Competition Expands Availability of Local Public Data;
Encourages Technology Innovation and Job Creation in Pilot Communities Belleville, Rockford, Champaign and the South Suburbs

CHICAGO - October 20, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today announced a major accountability and transparency initiative designed to help local governments expand the amount of data available to the public. The Illinois Open Technology Challenge is a pilot initiative that will make Illinois' open data platform, Data.Illinois.Gov, available to municipal governments statewide. The Challenge, which will launch in the pilot communities of Belleville, Champaign, Rockford, and Chicago's South Suburbs, will promote the availability of public data and encourage the use of technology to address government challenges through innovation and entrepreneurship.

"We live in a knowledge economy that is driven by access to information and new ideas," Governor Quinn said. "The Illinois Open Technology Challenge will not only increase transparency at the local level by giving the public access to government data, it will give entrepreneurs the chance to develop new, innovative applications for the data that will create jobs and make a positive impact."

ILOpenTech (www.illinoisopentech.org) builds on the state's leadership role around open data and Governor Quinn's recently issued Executive Order establishing a new state Open Operating Standard. The state's support of 2011's Apps for Metro Chicago Illinois competition produced winners like iFindit, an innovative application that provides information on food, housing and medical care to the homeless and OkCopay, which is a directory of affordable medical care for those without insurance. The initiative brings together local governments with developers, area universities, nonprofits and community leaders in a common mission to use public data to create digital tools that serve civic needs and promote economic development across Illinois. The competition will include at least $75,000 in prize funding, which will be awarded to Illinois' most innovative developers who solve a digital problem in one of the four pilot communities. An additional prize will be awarded to the developer of the strongest application with a statewide purpose. A demonstration day and the announcement of prize winners are anticipated in early 2013.

ILOpenTech challenges the pilot communities to both transform currently available data into usable applications as well as produce new datasets that will be uploaded to the state site. The South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association (SSMMA) currently publishes data on a wide range of regional resources including transportation, infrastructure and housing. With the availability of the state portal, that data will be more easily accessible to the general public for download and analysis.

"In Rockford, we are searching for solutions to the economic challenges we face and are thirsty for new ideas," said Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey. "We're excited to see what creative solutions local talent can produce though our participation in this initiative and look forward to showcasing new innovations in Rockford's government."

"The Illinois Open Technology Challenge will help to make better connections across our community in leveraging the tremendous tech talent here to better understand what applications and will best serve civic needs," said Champaign Mayor Don Gerard. "We are thrilled to join in this effort to advance the open data movement."

"We have collected a lot of data on economic development, housing, infrastructure, planning, and natural resources, which is a powerful tool for our region," said Edward Paesel, executive director of the SSMMA. "The Illinois Open Technology Challenge will help us put this data to use for interactive applications that help promote economic development for our municipalities across the region."

"Increasing access to the information collected by the city of Belleville will lead to better government, more informed citizens, and exciting new innovations," said Belleville mayor Mark Eckert. "We are excited to be working with the state of Illinois to see new companies and jobs being created out of this innovative program."

The State of Illinois Open Data site, Data.Illinois.Gov, is a searchable clearinghouse of information from state agencies that is helping inform residents about the operation of state government and encouraging the creative use of state information, including the development of applications for mobile devices that can be built around the data. This site, which the governor launched in June 2011, now contains more than 6,500 data sets.

Sponsors of the Illinois Open Technology Challenge include the Chicago Community Trust, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Google, and the Motorola Mobility Foundation. Additional support is being provided by Comcast. Administrative support for the project is provided by the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition and Smart Chicago Collaborative.

This is another initiative of the Illinois Innovation Council, created by Governor Quinn in February 2011, to promote economic development through innovation and the engagement of citizens, developers, academia and industry. For more information, please visit www.illinoisinnovation.org.

For more information on the Illinois Open Technology Challenge, including competition rules, submission requirements, and ways to engage, visit www.illinoisopentech.org.

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Despite slashing government budgets on everything from entitlement to defense programs, NASA is proceeding with its $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission.

Central to the mission's success is Curiosity - a one-ton rover that continues to impress Earthlings with laser blasts for rock samples, mobility via a joystick and plenty of video and pictures. On all accounts, the mission, which may provide answers to questions of life on Mars, has so far been a wild success.

"With this Mars program, NASA has once again captured the imaginations of people throughout the world, instigating conversations about the universe and even the significance of life not only on Earth, but also on other planets," says Sanjay C. Patel, (www.SanjayCPatel.com), author of "God Is Real," a book that explores similarities between modern science and ancient cosmology.

Science and religion do not conflict with each other; they are different languages that ultimately lead to the same truth, he says. As science has done in the past, Patel suspects more data from extraterrestrial locations like Mars will continue to confirm ancient religious theories. He discusses four reasons why the Mars mission is well worth the expense.

• 2012 meets 1492 - an argument for resources: It's not just science-fiction anymore; prominent scientists like Steven Hawking say Earth's moon, Mars and Titan, a moon of Saturn, have resources people will need sooner rather than later. The main reason - the world's explosive growth in human population and the exponential consumption of land and other necessities. What we might find, Patel says, is a scenario very much like that which early Europeans experienced in the New World: new foods, reams of building supplies, new fuels, land and other resources. We may discover things that will become essential to future human beings.

