Illinois' economic development milestones for the year of 2023

Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) released the 2023 Illinois Economic Development Highlights report. This summary reveals a record year for economic development in key sectors, including a tripling of REV and EDGE incentivized private investments to nearly $3 billion since 2022, record tourism achievements, and assistance for Illinois small businesses.

Over the course of a year, the number of new jobs created by Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) and Reimagining Energy and Vehicles (REV) jumped nearly 60 percent, from 2,691 to 4,279 with the number of retained jobs increasing exponentially, from 151 to 2,962. By comparison, prior to the pandemic in 2019, company investments from EDGE totaled $348 million, new jobs totaled 1,667 and REV did not yet exist.

With competitive incentives, modernized infrastructure, unmatched transportation options to ship goods around the world, and an abundant and highly qualified workforce, Illinois is winning over companies looking to make large-scale, long-term investments.

Major agreements from 2023 include Gotion’s electric vehicle (EV) battery gigafactory in Manteno – which represents the largest manufacturing investment in decades and the largest EV battery investment to date, as well as REV agreements with Manner Polymers in Mt. Vernon, who is building a first-of-its kind solar-powered PVC compounding plant using clean energy generated on-site; Prysmian Group in Du Quoin, whose $64 million expansion will manufacture cables for the renewable energy and electric vehicle sectors; and Microlink Devices, which manufactures state-of-the-art solar cells and solar shields in Niles.

Notable EDGE investments include Incobrasa in Gilman, which broke ground on its $250 million expansion this summer; UPSIDE Foods, a recipient of EDGE for Start Ups, which is opening its first commercial-scale meat cultivation plant in Glenview; Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation’s expansion in St. Clair County that will create 200 new jobs and retain nearly 500; Flender Corporation’s manufacturing facility expansion in Elgin; Bonnell Industries’ expansion in Dixon and more.

In addition to REV and EDGE, in 2019 Governor Pritzker enacted incentives to attract data centers, and Illinois saw investments in that industry topping $1.5 billion in 2023 (up from $500 million in 2022), which include Prime Data Centers in Elk Grove Village, Metro Edge Development Partners’ $257 million data center investment in Chicago, Serverfarm’s CH1 data center in Chicago and more. In 2023, Illinois also celebrated the opening of Meta’s new $1 Billion DeKalb data center.

After nearly two decades of steady downgrades, Illinois has earned nine credit rating upgrades since June 2021. Credit rating agencies and bond investors attributed the upgrades to consistent responsible budgeting, focused investments in economic growth initiatives, more than $11 billion in debt pay down, and increasing pension funding.

Through the Advantage Illinois (AI) program, Illinois issued a record 145 low-interest loans totaling $35.7 million to small businesses – nearly 1.5 times the number of loans issued in 2022 and the most loans issued in a year since the program’s inception in 2012. Nearly 70 percent of loans were provided to Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals (SEDI) or through the Fund for the Advancement of Minority Enterprises (FAME). DCEO is greatly expanding its small business support thanks to $350 million in funding as part of the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.