Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center

The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center is a non-profit organization focused on promoting and growing the startup community in Chicago. The CEC offers advisory and educational programming services for entrepreneurs and organizes events that facilitate relationship development and networking among them. It also partners and works with large corporations and service firms, the investor community, as well as the civic organizations, non-profits, and academic institutions. Among its public events, the CEC hosts the Momentum Awards, an annual dinner launched in 2008 to honor early-stage growth entrepreneurs who have demonstrated success and who have businesses in similar industry verticals to CEC’s existing constituency, including alternative energy, consumer products and services, information technology, financial services and healthcare. In December 2011, the CEC also introduced Startup Forecast, a half-day conference that brings prominent entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and other speakers to address trends and forecasts for Chicago-based startups for the following year.

show less