TechChicago Week celebrates local community

The annual TechChicago Week is back this week with prominent speakers, events and activations around town.

The big picture: Chicago's tech community has seen an uneven couple of years as investors have pulled back, forcing several big companies like Google and Meta to lay off workers this year.

Yes, but: Thanks to the movement in quantum and EV manufacturing, Illinois and Chicago are seeing huge job growth in the tech sector in 2024.

What they're saying: "Tech Week is important to Chicago," Tifair Gillespie Hamed of P33, which is organizing the week, tells Axios.

• "We want to make sure that the culture of our tech ecosystem is on display so that we can help attract funding, talent and founders to Chicago."

Driving the news: The week will get a big shot in the arm thanks to an opening night party with Gov. JB Pritzker, who is currently in the national spotlight .

• The governor just helped secure federal funding to build a quantum testing campus , and the state offered tax subsidies to other quantum hubs . He's also helped bring more biotech jobs and has been pushing to make Illinois the headquarters for EV manufacturing .
• "His presence really underscores his importance to the tech ecosystem in Illinois, as well as his ongoing support for innovation and entrepreneurship," Gillespie Hamed adds. "It's crucial."

Zoom out: The events and activations give startups, entrepreneurs and tech insiders a chance to reconnect and rediscover the energy and momentum that made Chicago's tech scene explode just a few years ago.

• Starting in 2012, Pritzker and then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel invested heavily in incubators like 1871, and wooed big tech companies like Google, Facebook, Motorola and others to set up shop in Chicago.
• They also helped convert the Merchandise Mart to a tech hub.

Zoom in: Today, tech workers make up almost 10% of Chicago's overall workforce.

Yes, but: Diversity in Chicago tech has been an issue. Only about 30% of tech company employees are women, and people of color make up an even smaller percentage.

The bottom line: TechChicago Week is trying to build on the city's recent momentum and brings focus back to the tech ecosystem in Chicago.

What's next: Events will be held at the new Lincoln Yards life sciences building.