the show. The show was held at the China International Exhibition Center to more than 1,200 exhibitors and over 200,000 distributors, dealers, agents, importers/ exporters, buyers and merchandisers. Over 1,000 enterprises alone from the U.S., Japan, Thailand, Russia, South Korea and Malaysia attended. DCEO s trade mission included a stop in Shanghai for business meetings with key Chinese business leaders and government officials.

5 Courtesy of Illinois Office of Tourism and JWT, Chicago Illinois Tourism s Mini Abe campaign was recently highlighted in AdWeek and the Chicago Business Journal. Be More Whoa ed was launched in 16 U.S. markets, with upcoming spots in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and national cable. Launched last fall, the camapaign increased Illinois tourism inquiries by 78 pecent year over year. Click here for the article. Videos are available on Tourism s YouTube page and Enjoy Illinois. And TripAdvisor ranked Chicago the #2 top U.S. destination for 2014 voted by their traveler reviews, surpassing San Francisco in this year's ranking. Click here for the press release and view the rankings. Illinois Film Office announced NBC will renew two Chicago filmed programs for another season Chicago Fire and Chicago PD. Both hit shows provide a spending boost to the state s economy, about $87 million locally. The film industry spent a record $358 million statewide in 2013, supporting 4,200 full time equivalent jobs. Click here for the full story. The state provides a 30 percent tax credit for money spent on Illinois good and services, including wages for residents. Since the tax credit was introduced in 2004, it has helped produce $1.3 billion in private sector spending. For more information on our state s film industry, visit the Illinois Film Office. Courtesy of NBC Blockbusters filmed in Illinois since the credit began include Batman Begins,

6 Ocean s Twelve, The Dark Knight, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Public Enemies, Superman: Man of Steel, Divergent and this summer, Transformers: Age of Extinction. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures We know that Illinois is a great place to live and work, which is why millions of people call it home. With your help, we will make it even better. Please pass this newsletter along, and be sure to connect with us on social media for up to the minute announcements on programs, events and items of interest to businesses and job seekers across the state. Sincerely, Adam Pollet, Director DCEO Subscribe to our monthly newsletter Visit Follow us: Copyright 2014 Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity. All rights reserved. Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity 500 East Monroe Springfield, IL W. Randolph Chicago, IL Springfield: Chicago: If you have comments or questions, please click here