Mayor Rahm Emanuel today announced ThinkChicago: Lollapalooza is now accepting applications for the fifth annual installment of the city’s premier program connecting rising talent with Chicago’s tech scene. Mayor Emanuel, World Business Chicago, the University of Illinois System and Lollapalooza will welcome 200 students from the nation’s top universities to Chicago for an opportunity to visit business headquarters and innovation hubs, directly engage with local tech entrepreneurs and meet the leaders of some of today’s most innovative companies. Admitted students will also receive a four-day pass to attend the Lollapalooza music festival.

“The future of Chicago’s economy is driven by our investment in rising talent,” Mayor Emanuel said. “With some of the best engineering and business schools in the country, Chicago is top of mind for students who want to be in an exciting city to start their ventures and careers. That’s why ThinkChicago: Lollapalooza will bring 200 of these students to Chicago and immerse them in our vibrant tech and cultural scene.”

ThinkChicago: Lollapalooza is seeking students who are considering Chicago for the next phase of their career, whether as an entrepreneur, part of a startup team or by contributing their tech skills to a large corporate enterprise. Candidates should be enthusiastic about technology, innovation and entrepreneurship and have demonstrated a commitment to achievement and excellence in their field.

ThinkChicago: Lollapalooza will prioritize applications received from undergraduate or graduate students from the engineering, computer science, design, information technology, entrepreneurship or business administration disciplines. Candidates with relevant work, internship, leadership and entrepreneurial experience are especially encouraged to apply. Students can apply by visiting www.thinkchicago.net. Applications must be submitted online by 11:59 pm on Sunday, May 21, 2017.

“From startups to large corporations, companies continue to choose Chicago because of our diversity, cost of living, and access to opportunity. To ensure we have a rich pool of talent, ThinkChicago: Lollapalooza introduces the next generation of innovators to all that Chicago has to offer,” said Mark Tebbe, chairman of ChicagoNEXT, a World Business Chicago Program.

The program will take place August 2-4, 2017 and will bring the total number of students who have participated in the ThinkChicago: Lollapalooza program to 750, and a total of 1,550 students when combined with its sister program, ThinkChicago: Chicago Ideas Week, which takes place in the fall. Last year, ThinkChicago: Lollapalooza received nearly 700 applications from 85 institutions across 27 states. This summer’s program will be the eleventh overall installment of the successful ThinkChicago program established by Mayor Emanuel in 2011 and the fifth annual program held during Lollapalooza. In 2017, ThinkChicago programming has also expanded to a Roadshow, which reached nearly 1,000 engineering and business students in its first two stops at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Stanford University.

“The University of Illinois System is proud to continue our partnership with Mayor Emanuel, World Business Chicago, and Lollapalooza to ensure that our graduates are aware of the many technological and entrepreneurial opportunities available in Chicago,” University of Illinois President Tim Killeen said. “We are committed to build on the pipeline of world-class talent from our three universities, and keep them here at home to drive innovation and economic growth for Illinois.”

Past attendees of the Lollapalooza and Chicago Ideas Week programs have heard from leaders across the tech, business, and civic worlds – including Mayor Rahm Emanuel; Harper Reed, Modest, Inc. founder and CTO of Obama for America 2012 Dag Kittlaus, founder of Siri Matt Maloney, CEO of GrubHub; Charles Adler, co-founder of Kickstarter; Zach Kaplan, CEO of Inventables; Adrian Holovaty, creator of Django Web Framework; Caralynn Nowinski Collens, CEO of UI LABS; Jimmy Odom, founder of WeDeliver and Howard Tullman, CEO of 1871. Participating tech companies have included Avant, Belly, Braintree, Civis Analytics, Cleversafe, CME Group, Discover, Google, Groupon, GrubHub, HERE (formerly Nokia), Jellyvision, kCura, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Morningstar, Motorola Mobility, Narrative Science, Orbitz, Outcome Health Signal, SpotHero, Sprout Social, Threadless, Uptake and many others.

Past attendees have also had the opportunity to tour tech incubator spaces, such as 1871, MATTER, mHub and TechNexus, which are focused on cultivating Chicago’s growing community of tech entrepreneurs and start-up companies.

“ThinkChicago is one of our favorite partnerships at Lollapalooza each year, and we look forward to hosting some of the nation’s brightest minds at Grant Park this August,” said Charlie Jones, Partner at C3 Presents, the promoter behind Lollapalooza.

In 2016, Lollapalooza expanded to four days in celebration of their 25th Anniversary. Last year brought a sold out crowd of 100,000 fans a day, over 170 band performances on eight stages and provided over 210 million dollars in economic impact. This year Lollapalooza returns again with four full days of music and over 170 bands on 8 stages. For more information visit www.lollapalooza.com.

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