Thank you for your responses Champaign.
The Champaign community shared their thoughts on their entrepreneurial ecosystem via the SPN community survey last December. To show our gratitude and to highlight the great things currently going on there we put together a few key highlights from their answers. The following report is directly taken from answers to the SPN survey.
43 Responses
Best Startups
Thanks to our sponsor
How would you rate your community in the following areas:
How would you rate your entrepreneurial or startup community compared to others?
What are the best features of your ecosystem?
Connecting activities
Connectivity
Community Engagement
Free workshops
open network- everyone welcome
Collaboration and support of one another
Connectivity; diversity focus; accessibility
Reliable personal connections
Connections
Knowledgeable community
Mentors
Community support for Small Businesses
Mentors to help entrepreneurs available in town!
flexible, adaptable
Community Spirit
Promotion of accomplishments
Successful people that give back
Strength of community and resources
Collaborative community
great people doing great things
Financial capital
Affordability
Low cost of living
Access to resources, financial support, provider network
good number of investors for city of this size
Infrastructure
University of Illinois Research Park
iVenture Accelerator
State and Cities support of Small Business Development Center / role of UI Research Park
The large number of programs and services
Incubators
Exciting opportunities with a great commute
Support services especially through I-start program
Access to student talent
large pool of highly technical talent, lots of institutional support from the University and local government, advanced technology spinning out of the University
University resources
Access to Entrepreneur in Residence Program, NSF i-Corps program, support for SBIR/STTR grant submission
Tons of resources, space, top notch research institution,
The Innovation and talent created by the University of Illinois.
Mission purpose and metrics
There are resources for every step of the entrepreneur’s path, and Champaign-Urbana supports small businesses well.
Overall, we at SPN value the effort by communities to tell their own stories. And we want to help by providing vehicles for local, diverse voices. While outside firms can help provide framework and validation to what is happening, it takes real leaders to build the ecosystem. Champaign sets a great example for other communities.
