<i>I for one would love to see a viable tech community emerge in Chicago</i><p>Well, we all would.  The fact that Chicago is building things like 1871 and UILabs shows they want the <i>image</i> of being a vibrant startup-friendly community but we all know what the true reality is.<p>Northern Illinois has a extremely valuable legacy in tech, especially in the bio and manufacturing sectors.  Think of Motorola, Bell Labs, Teletype, Abbott, Baxter, Sundstrand, ITW, Zenith, Bally, Kraft, Caterpillar, CME, Molex...  there&#x27;s a huge list.  But that legacy isn&#x27;t what&#x27;s hot and cool with the VC community.  Chicago&#x27;s modus operandi is about going heads-down and getting shit done.  But that isn&#x27;t what&#x27;s hot and cool with the VC community either.