The Beat: Argonne National Lab explores AI
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Business Journals
2 days ago
- Business Journals
The Beat: Why Chicago's women-led startups see less investment
Welcome to Chicago Inno's The Beat, a twice-weekly look at the people, companies and ideas that are shaping Chicago's innovation economy. The Big One PitchBook's VC female founders dashboard released earlier this month shows venture-capital deal flow to Chicago companies founded or co-founded by women has dropped precipitously this year. Female founders in Chicago have raised $220M across 28 deals in 2025 thus far. That's significantly down from the $926M raised across 86 deals in 2024. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Despite that, local investors believe the Chicago startup community has made strides when it comes to keeping women founders in the Windy City, though they say more work still needs to be done. This year's decline in Chicago is a stark contrast to the rest of the nation, where startups with at least one female founder have raised $78.8B over 1,428 deals, blowing past 2021's record of $68.7B. The first two quarters of 2025 were the best on record for startups with at least one female founder, totaling $51.2B and $27.6B, respectively, according to PitchBook data. That growth was powered by a few massive deals, including OpenAI's record-seeing $40B round in March. READ MORE: Venture funding for female founders in Chicago plummets despite national surge More Chicago Inno news to know A local cross-sector coalition aiming to bring quantum technology to market could be getting a big boost from a federal agency. Chicago startup Amphix Bio announced it received an orphan drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its treatment of acute spinal cord injury. Chicago named among top US cities for AI readiness Chicago has been named one of the best-prepared cities when it comes to adopting artificial intelligence technologies. That's according to The Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit think tank, which published a report Wednesday that calls Chicago one of 28 AI "Star Hubs" across the country. While not one of the "Superstar" markets for artificial intelligence — reserved for California's San Francisco and San Jose — Chicago is still well positioned to create, apply and harness the power of AI. READ MORE: Chicago named among top US cities for AI readiness, balancing talent and innovation Sign up for Inno's free twice-weekly newsletter to receive the latest innovation news impacting Chicago.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
'Aurora,' new super computer at Argonne National Lab to help solve science's biggest problems
The Brief Aurora, a $500 million supercomputer at Argonne National Lab, can perform a quintillion calculations per second and will run 24/7. Spanning two basketball courts, it supports research in cancer, AI, astrophysics, and more. Scientists worldwide can apply to use Aurora, which is seen as a major tool for global scientific breakthroughs. LEMONT, Ill. - Whether it's nuclear fusion, curing cancer or exploring the universe, scientists at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont have a big and fast new computing tool at their disposal. And its name is Aurora. What we know "We're here to celebrate Aurora, which is our new supercomputer," said Argonne Director of Science for Supercomputing Katherine Riley. "It's one of the biggest systems in the world."On Wednesday, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for one of the biggest artificial brains in the world, which was switched on earlier this year. Aurora is a supercomputing system as large as two basketball courts, taking up an entire floor at Argonne. It's powered with 300 miles of cable and cooled by 44,000 gallons of water. "Aurora is a strategic national asset for America, and it's already helping us deliver breakthrough science for global impact," said Argonne Laboratory Director Paul makes this computer special is the number and speed of calculations it can perform each second. That number? A one followed by 18 zeros. It's the same as if every human being on earth simultaneously solved 125 million math problems in a second. "It's big. We're talking about a really big number," said Riley. Aurora will be made available to scientists and researchers from all over the world to solve all manner of problems. "Every area of biology. Astrophysics. Cosmology and how we blow up stars. Chemistry. Material science. Particle physics," said Riley. University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos said supercomputers like Aurora are at the forefront of artificial intelligence. "Essentially, we're at the dawn of the age of thinking as scientists with machines, where the machines are equal partners," he $500 million supercomputer was built with funds from the Department of Energy. Energy Sec. Chris Wright, on hand for the dedication, said artificial intelligence is not something to be feared. "Artificial intelligence isn't humans. It's a tool to make humans more powerful and grow their dreams and grow their achievements," Wright who gets to use Aurora? Scientists, researchers, and companies interested in using its brain power must apply for time on the machine. And yes, it will be running 24/7, 365 days a year. The Source Details for this story were provided by Fox 32 reporting. Solve the daily Crossword
Business Journals
11-07-2025
- Business Journals
The Beat: Meet our 2025 Inno Fire Award winners
In this edition of The Beat, check out the innovators, change-makers, disruptors and more that are making their mark on the city's tech scene this year.
