The Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), part of the University of Illinois System, conducts tech

workforce development Workforce development, an American approach to economic development, attempts to enhance a region's economic stability and prosperity by focusing on people rather than businesses. It essentially develops a human-resources strategy. Work-force dev ...

, applied research and business building in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. It is one of 15 Illinois Innovation Network (IIN) hubs, each of which is associated with one or more of the 12 four-year public universities in Illinois. DPI currently operates in office space at

200 South Wacker Drive 200 South Wacker Drive is a high-rise office building located in Chicago, Illinois. Construction of the building began in 1979 and was completed in 1981. Harry Weese Associates designed the building, which has 41 stories and stands at a height ...

, with plans to build a dedicated building within

The 78 The 78 is a plot of land in Chicago from Roosevelt Road south to 16th Street and Clark Street west to the Chicago River that is not developed as of June 2025. The plot of land gained its name from a proposal in 2018, not built, that consisted ...

, a neighborhood under development in Chicago's South Loop. DPI's goal is to attract world class tech talent to Chicago for tech careers and to facilitate corporate investment in Illinois, primarily through training and education and through applied R&D and business building.

Development of DPI

Planning for and development of DPI started in 2016 under the leadership of

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

President Tim Killeen and Ed Seidel, UI's vice president for economic development and innovation, with a goal to build an institution where students and faculty from Illinois campuses and other individuals can interact with academic and business partners, take classes, do research, intern with private companies, learn entrepreneurship and work with community agencies. In October 2017, Illinois Governor

Bruce Rauner Bruce Vincent Rauner (; born February 18, 1956) is an American businessman, venture capitalist, and politician who served as the 42nd governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he had a decades-long career in inves ...

and the University of Illinois System unveiled plans for DPI and the IIN as drivers for innovation and growth in the knowledge-based economy of Illinois. In June 2018, the Illinois Legislature approved $500 million for DPI and other IIN hubs within the state, and in August 2018 William Sanders was named as interim director of the DPI. That same month, Illinois Innovation Network hubs were established at the three campuses within the University of Illinois System (in Springfield, Champaign-Urbana and

). In October 2018 a hub was established at

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...

in DeKalb. These have been joined by hubs at each of the other eight public universities in Illinois, and by the Illinois Rural Hub in Rockford and the Peoria Innovation Hub in December 2018. In September 2019, Bill Sanders announced his intention to become the dean of the College of Engineering at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

. The search for a successor led to the hiring of Bill Jackson, a former executive at

Johnson Controls Johnson Controls International plc is an American, Irish-domiciled multinational conglomerate headquartered in Cork, Ireland, that produces fire, HVAC, and security equipment for buildings. As of mid-2019, it employed 105,000 people in arou ...

as the inaugural executive director. DPI flourished under Jackson achieving many successes including th
establishment of Shield T3
which delivered groundbreaking SHIELD saliva testing for COVID-19 nationwide and globally. After leading DPI successfully for four years, Bill Jackson announced his departure effective February 16, 2024. University of Illinois System President Tim Killeen thanked Jackson for hi
dedicated leadership
and appointed Deba Dutta as interim executive director of DPI.

Headquarters in Chicago

In September 2022, Illinois Governor

J. B. Pritzker Jay Robert Pritzker (born January 19, 1965) is an American businessman and politician serving since 2019 as the 43rd governor of Illinois. A member of the wealthy Pritzker family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain, Pritzker has started several vent ...

unveiled the design for DPI's new headquarters in

, a new innovation district along the South Branch of the Chicago River. The eight-story building – a layered dome of glass and steel – will provide more than 200,000 square feet of office, classroom, laboratory and event space for DPI and its university and industry partners. Designed by architecture firms OMA and Jacobs, the building is designed to create strong connections to surrounding communities, the adjacent riverfront, and the future phases of the larger Innovation District at The 78. The building's main entry will be located at 15th Street and Wells-Wentworth, and a Richard Hunt sculpture will anchor the site's landscape. The project is expected to break ground in 2024, and will be the first building to begin construction in The 78.

Workforce development

DPI runs several programs to help strengthen and diversify Chicago's tech talent pool. In December 2020, the Pritzker Foundation announced it is giving $10 million over five years to DPI to support and develop promising and more diverse tech talent in Illinois. The funding established DPI's Pritzker Tech Talent Labs (PTTL). Today, PTTL operates a number of programs. They include: * Training programs for

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

teachers to expand the availability of computer science courses for students across Illinois. * The City Scholars Program, operated in partnership with the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

Grainger College of Engineering The Grainger College of Engineering is the engineering college of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It was established in 1868 and is considered as one of the original units of school. Campus The College of Engineering is located ...

