On May 6, 2002 a group of individuals from 7 Midwestern universities met in Chicago to exchange ideas about their respective responsibilities and goals in fostering startup companies based on research at their respective institutions. At that time the institutions represented around the room collectively accounted for about $2.5 billion on research annually. The universities and the people involved at that formation meeting were:

• University of Wisconsin–Madison - Allen Dines
• University of Minnesota. - Dick Sommerstad
• University Michigan - Karen Studer–Rabler
• Northwestern University - Jeff Coney & Nancy Sullivan
• University of Chicago/Argonne - Bob Rosenberg
• University of Illinois at Chicago - Dave Gulley

University of Illinois at Univ at Urbana Champaign. - Mike Fritz & Jim Weyenhenmeyer

For those attending the meeting it was an eye–opener to learn that despite differences in organization, focus and style, everyone shared a common objective to maximize the commercialization of research from their institutions through spinoff high technology companies. The group exchanged information and concluded that follow up meetings would be useful to all.  Many ideas emerged from the discussion but the top items on the list included:

• Sharing ideas about best practices,
• Sharing leads re candidates for startup management teams,
• Building a regional inventory of angel and seed capital investors,
• Creating a listing of pre–seed and seed investment opportunities within the region,
• Creating a venue where seed–stage investors and others could access information about our respective startup activities and investment opportunities

Since 2002 some of those individuals listed above have moved on to other pursuits but many of the original participants remain active and the number of institutions involved has grown substantially.