Collaboration Success

The moment the Illinois “stay at home” order went into effect on March 21, the wheels were turning in Bruce Sommer’s head. Sommer, UIS’ Director of Economic Development and Innovation knew businesses would have questions on how to handle the temporary shutdown, so he gathered a team of experts to field those questions online.

“In the beginning, there were so many questions and so many things going on,” Sommer said. “People were concerned, so our first webinars were about the relief programs for businesses, how to take your business online and the economic impact of a shutdown. No one was providing them that information.”

Sommer used his own personal Zoom account for the first free webinar which limited his capacity to 100 attendees. Those spots filled within the first minute. The next week he used a UIS Zoom account, and attendance surpassed 100.

Since that time, Sommer and his rotating team of experts have hosted nearly 1,500 attendees with weekly webinars on business, education, health and the economy. Some topics came about as suggestions from frequent flier attendees.

“The amazing thing is that, for many of the panelists, I’ve asked them to participate on very short notice and no one has turned me down. We typically have five panelists each week. The collective collaboration around this has been my greatest reward,” Sommer said.

The weekly webinars are a collaboration between the UIS Office of Economic Development and Innovation, Innovate Springfield, and the UIS colleges of Business and Management and Public Affairs and Administration. Community partners include The Community Health Round Table, SIU School of Medicine, local businesses and state and local government officials.

“When I moved back to Springfield, people in social impact circles within the community felt like UIS was an underutilized resource,” Sommer said. “Through these webinars, we have inserted UIS into the conversations. We have incredible researchers and teachers and the community is craving that leadership."

Sommer said the success of the webinars is directly attributable to the layers of knowledge around the Springfield community and UIS campus. That is what Innovate Springfield, the first hub in the Illinois Innovation Network is about, bringing local resources and collaboration together.

“People came together in a time of crisis,” Sommer said. “It’s a great example of IIN’s goal of working collaboratively at all times.”

Moving forward, webinars will alternate between a business and health focus. Older webinars can be accessed on the UIS Academic Affairs website.

UIS names new director of economic development and innovation in an effort to spur local business growth

The University of Illinois Springfield has named Springfield-native Bruce Sommer as its new director of economic development and innovation. Sommer will serve as the lead facilitator in UIS’ efforts to spur local business growth in the Springfield area as a hub of the Discovery Partners Institute and the Illinois Innovation Network (DPI-IIN).

Sommer will work with local business and community partners, linking the region with the wide array of economic and educational resources and opportunities being created by the DPI-IIN within Illinois and beyond. Sommer will foster the development of local partnerships to create the capacity for Springfield to be a vital and sustainable hub in the statewide network.

“This hiring, coupled with the acquisition of Innovate Springfield and the announcement of Springfield as the first hub of the Discovery Partners Institute and the Illinois Innovation Network, reflects a serious and sustained commitment by the University of Illinois Springfield to advance the economic health and vitality of Springfield and the region through partnership with the state of Illinois, the city of Springfield, and local business leaders,” said Dennis Papini, UIS vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost.

Sommer has taught at UIS since 2010 as a visiting instructor in the Department of Management and has served as an executive-in-residence at the UIS Center for Entrepreneurship. He is the co-founder and chair of Innovate Springfield, a business and social incubator located in downtown Springfield that was recently acquired by the University of Illinois Springfield. Sommer is a co-founder and previously served as chair of the Sangamon CEO program, a year-long curriculum for high school seniors in Sangamon County that teaches them about entrepreneurship.

“I am looking forward to working with local business and community leaders to grow our economy by utilizing our incredible talent and new resources at UIS, as well as the Illinois Innovation Network and Discovery Partners Institute, to expand existing businesses and develop new ones,” said Sommer.

Formerly a startup entrepreneur and now an established business leader and investor, Sommer is currently a founder and managing partner of Springfield-based private equity firm NextGen Ventures, which invests in startups and mature companies. He is also a founder and managing partner at Hill-Hanover Group, a real estate investment firm based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Sommer earned his bachelor’s degree in public accounting from Illinois Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from the Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire. He also worked as a research associate at the Center for Venture Research and as a fellow/lecturer at the Whittemore School.

In August 2018, it was announced that Springfield would become the first hub of the statewide Discovery Partners Institute and the Illinois Innovation Network. The new initiative, led by the U of I System, was announced last fall and is being developed to accelerate statewide job creation and economic development through groundbreaking research and innovation.

As the network’s first hub, UIS will receive $1.5 million in funding over the next three years to expand programs supporting start-up businesses, entrepreneurs and innovation that promotes the public good.

DPI will be developed in Chicago and will bring together top faculty in agriculture, healthcare, computing and other critical fields from the U of I System and partner universities. Nearly 100 new researchers also will be added, and together they will connect with hundreds of businesses and thousands of students over time, as well as with entrepreneurs and venture capital firms.