. The program places top computer science and computer engineering students in 20 hours per week, semester-long internships in Chicago, while taking a full load of classes at DPI. *

Apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

programs to develop tech talent for corporations in and around Chicago.

Research

DPI conducts research in several arenas, including education and public health. Major undertakings include: * Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative (IWERC), which provides data-based analysis to Illinois policy and education leaders’ questions to help ensure more widespread and equitable education outcomes across the state. IWERC's initial funders are the

Joyce Foundation The Joyce Foundation is a non-operating private foundation based in Chicago, Illinois. As of 2025, it had assets of approximately $1.24 billion. Former U.S. President Barack Obama served on the foundation's board of directors from 1994 through ...

, the Steans Family Foundation, the Pritzker Traubert Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and two anonymous donors. * Illinois Wastewater Surveillance System (IWSS) is a partnership between DPI and the

Illinois Department of Public Health The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is the code department of the Illinois state government that prevents and controls disease and injury, regulates medical practitioners, and promotes sanitation. IDPH offices The Illinois Department ...

(IDPH). Launched in 2021, IWSS collects samples of raw sewage from over 85 wastewater treatment facilities across Illinois including metro Chicago and then analyzed in labs to track the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19. Separately, the principal partners in IWSS—DPI,

University of Illinois-Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Lemont, Illinois, Lemont, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1946, the laboratory is owned by the United Sta ...

and

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

—test wastewater samples taken from sewer maintenance holes in Chicago neighborhoods and O'Hare International Airport to track COVID-19 for the

Chicago Department of Public Health The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) is a government department of the City of Chicago. The purpose of the CDPH is to create a thriving and healthy community within the city of Chicago, Illinois by providing guidance, services and strat ...

(CDPH). A pilot project launched in September 2022 monitors wastewater collected from schools across Illinois for COVID-19, as well as influenza A and B. In November 2022, IWSS was awarded a Chicago Innovation Award for its leadership in monitoring the ebb and flow of COVID-19 in Chicago and Illinois by detecting the virus’ presence in wastewater. In January 2023, DPI announced it has launched a website to provide data to the general public on COVID-19 levels at the community level, based on its continued disease-monitoring work for IDPH.

Partners

DPI's academic partners include four

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities. ...

institutions which are not

state universities A state university system in the United States is a group of public universities supported by an individual state, territory or federal district. These systems constitute the majority of universities in the country, serving by far the majority ...

(

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Illinois Institute of Technology The Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Illinois Tech and IIT, is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the m ...

and

) and five international partners:

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

, M.S. Ramaiah Medical College,

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

and

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; zh, t=國立臺灣大學, poj=Kok-li̍p Tâi-oân Tāi-ha̍k, p=, s=) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in 1928 during Taiwan under J ...

. DPI's corporate partners in its workforce development efforts include

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

Cognizant Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational information technology consulting and outsourcing company originally founded in India. It is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States. Co ...

, and

CVS Health CVS Health Corporation is an American healthcare company that owns CVS Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy chain; CVS Caremark, a pharmacy benefits manager; and Aetna, a health insurance provider, among many other brands. The company is the worl ...

Funding

Release of the state of Illinois funding for the DPI and the other IIN capital projects was delayed until, on February 12, 2020, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced $500 million for capital projects around the state of Illinois, with $235 million to go toward building the DPI facility in Chicago and $265 million to be used for capital projects at the other 14 Illinois Innovation Network hubs. On the same day the

announced agreement with real estate developer Related Midwest for construction of the DPI research and innovation center within

, on one acre of land donated by Related Midwest. The release of these capital funds was a major step toward expanding the DPI toward its full potential. Additionally, as ''Crain's Chicago Business'' reported: "In an era of companies moving entire headquarters to gain an edge in recruiting top tech talent" knowledge that the

will build this facility in Chicago can be a selling point for Related Midwest to attract corporations to

References

{{reflist , refs= {{cite web , title=Discovery Partners Institute – About , url=https://dpi.uillinois.edu/about , access-date=2020-03-10 , publisher=

, work=dpi.uillinois.edu {{cite news , title=University of Illinois plans public-private Chicago innovation center with Rauner backing , url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-university-of-illinois-innovation-center-20171018-story.html , url-access=limited , access-date=2020-03-13 , first=Dawn , last=Rhodes , newspaper=

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

, date=October 19, 2017 {{cite news , title=UI-led Discovery Partners Institute officially off and running , url=http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2018-06-20/ui-led-discovery-partners-institute-officially-and-running.html , url-access=limited , access-date=2020-03-14 , first=Ben , last=Zigterman , publisher= The News-Gazette , date=June 20, 2018 {{cite news , title=University of Illinois engineering professor to lead downtown Chicago innovation center , url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-illinois-innovation-lab-director-20180823-story.html , url-access=limited , access-date=2020-03-10 , first=Dawn , last=Rhodes , newspaper=

, date=August 24, 2018 {{cite news , title=UIS awarded first hub in statewide innovation network , url=http://www.sj-r.com/news/20180828/uis-awarded-first-hub-in-statewide-innovation-network , access-date=2020-03-10 , first=Brenden , last=Moore , publisher=

The State Journal-Register ''The State Journal-Register'' is the only local daily newspaper for Springfield, Illinois, and its surrounding area. History The newspaper was founded in 1831 as the ''Sangamo Journal'' by William Bailhache and Edward Baker, and describes it ...

