Pritzker in Aurora July 11 To Launch Technology Innovation District
Gov. JB Pritzker will come to Aurora on Thursday (July 11, 2019) for “TechVibe,” a launch event for Aurora’s “605 Innovation District.”
The event is set for 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday at Bureau Gravity, 65 S. LaSalle St., and is open to the public. Admission is free, but registration is required. Click this link to register.
Bureau Gravity in Aurora.
“Aurora, Illinois has been a premier city for technology and workforce development for years,” the website invitation says. “Now poised and ready to become a sandbox for innovation, Aurora is partnering with world-class companies and investing in smart city infrastructure to become a leading-edge urban development hub.”
In addition to Prizker, speakers include city of Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin and Smart City Capital CEO & Founder Oscar Bode.
The TechVibe event consists of stakeholder meetings, networking, guest speakers, “entertainment and top-notch fare — all with the purpose to illuminate the vitality that the 605 Innovation District represents for the city of Aurora, the state of Illinois and beyond,” the website says.
If you’re unable to attend TechVibe, you can tune in to a live-stream broadcast of day’s the full event at .
Technology procurement is no one’s favorite aspect of government IT, but the city of Aurora, Ill., wants to make the process a little more painless by outsourcing it to the private sector.
According to a July 2 article in Government Technology online magazine, Aurora CIO Michael Pegues said talks are under way with Marketplace.city, a company with an online portal that helps governments with various aspects of procurement, for a one-year pilot to handle IT procurement from end to end.
Pegues told Government Technology he expects this could reduce average time for getting offers on requests for proposal from six months to 30 days, save staff time and yield less risky results, to the extent that Marketplace.city has the designated staff and expertise to do so.
Exact terms of the agreement are still under discussion, and Pegues said he expects to sign something in the next few weeks.