A Foxconn subsidiary is helping launch a $100 million technology center at the University of Illinois that will be used to create electronic components and software used in manufacturing plants, autonomous vehicles and smart homes.
Foxconn Interconnect Technology is investing $50 million over the next 10 years to fund research and programs at the Center for Networked Intelligent Components and Environments, or C-NICE, which will be housed on the university’s Urbana-Champaign campus. The company is separate from Foxconn Technologies Group, the electronics manufacturer building a display screen factory in Wisconsin.
The other half of the bill for C-NICE will be covered by the university, state funds, and the Discovery Partners Institute.
The partnership could be a boost for the Discovery Partners Institute, a public-private project backed by former Gov. Bruce Rauner and the University of Illinois that has been stalled for several years due to a lack of funding. The institute’s mission is to connect students and academic faculty to tech companies in the city.
Rashid Bashir, dean of the University of Illinois’ Grainger College of Engineering, said the Discovery Partners Institute will help build a new facility for C-NICE and hire faculty once the funds are doled out by the state.
“As funding is released, we will begin construction. We are hoping to start next year, and have the facility ready a few years after that,” Bashir said.
Until ground is broken on the new facility, Foxconn Interconnect and University of Illinois researchers will collaborate on projects in the university’s research laboratory. Lauren Penrose, engineering project manager for Foxconn Interconnect, said that among other projects, the center will develop sensors that collect data for smart manufacturing facilities.
Bashir said the new partnership with Foxconn Interconnect grew from conversations with CEO Sidney Lu, who is a University of Illinois alumnus. After a substantial donation, the school’s Mechanical Engineering Building was named after Lu.
