CHICAGO – Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Wednesday announced that $7 million in grant funding has been awarded to four grantees through the Tech Incubator Enhancement Grant (TIEG) Program to support entrepreneurship and innovation in key growth industries around the state.
These grant awards will strengthen the resilience of both existing and new startup incubators.
The TIEG Program was designed to modernize and revitalize tech incubators across Illinois to meet the evolving needs of startups. This initiative aims to support the transformation of tech spaces fostering an ecosystem of innovation, collaboration and resilience.
The SouthernTECH High-Tech Food Incubator at SIU Carbondale is one of the four grantees. It is receiving almost $1.6 million for a new food processing and manufacturing-based incubator for the for Food Processing, Next Generation Agriculture industry that will provide a lineup of high-tech, energy-efficient and future-proof kitchen equipment that will optimize operations for food entrepreneurs and startups.
