BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Illinois Wesleyan University welcomed U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler and U.S. Representative (IL-16) Darin LaHood to the newly opened Petrick Idea Center on Wednesday to discuss future entrepreneurship and quantum opportunities in Central Illinois.
Loeffler and LaHood toured the facility and hosted a roundtable featuring Illinois Wesleyan President Sheahon Zenger; City of Bloomington Mayor Dan Brady; Marc Talluto ‘94, founder of the Talluto Center for Applied Entrepreneurship and an Illinois Wesleyan Board of Trustees member; Ben Hage, Director of the Petrick Idea Center; and several students from various disciplines.
"I appreciate that our elected and nationally appointed officials, U.S. Rep. LaHood and SBA Administrator Loeffler, are devoting their time and interest to Illinois Wesleyan University and the Petrick Idea Center,” Zenger said. “This validates our vision that our collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to problem solving in a liberal arts setting will become a hub for innovation and workforce opportunities that will not only serve our students and local community, but our region and beyond."
Loeffler and LaHood discussed incentivizing innovation and reducing regulations that support 36 million small businesses in the U.S., which comprise 99% of all U.S. businesses.
They also heard from students about the unique, interdisciplinary approach to entrepreneurship
education at Illinois Wesleyan. Specifically, they learned how the Petrick Idea Center,
the Talluto Center for Applied Entrepreneurship and the Fisher Quantum Center at Illinois
Wesleyan are three examples of how innovation, exploration and opportunity combine
to bring students from any major here into an active, hands-on experiential learning
opportunity.
Both the Petrick Idea Center and Illinois Small Business Development Center of McLean
County, also housed on Illinois Wesleyan’s campus, are critical to providing an entrepreneurial
ecosystem for Central Illinois.
“An important part of completing this ecosystem is expanding access to early-stage capital. Through initiatives such as Angel Flight School and our efforts to establish an Illinois Wesleyan-affiliated angel investment network, we are working to bring together experienced investors, alumni and entrepreneurs,” Hage explained. “Our goal is to create new opportunities for founders to access potential investment capital, the mentorship, expertise and relationships that can help their business grow.”
Illinois Wesleyan plans to pursue strategic partnerships through the U.S. SBA that support entrepreneurship, innovation and the commercialization of new technologies, which aligns with the university’s ambition to expand Petrick’s capacity to serve innovators and small businesses.
The university is already laying the groundwork through initiatives such as Founders Studio, entrepreneur-in-residence efforts, accelerator and mentorship programs.
The university hopes to also connect these efforts with the Fisher Center for Interdisciplinary Quantum Science and Engineering and see opportunities to explore how emerging technologies, including quantum computing, can inspire new products, applications and businesses.
Hage said at Petrick they also want to expand access to specialized expertise in business development, legal and financial matters, customer discovery and capital readiness, while connecting entrepreneurs with manufacturers, prospective customers, industry partners and investors.
“Ultimately, we envision an entrepreneurial ecosystem where students can explore ideas, develop prototypes, launch businesses and connect their promising ventures with the resources and capital they need to succeed,” he said.