The CTA Davis Street station in Evanston. Photo: Ben Schumin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5
From the sidewalk, the four-story building at 820 Davis St. gives little away beyond the name on its awning. Inside, the Technology Innovation Center has spent nearly three decades helping young technology companies get started in Evanston.
A 1986 start
The nonprofit incubator dates to 1986, when Northwestern University and the City of Evanston were developing the research park, according to its chairman, Charles Happ. The Daily Northwestern reported in 2012 that it had worked with more than 350 companies, 43 of them based at headquarters at the time, and that Forbes.com had named it in 2010 among “10 Technology Incubators That Are Changing the World.”
Public backing came and went. The Daily Northwestern reported that both the city and the university had ended their funding after the late 1990s budget cuts. The city later restored some support, totaling $200,000 in recent years, and on Feb. 13, 2012, the City Council voted 7-1 to give the center $25,000 for the first quarter of that year. Ald. Coleen Burrus cast the dissenting vote, saying she expected more graduates to stay in the community, while Ald. Jane Grover backed the center but wanted closer oversight and less reliance on city money.
Companies that came through
Peapod, the online grocer begun by brothers Andrew and Thomas Parkinson in 1989, is the best-known graduate. Vibes, a mobile marketing company, also received early support there and later moved to the Loop. Other tenants have included Geofedia, a location-based social media monitoring company, and Benevolent.net, which connects donors with people referred by social service agencies.
The center’s own measure of success, Happ said in early 2014, is jobs. It had 38 startups supporting 113 full-time jobs then, and the number of resident companies generally ran between 38 and 42.
Ties to schools
The center has informal links with Northwestern, including student projects and classroom visits by its executive director, Tim Lavengood. It also offers internships to Evanston Township High School students, some of whom have gone on to full-time jobs at the building.
Happ, a real estate owner who has also served as president of the New Trier school board, said he took over leadership after the incubator nearly folded in 2005 and moved it into buildings he owned in Evanston.
Sources include the Daily Northwestern, Feb. 21, 2012.
Daniel Okafor covers business, startups and the Innovators section for The Evanston Edge.
