The Illinois Blockchain Initiative, a consortium of Illinois state and county agencies, along with a number of blockchain and fintech focused firms, have come together for the launch of a new blockchain center in Chicago.

“The CBC [Chicago Blockchain Center] is a venture founded in partnership with the Illinois Blockchain Initiative, the Chamber of Digital Commerce, CME Group, Bloq, FinTEx and Tally Capital for the purpose of collaborating, innovating and educating the Chicago and Illinois community around blockchain technology”, according to the launch event website.

According to CoinDesk, principal trading firm DRW is also a partner in the non-profit, which has been founded by Bloq chairman and co-founder Matt Roszak. As part of the launch, the initiative will be taking on the State of Illinois’ blockchain business liaison, Jennifer O'Rourke, as its first director of public engagement.

"With this partnership, the State of Illinois is directly connected to, and moreover responsible for, working with the blockchain community day to day to understand the needs of the community and meet them with bespoke programming and collaboration”, O'Rourke told CoinDesk.

The blockchain center will help incubate local startups, mentor entrepreneurs and students, conduct research, and host a variety of events.

"We expect the CBC to prove to be a foundational component in the identification and maturation of the local distributed ledger technology talent pipeline", Roszak said.

Roszak in 2015 founded the Chicago Bitcoin Center and the CBC is its new expanded operation. Tally Capital and Perkins Coie have joined the blockchain center as a strategic partner.