Chicago’s innovation ecosystem is fortunate to be home to powerhouse organizations like mHUB, Current, and others that fuel collaboration, economic growth, and industry leadership. These hubs not only provide resources and infrastructure for scaling startups, but also connect talent, capital, and ideas in ways that strengthen our city’s global competitiveness. This week, we spotlight mHUB — a manufacturing and hardtech catalyst transforming legacy infrastructure into engines of innovation.

In 2016, mHUB, Chicago’s leading innovation center for physical product development, was spun out of World Business Chicago to fill a gap in the resources and infrastructure needed by hardware and manufacturing-based startups to scale in the city.

Every July, by convening over 1,000 attendees at its annual Community BBQ, mHUB reminds the city how its deep manufacturing roots and history of innovation have turned Chicago into a national hub for hardtech. The informal gathering connects stakeholders across the entire product innovation value chain, reflecting mHUB’s culture of openness and cross-sector collaboration.

This year’s celebration followed an announcement that mHUB received a $590,200 grant award from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) to build a 4,000-square-foot Deep Tech Innovation Lab. The new lab will provide startups with the controlled environments they need to advance cutting-edge technologies in quantum, energy, life sciences, microelectronics, and medtech—fields crucial to both local and national competitiveness.

This addition complements mHUB’s 11 existing prototyping labs, forming a powerful stack of resources in the heart of Chicago’s Fulton Market and expanding west. Since acquiring its 1623 W. Fulton Street headquarters in 2023—a $50M transaction that created the largest independent manufacturing innovation center in the U.S.—mHUB has become a cornerstone of a revitalized economic corridor. The 2-acre site sits within a designated Planned Manufacturing District and Opportunity Zone, where 50% of industrial space remains underutilized. mHUB is catalyzing new investment, new jobs, and renewed momentum to reshape this landscape.

With greater than 200 daily users and 95% workspace occupancy, mHUB is more than a building—it’s a blueprint for how cities can activate legacy infrastructure to spark innovation-led growth. To date, mHUB has helped over 500 startups and manufacturers generate $1.9B in revenue, raise $2B in capital, and create over 6,800 jobs. Its venture arm, mHUB Ventures, de-risks investment in early-stage hardtech, having made 54 investments since 2021—backed by 79 institutional and individual investors.

Global leaders like Salesforce, Google.org, Constellation, GE HealthCare, and Bank of Americahave aligned with mHUB this year to strengthen American manufacturing through innovation.

As a physical anchor and economic engine, mHUB is proving that the future of hardware innovation can be built in the heart of Chicago.

Learn more or get involved at mhub.org.

As highlighted above, the Community BBQ isn’t just a celebration of mHUB’s impact—it’s also a can’t-miss summer tradition that brings Chicago’s tech and innovation ecosystem together for food, music, and meaningful connection:

“Chicago’s manufacturing and innovation story is driven by the people and organizations, like mHUB, pushing boundaries every day.” — Phil Clement, President & CEO, World Business Chicago.

If you’re interested in sharing your perspective or highlighting your work in a future edition of The Business Pulse, DM World Business Chicago to explore being a guest contributor.A

A special thank you to Haven Allen, Kimberly Blomquist, Melissa Rabin Lederer, and the entire mHUB team for our ongoing partnership.