• A spiritual-scientific connection: Science has confirmed what religion posited more than a millennium ago, Patel says. For example, scientific findings have confirmed what ancient Yogis said: That volcanic fire scorched India about 120 million years ago. Related volcanoes in the ocean south of India submerged about 117 million years ago. "The submarine Fire exists in the ocean," he says, quoting ancient Yogis. "It drinks the seawater and removes its saltiness. It then expels the desalinated water from another opening. ... That perfectly describes the undersea volcanoes and hydrothermal vents near India."

• If we're not moving forward ... Predictions as to where we'd be with space exploration in 2012 were quite ambitious during the race to the moon in the 1960s. But we haven't accomplished a lot since then. Celebrity astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson recently argued that we're still reaping the benefits of the research and development that went into the space race decades ago, and to negate space exploration is to turn off one of humanity's most important dimensions - our ambition to innovate.

• Alien life may not be so alien: As the European discovery of the New World revealed, the meeting of foreign civilizations can have disastrous consequences. However, the discovery of life elsewhere, whether or not it is intelligent or self-aware, can further enlighten us as to our origins, our reason for being, and our role in the universe, Patel says.

About Sanjay C. Patel

Sanjay C. Patel studied theology, Sanskrit, ancient cosmology, advanced yoga and meditation techniques, among many other subjects, earning a degree in Divinity at the BAPS Swaminarayan Ashram in India. He continued studies of modern science and ancient spiritual texts for 30 years. His discoveries regarding the convergence of science and ancient texts were published in mainstream science journals and presented at the 22nd International Congress of History of Science in Beijing.

State's $1 Million Seed Investment Will Connect Education, Business, Healthcare Communities to Aurora's Fiber Optic Network; Help Create 2,500 Jobs Over Five Years

AURORA - October 16, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today announced that OnLight Aurora is a recipient of an Illinois Gigabit Communities Challenge award, a statewide competition to establish ultra-high speed broadband networks across Illinois. The state is awarding $1 million in Illinois Jobs Now! capital funding to OnLight Aurora to help connect the city of Aurora's fiber optic network to its education, business, and healthcare communities and accelerate economic growth and job creation.

Announced during Governor Quinn's 2012 State of the State Address, the Illinois Gigabit Communities Challenge advances the governor's efforts to encourage world-class broadband infrastructure in every area of Illinois.

"Smart communities will foster the job engines of the future," Governor Quinn said. "To win in the information economy, we need information infrastructure that is second to none. Through the Gigabit Communities Challenge, Illinois will build stronger, smarter communities with Internet connections more than 100 times faster than they are today."

OnLight Aurora is among the first in a series of Challenge award recipients that will be announced in the coming weeks. The state's investment will help connect Aurora's robust, state-of-the-art fiber network to more than 12,000 end users, including students, nurses, business men and women, and residents.

Administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), the $1 million award represents a seed investment for OnLight Aurora's pilot project and will help leverage an additional $1 million in public and private matching funds and create 2,500 jobs over the next five years. The state's investment will help provide connectivity to Aurora's public and private K-12 schools, higher education and healthcare institutions, commercial corridors and community anchors in underserved areas, and major non-profit organizations across the city.

"This grant will help OnLight Aurora continue to close the digital divide within our city by capitalizing on our Fiber Optic Network," said Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner. "We know that technology has the potential to revolutionize our educational system and it is an absolute must for successful companies of all sizes. By developing the infrastructure of the future, we drive economic development, strengthen our tax base, and address our community's most fundamental needs: jobs, quality of life and global competitiveness."

OnLight Aurora is an independent, not-for-profit organization that was formed out of a technology task force organized by Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner in 2011 that included public and private sector volunteers. The mission of OnLight Aurora is to leverage the world-class connectivity of Aurora's Fiber Optic Network for non-municipal use.

"One of the major factors in companies locating to a city is the access to technology," said Joseph Henning, President and CEO of the Aurora Regional Chamber of Commerce. "This grant will make it more cost effective to provide current businesses and those looking to make Aurora home, with the technology they need to succeed in today's global business environment while creating thousands of jobs over the next five years."

As part of the comprehensive, multi-year Illinois Jobs Now! economic development program, the Illinois Gigabit Communities Challenge sought proposals from private and public organizations to encourage promising ultra high-speed broadband deployment projects throughout Illinois. Applicants were required to provide a viable plan to connect at least 1,000 end users to an ultra high-speed broadband network. Award recipients will receive seed funding to help build or expand world-class broadband networks in Illinois.

Earlier today, Governor Quinn awarded the first Gigabit Communities Challenge grant to Gigabit Squared during an awards ceremony held in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood. For more information on the Illinois Gigabit Communities Challenge, visit Gigabit.Illinois.gov.

A longtime advocate for improving our technology infrastructure, Governor Quinn has been a strong voice for broadband deployment in all areas of Illinois. As part of the Illinois Jobs Now! capital construction program, the Broadband Deployment Fund was used in 2010 and 2011 to jumpstart more than 4,000 miles of new fiber optic cable construction and more than $300 million in private and federal investment in Illinois.