Growing an Inclusive Blue Economy
Here in the Great Lakes, the value of water, one of our most precious resources, is often hidden in plain sight. Water fuels the lives and livelihoods of every resident in our region. When we take it for granted, we miss key opportunities to leverage our globally significant water resources to create economic opportunity for the people and places in our region that need them most.
If we sharpen our focus on water’s economic, political, and environmental value and build innovative programs and cross-sector partnerships, we can make Illinois the center of a strong, nation-leading inclusive blue economy that creates economic prosperity for all.
Read on to learn about Current’s work to build an inclusive blue economy in Illinois by 2030.
Our Vision: By 2030, Illinois will be home to a thriving and inclusive blue economy where water companies, corporate water users, utilities and research institutions collaborate to develop, manufacture, and distribute nation-leading treatment and monitoring technology, catalyzing environmental solutions and inclusive economic growth.
Upstream IL: Strategies to Boost Illinois’ Blue Economy is a blueprint for inclusive growth and innovation in the blue economy. It seeks to fundamentally reposition disadvantaged people and places, particularly communities of color, as drivers and beneficiaries of the enormous growth opportunities in the blue economy. Inclusive growth is achieved through ownership and entrepreneurship, employment, location and access, and participation in the blue economy.
Upstream IL is a strategy for Illinois and the Great Lakes, grounded in the Chicago region, to grow and sustain a globally significant inclusive blue economy. With the right strategies in place and the right leaders at the table, we can grow the businesses of tomorrow while narrowing opportunity gaps and centering jobs and opportunity around the people and places who have long been underrepresented and underserved.
What is the Blue Economy?
The blue economy is the collection of companies that develop and provide technologies, products and services that manage the movement, quality and use of water – in addition to the inputs to make these products, supporting industries, and the customers that demand these products.
What strategies will help us build an inclusive blue economy by 2030?
Achieving the vision of an inclusive blue economy by 2030 requires city, state, and federal leaders to align around and invest in implementing the strategies identified below. It needs leaders in water-using industries (including food and beverage, agriculture, manufacturing, energy, and health and life sciences) to recognize where water is hidden in their operations and supply chains and to be better stewards of the environment. And finally, it requires research institutions, investors, and the broader entrepreneurship-supporting ecosystem to center water innovation as a business opportunity and solve challenging barriers to commercialization.
Why Here?
In 2020, Illinois’ water cluster (companies that develop and provide technologies, products and services that manage the movement, quality and use of water) was a $16.7 billion industry supporting 186,000 jobs. Illinois is third in the nation on developing sensor technology. Illinois’ blue economy, which more broadly encapsulates the inputs and end-users of the water cluster as well, employed nearly 1.5 million people — approximately 30% of all employment in the state.
Illinois, anchored by the Chicago region, needs to take advantage of this important moment in time by leveraging our world-class resources — research institutions, incubators and accelerators, headquarters companies, and the right concentration of growing manufacturing, engineering, and data industries — to make the region a home for water innovation that solves both local and global water challenges.
Our greatest asset is hiding in plain sight. Industries, governments and other partners must seize this singular opportunity to place Chicago, Illinois, and the Great Lakes region at the center of a climate transition and industrial transition. This blueprint will activate these assets and help build economic and environmental resilience in the Great Lakes region.
