Former 1871 CEO Howard Tullman named first director of Illinois Tech innovation institute
Dawn RhodesContact ReporterChicago Tribune
If Chicago is to compete for the likes of Amazon’s second headquarters, it’s going to need to develop its technology talent.
It’s with that idea in mind that the Chicago entrepreneur Howard Tullman, former CEO of the 1871 tech hub, has been appointed to lead a new innovation center at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Tullman is the first executive director of the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship, university officials announced in a news release Monday. He begins the new position May 1.
Kaplan, an Illinois Tech alumnus and board member, and his wife donated $11 million to create the center, scheduled to open this fall.
In launching an institute that focuses on teaching innovation, Tullman said the goal is to train students beyond their technical education to focus also upon ingenuity. The Kaplan Institute also would better prepare students for work at Illinois Tech’s existing tech incubator, launched in 2006, which focuses more on product design, Tullman said.
“Innovation is the process of making things better,” Tullman said. “Every company desperately needs ongoing innovation.”
The move comes as city and state leaders try to position the Chicago area as an ideal location for international corporations, including trying to woo Apple and Amazon to locate their second headquarters here.
“I want (Illinois Tech) to be a go-to place when Amazon and all these people do their calculations,” Tullman said. “They couldn’t have been clearer that talent was a major concern.”
drhodes@chicagotribune.com