IMEC is excited to announce the generous grant received from U.S. Senator Dick Durbin at Bradley University in Peoria, IL.
The Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center was awarded $25 million in federal funding to help support local manufacturers.
The federal investment will more than double from matching funds through university partners, client services, state funding, and other sources.
“This grant award positions us to build on our manufacturing outreach tradition with three signature initiatives designed to address strategic engagement around people, process and product, to prioritize the adoption of changing technology, and to champion manufacturing,” said IMEC President David Boulay. “These initiatives promise transformational impacts for Illinois manufacturing.”
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin noted the importance in supporting small manufacturers and rural firms to help them stay current with technology advances.
“Small, emerging and rural firms throughout Illinois and the Midwest must be able to grow their businesses and with the support they’ll receive from this grant they can continue to do just that. These businesses will now have the assistance they need as they continue to adapt, survive and grow,” Durbin said. “I am happy to say that the work of IMEC, its partners, and the hard-working small businesses in our state make will make the words ‘Made in Illinois’ more common.”
The funding was awarded by the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and it will dramatically increase IMEC’s presence to serve the critical manufacturing sector across Illinois, increasing services for small, emerging and rural firms and providing a stronger focus on services related to product, customer and market growth.
IMEC has seen a lot of growth and improvement in the manufacturing industry since it was established in 1996. It has assisted more than 540 companies and helped create and retain more than 1,000 jobs in 2015.
For more information visit http://www.imec.org/
