This week, two mayors from the Quad Cities attended the opening of the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute in Chicago. On Monday, Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba and East Moline Mayor John Thodos visited the University of Illinois Labs, where the new digital lab is located.
Thodos says several companies and schools have already signed up to work with the digital lab including Deere and Company, Western Illinois University, the University of Iowa, and the Quad City Manufacturing Lab on Arsenal Island.
The Digital Lab in Chicago is the first of 12 "hubs" President Obama plans to create. And the Defense Department awarded Illinois 70 million dollars to establish the lab.
Mayor Thodos says engineering and manufacturing is changing rapidly to digital processes, and the Quad Cities must keep up in order to remain competitive.