NIU Today

Five organizations with a stake in the DeKalb County’s economic development future – NIU included – recently completed a county-wide data and information collection effort. A summit titled, “DeKalb County Thriving!” will be held from 8 to 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 24, at the DeKalb County Farm Bureau, 1350 W. Prairie Drive in Sycamore, to...

Exciting changes are happening in downtowns of small and mid-size cities across the United States. Large retailers, formerly the mainstay in these communities, are being replaced by smaller creative businesses tailored to specific population interests. Increases in young adults and seniors interested in living in convenient and walkable downtowns are changing opportunities for new business...

DeKalb County Government and four other organizations with a stake in the county’s economic development future are beginning an important phase in a recently launched visioning project. The purpose of this effort is to help shape an economic development vision document that will guide planning, marketing and investments for DeKalb County over the next five...

The city of DeKalb is one of 15 communities from across the nation to advance to the next round of the $10 million America’s Best Communities competition. Officials from Frontier Communications announced Wednesday that DeKalb has advanced to the competition’s semifinals in pursuit of the grand prize of up to $3 million. The competition is...

Harkening back to Abraham Lincoln’s adage that “the best way to predict your future is to create it,” Northern Illinois University and five public and non-profit organizations serving DeKalb County are partnering to create a vision for the county’s economic development future. The first step in this process is to seek broad-based community input about...

Starting next fall, engineering students from the Rockford area can earn bachelor’s degrees and master’s degrees from NIU without leaving the campus of Rock Valley College. Presidents and other leaders of both institutions made the announcement and signed letters of intent this morning before a standing-room-only and energetic crowd gathered inside the Woodward Technology Center....

When the Industrial Physics Forum (IPF) begins Sept. 28 in Brazil, NIU students and faculty will join in the conversation – that is, if Anna Quider has anything to say about it. Quider, NIU’s new director of federal relations, is spreading the word about the conference that aims to scientifically drive economic development in Latin...

Just weeks after receiving formal designation as an “Innovation and Economic Prosperity University,” NIU has received one of the nation’s top awards for regional economic development. The Association for Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) on Tuesday announced NIU as the winner of APLU’s inaugural “Place” award for “excelling in community, social, and cultural development work.”...

Northern Illinois University is among the inaugural 16 institutions nationwide designated as an “Innovation and Economic Prosperity University” by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU). The designation, announced last week, acknowledges universities working with public and private sector partners in their states and regions to support economic development through innovation and entrepreneurship, technology...

Building on the success of its first regional conference on broadband and economic development held last November in Danville, Va., Broadband Communities will host its second regional conference from Tuesday, Nov. 5, through Thursday, Nov. 7, in Tinley Park. The conference will focus on the extraordinary experiences of dozens of communities in America’s Midwestern heartland,...

John Lewis, senior research scholar at NIU’s Regional Development Institute, moderated a panel of experts in the fiber optics industry May 30 at the DeKalb County Economic Development Corp. Broadband and Economic Development Technology Focus Luncheon. About 150 attendees learned about the importance of high-speed fiber and broadband to economic development in the region. Matthew...

NIU-Rockford will host one of four events this month sponsored by the Illinois Open Technology Challenge. The event is scheduled from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17, in Room 101 of the NIU regional center at 8500 E. State St. ILOpenTech brings governments, developers and communities together in a common mission to use public...