Парк исследований при университете штата Иллинойс трудоустроил рекордное число студентов и запустил инкубатор для стартапов

Just past State Farm Center, under the noses of students, lies an oasis filled with labs, office spaces, startups and Fortune 500 companies. This is Research Park; at its helm sits Executive Director Laura Appenzeller. Appenzeller joined Research Park in 2009 after a career that took her from advertising to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and finally landed her in a place she never thought she’d be. A former University student body president, Appenzeller’s interest in student success has carried her through 17 years of developments and initiatives within the park. Over 120 companies maintain offices in Research Park, ranging from global corporations like John Deere and NVIDIA to small businesses and startups. The proximity of these companies to campus allows a unique opportunity for students to gain professional experience while they are still in school. In any given year, Research Park employs roughly 800 students from the University. Get The Daily Illini in your inbox! Appenzeller shared some advice for landing these paid internships, which she acknowledged can be competitive. “The students have an opportunity to get to know the site directors, who are the people who run these operations,” Appenzeller said. “They work here on campus, and they attend lots of events on campus throughout the year … I would say do some digging and make an intro that’s more personal than just sending an automated response.” Students can apply for positions through Research Park’s job board. Another access point is its annual Block Party, held this year on Wednesday. “That’s a casual way that people can come from campus, and we do tabling and have music and a DJ,” Appenzeller said. “It’s fun, and it’s not meant to be high pressure. It’s just meant to be a first-look.” According to Appenzeller, many students working for Research Park companies become interested in starting their own, which is where the park’s EnterpriseWorks incubator comes in. The incubator opened in 2003 and has been fully occupied since, Appenzeller said. It houses 32 offices and 24 labs to support the needs of dozens of small startups at any given time — many of which are run by current students. “Many of these employers are open to that — that a student can both work for them and do something entrepreneurial on this side,” Appenzeller said. After receiving the support they need to get off the ground, startups “graduate” from the incubator and can remain in Research Park as tenants. “Students have a wonderful opportunity here on campus to be founders,” Appenzeller said. “It’s one of the lowest-risk times in life to start a company, because you have all these resources available to support you as a student through numerous offices on campus, including ours.” Research parks exist at several other universities across the country, including at Stanford University, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. However, the University’s Research Park stands apart from the rest in its dedication to student involvement. “We have more students working in our research park than any other university in the country,” Appenzeller said. “We do something that is truly, at scale, different than other places.” Appenzeller said one of her favorite parts of the job has been watching students turn a simple idea into a successful company or product. “You see somebody who’s a founder, when they just have an idea … I knew them when (it) was just something that they were thinking about,” Appenzeller said. “And then (to) see them successfully scale a business and grow it into a real company that’s thriving — those relationships can span decades, and it’s really fulfilling.”