, date=August 28, 2018 {{cite news , title=Chunk of DPI funds put UI's planned data-sciences hub on fast track , date=August 30, 2018 , url=http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2018-08-30/chunk-dpi-funds-put-uis-planned-data-sciences-hub-fast-track.html , url-access=limited , access-date=2020-03-10 , first=Julie , last=Wurth , publisher= The News-Gazette {{cite news , title=UIC will tap state's $500M Discovery Partners fund for expansion , url=https://www.chicagobusiness.com/education/uic-will-tap-states-500m-discovery-partners-fund-expansion , url-access=limited , access-date=2020-03-10 , first=Lynne , last=Marek , publisher=

Crain's Chicago Business ''Crain's Chicago Business'' is a weekly business newspaper in Chicago, IL. It is owned by Detroit-based Crain Communications. History The first issue of ''Crain's Chicago Business'' is dated April 17, 1978. In 1977, when Crain Communicati ...

, date=August 31, 2018 {{cite news , title=NIU announces partnership, plans for $23M research facility , url=https://www.mywebtimes.com/2018/10/10/niu-announces-partnership-plans-for-23m-research-facility/aexwp6v/ , access-date=2020-03-10 , first=Kelsey , last=Rettke , publisher=

Shaw Media Shaw Media, Inc. was the television broadcasting division of Shaw Communications. It owned the Global Television Network, which broadcasts nationally via 13 television stations, as well as 19 specialty channels including Slice (TV channel), Slice ...

, work=The Times , date=October 10, 2018 {{cite web, title=Tel Aviv University to partner in new Chicago innovation, entrepreneurship hub , url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/tel-aviv-university-to-partner-in-new-chicago-innovation-entrepreneurship-hub/ , access-date=2020-03-10 , first=Shoshanna , last=Solomon , publisher=

The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...

, date=October 25, 2018 {{cite news , title=Illinois Looks to Chicago for Research Site , url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/10/30/election-turmoil-could-put-dent-university-illinoiss-massive-research-bid , access-date=2020-03-31 , first=Greg , last=Toppo , publisher=

Inside Higher Ed ''Inside Higher Ed'' is an American online publication of news, opinion, resources, events and jobs in the higher education sphere. In 2022, Quad Partners, a private equity firm, sold it to Times Higher Education, itself owned by Inflexion Priv ...

, date=October 30, 2018 {{cite news , title=Illinois Innovation Network now includes all public state universities , url=http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2019-05-16/illinois-innovation-network-now-includes-all-public-state-universities.html , url-access=limited , access-date=2019-05-21 , first=Julie , last=Wurth , publisher= The News-Gazette , date=May 16, 2019 {{cite web , title=Cardiff University joins Discovery Partners Institute , url=https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/1512180-cardiff-university-joins-discovery-partners-institute , access-date=2020-03-10 , publisher=

, date=June 11, 2019 {{cite web , title=Illinois Tech Joins Prestigious Discovery Partners Institute , url=https://www.iit.edu/news/illinois-tech-joins-prestigious-discovery-partners-institute , access-date=2020-03-10 , publisher=

, date=July 10, 2019 {{cite web , title=University of Illinois secures state approval for one billion dollar Discovery Partners Institute , url=https://www.teknovation.biz/university-of-illinois-secures-state-approval-for-one-billion-dollar-discovery-partners-institute/ , access-date=2020-03-10 , first=Tom , last=Ballard , publisher= , website=teknovation.biz , date=September 8, 2019 {{cite news , title=The 78 lands a big tenant draw with DPI , url=https://www.chicagobusiness.com/commercial-real-estate/78-lands-big-tenant-draw-dpi , url-access=limited , access-date=2020-03-10 , first=Danny , last=Ecker , publisher=

, date=February 12, 2020 {{cite news , title=The 78 megaproject gets backing from U of I, Pritzker – The school's Discovery Partners Institute will build on the site south of downtown. , url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/business/2020/2/12/21134443/the-78-megaproject-university-of-illinois-discovery-partners , url-access=limited , access-date=2020-03-10 , first=David , last=Roeder , publisher=

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

, date=February 12, 2020 University of Illinois System Business organizations based in Chicago