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A new take on ribbon cutting

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* Press release…

Today, Governor JB Pritzker joined mHUB leadership, local elected officials, business leaders, and members of Illinois’ entrepreneurial community to celebrate the ribbon cutting and grand opening of mHUB’s new headquarters. The new innovation center is receiving $9.6 million in funding from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) to continue advancing technology solutions for a clean tech economy through energy infrastructure, grid modernization, and long-energy storage.

“To make Illinois a leader in clean energy innovation, we need institutions like mHUB that convene public and private sector interests towards a common goal, such as protecting the future health and economy of our state by developing new solutions to our climate crisis,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “The State is proud to recognize mHUB for the work it’s doing to scale the early-stage technologies needed to modernize, decarbonize, and incentivize industry, while protecting our most vulnerable communities.”

mHUB is a hardtech and manufacturing innovation center launched in 2017 to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem that promotes growth, advancement, and innovation solutions in the manufacturing industry. The community includes over 500 active and alumni startups and small business that are supported by a coalition of product designers and developers, entrepreneurs, engineers and manufacturers, corporate leaders, industry experts, mentors, and investors.

The new location will also provide more equitable access to Chicago’s south and west side to enhance mHUB’s partnerships with community-based organizations and uplift historically underrepresented communities.

The State’s funding will help propel clean energy and sustainable manufacturing innovation to advance the Pritzker administration’s clean energy goals as outlined in the landmark Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). With its manufacturing and sustainability-centered work, mHUB is one of the state’s most active investors in climate technologies.

* It’s kinda hard to see because of the photog hogging the shot, but Pritzker used a plasma torch to cut the “ribbon”…

“Nobody injured, nobody died.”

…Adding… Another angle is here.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Dec 12, 23 @ 1:13 pm

Comments

===“Nobody injured, nobody died.”===

Then it won’t make the television news tonight.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Dec 12, 23 @ 1:18 pm
This is great.

We went from a governor who played dressup in Carharts while doing no actual work, to a governor who uses a plasma torch to cut through steel wearing a suit and tie.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Tuesday, Dec 12, 23 @ 1:30 pm
mHUB is one of the coolest spaces to go visit even if you don’t make hard tech yourself.

Kudos and well done to Bill and his entire team. And, of course, Bill is the only one not wearing safety googles.

Comment by twowaystreet Tuesday, Dec 12, 23 @ 1:56 pm
There’s a better pic on the governor’s FB page, but getting it over to this blog is beyond my technical ability.

Comment by Teacher Lady Tuesday, Dec 12, 23 @ 2:40 pm
Plasma torch. Feels like an award. very cool.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Dec 12, 23 @ 3:08 pm
In a story on Cleveland yesterday in the subscription blog Defector, the author went through some of the more ignominious events from the city’s “Mistake by the Lake” era, and mentioned the time the mayor did a “ribbon cutting” on a length of metal with a torch.

The mayor set his own hair on fire in the process, so point awarded to JB on this one, I say.

Comment by Roadrager Tuesday, Dec 12, 23 @ 3:11 pm
Pretty steady hand for what I assume was his first time. If politics doesn’t work out he could fall back on being a fabricator.

Comment by Excitable Boy Tuesday, Dec 12, 23 @ 4:09 pm
Reminds me of wedding photos that you see where there’s always someone who reaches their phone out into the middle of the aisle as the couple is walking back hand in hand and ruins the actual real photograph the couple paid someone to do.

Comment by Frida's boss Tuesday, Dec 12, 23 @ 4:19 pm