A green matchmaker, continued…

Add comment November 18th, 2008

On Monday I told you about the Waste-to-Profit Network briefly. Here’s more.

The network is mostly recruiting right now.

There are two levels:

1. The community network, which is free and meets infrequently for the purpose connecting folks with waste “wants” and “haves.”

2. The innovation network, which charges $500 to $5,000 per year on a sliding scale basis. Members attend quarterly meetings, connect on projects that benefit their businesses, share best practices and receive technical assistance.

Mary Hallock, who directs this effort, said the community network meeting attracted about 50 companies last month, leading about half of them to sign up. Naturally, the struggle is more on the innovation end, getting companies to commit to projects; a meeting is still in the works.

A little on Hallock, by the way:

She has worked for IMEC for 2 ½ years, based in the Rockford area. “I tell my kids the reason I’m doing this is so that we don’t have to create WALL-Es.”

Before this position, the chemical engineer with an MBA worked in the chemical and food businesses as a chemical engineer for more than two decades.

She got interested in the field because she was good at math and science and lived near Georgia Tech.

So what’s next? There are similar efforts across Illinios, with a meeting in Peoria this week and another downstate in January.
For more information, contact Hallock at 815-721-4474 or mhallock@imec.org.