Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker earlier this week released $2.5 million in state funds to renovate the McLafferty Annex and launch the Illinois Food, Entrepreneurship, Research and Manufacturing (iFERM) hub.
The renovations will include a teaching kitchen and sensory lab, fermented dairy facility and fermented beverage facility for the hub that will solve food/nutrition, agriculture and health challenges through transdisciplinary research, innovation and education while providing the infrastructure for development of Illinois agriculture value-added products. The project is expected to be completed by summer 2024.
The funds were part of a $37.3 million package to launch facilities for five hubs of the Illinois Innovation Network (IIN), created to accelerate job creation and economic growth through groundbreaking education, research and discovery. The funding is made possible by the bipartisan Rebuild Illinois Capital program, with state investments matched dollar for dollar through university, private and philanthropic funding sources.
Source : siu.edu