HB1876enr 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB1876 Enrolled LRB097 00260 NHT 40278 b

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Higher Education Technology Entrepreneur Center Act.

Section 5. Technology entrepreneur centers; creation. The board of trustees of each public university and community college district in this State is authorized to create a technology entrepreneur center for each campus of the university or for each community college. In creating a center, the board of trustees may use as a model the Technology Entrepreneur Center and Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership located within the College of Engineering of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Section 10. Duties of center. A technology entrepreneur center created under the authority of this Act shall provide material and personal infrastructure to selected innovators who possess an inventive concept that has not yet been offered for sale in the private-sector market, with the goal being to develop a concept to the point where it can become a business venture. The concept may or may not have been patented or be patentable.

A technology entrepreneur center may offer, but is not required to offer, mentors, workshops, contacts with potential private-sector investors, and a structured course or courses of work-study to bring an innovation from conception to market. The work-study program, if offered, may offer business instruction, engineering instruction, or a structured combination of both forms of knowledge.