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Over the last 15 years, the hyperlink has proven to be an incredibly disruptive tool.

On a website like Ancestry.com, a link on an online family tree can help an extended family member rediscover his/her genealogy and identity.  A link via a tweet on Twitter to a photo documenting political unrest in Libya or the Middle East can now create instant international reaction.  On AngelList, a link to a hot, new startup company can create an avalanche of investor and media buzz overnight.

The speed at which the interconnectedness of information has accelerated depends on one small device: the hyperlink. Increased connectivity works in person, too. TechWeek’s mission is to connect as many people, places and things within the span of one week.  We approach digital connectivity (social network links, media links, project management links, etc.) as a clear one-week mission statement.  We aim to give tech startups that foster connectivity instant access to an audience of TechWeek attendees in the pursuit of discovering and distributing “best practices” for an international ecosystem of connectivity. The philosophy of connectivity is larger than any one startup company and any one city.  TechWeek invites the world to join in that mission.

Just as StartupWeekend creates a micro-incubator of startups over a 3-day period, TechWeek will transform Chicago into an incubator of ideas, opportunities, partnerships and creative expression by enabling a critical mass of digital connectivity on dozens of online platforms.

Here are a few tools you can use to connect before, during and after TechWeek:

• Plancast is a social network where you can find TechWeek events, subscribe to your friends’ event feeds and publish your plans to your subscribers.

• Facebook enables TechWeek participants to communicate with the TechWeek team and receive updates by ‘liking’ the TechWeek page.

• Quora enables you to post and answer questions about TechWeek within a larger community of experts.

• Twitter tracks all TechWeek conversations that mention @thetechweek or the #techwk hashtag.

• SCHED* conference scheduling software will help you plan TechWeek Conference sessions and see which panels, talks and workshops your friends are attending.

• Linkedin lets you connect your digital resume and professional network to a larger TechWeek community of business leaders.

• Foursquare enables you to check into the venue where you are, see who else is there and visualize where all other TechWeek attendees are right now.

• Built In Chicago connects, educates and promotes the growing digital community in Chicago.

• DoubleDutch gives TechWeek attendees the ability to find speakers and check into sessions and events during TechWeek, all while holding mobile conversations with other attendees.

Big Question: Is Chicago witnessing the emergence of a new innovation ecosystem?

In less than 2 years, the Chicago technology and innovation ecosystem has seen an escalation of successful startup fundraising, growth and acquisitions.  Chicago’s business and technology leaders now discuss how this represents a “new ecosystem” of tech in the city.  I’ve had the benefit of participating in several conversations around this groundswell of activity in Chicago’s tech community ecosystem, support structures, incubators, networks and general ‘connectivity’ of Chicago startups, technology, and innovation. From our perception, the Chicago innovation ecosystem appeared- grew- and became aware of its impact on a global stage.

Question 1: Does the growth of Chicago innovation create a new ecosystem?

A counter-question would be: does the Chicago ecosystem of universities, corporations, civic leaders enable a new type of innovation? Chicago has, for decades, proved unique as a multi-dimensional capital of art, education, finance, corporate management, media, and entertainment. Chicago has one of the most diverse yet sustainable ecosystems of any major city.

Question 2: Does innovation produce ecosystems, or do ecosystems produce innovation?

In silicon valley you have proximity and connectivity of tech companies to other tech companies. The Oracle’s and Twilio’s are silicon valley tech companies that sell to other tech people. The silicon valley ecosystem is one-dimensional tech. You are surrounded by tech; and that becomes your only ecosystem. In other words, the innovation produced by silicon valley emerges from an incomplete ecosystem.

Idea 1: The proximity and complexity of an ecosystem directly influences the type of innovation created and distributed.

Chicago is an online options trading hub because of an existing ecosystem around finance. Chicago is an e-commerce hub because of of its history as a capital of traditional commerce. Chicago is an enterprise infrastructure hub because of the 31 Fortune 500s in our backyard. Technologies like thinkorswim, Groupon, GrubHub and Redbox appear in Chicago–and in no other city–because of our existing sustainable diverse ecosystem.

Idea 2: We are not witnessing a “new innovation ecosystem” in Chicago.  Instead, the world is looking at Chicago as a hub of diverse ‘exogenous’ technologies because of its existing innovation ecosystem.

In theory, the Chicago innovation ecosystem is not new and is not immature. On the contrary, it is because the Chicago innovation ecosystem is established, sustainable, and unique in its diversity that Chicago is able to produce its own exogenous type of innovation. It just so happens that in the past 2 years, the world is recognizing the importance of Chicago-style innovation.

Some geographies such as Silicon Valley foster ‘endogenous’ innovation: using technology to innovate on top of existing technologies wherein technology itself is the ecosystem. Chicago is unique because of our ‘exogenous’ innovation: the points from which innovation emerges, is distributed and then impacts form an externally diverse ecosystem of universities, law firms, banks, Fortune 500s and community organizations.

Idea 3: Chicago is aware of itself as an ecosystem because the Chicago city-as-ecosystem is now recognized by the world as an ecosystem-as-incubator.

Most cities do not recognize themselves as innovation ecosystems because most cities do not produce innovation, due to the interconnected diversity of their ecosystems. That is why the world recognizes Chicago as a new type of innovation hub (external ‘exogenous’ diverse innovation) and most other major cities do not have that innovation identity.

Conclusion: It is not true to assume that a new Chicago innovation ecosystem has just emerged. On the contrary, the world is now recognizing Chicago as a producer of innovation because of an established, sustainable, diverse city-as-incubator ecosystem. Our national recognition itself has created the identity of an ecosystem, though that ecosystem has been embedded in the fabric of Chicago for decades.

As of this month, there’s a new business incubator on the Midwest startup scene: J.E.D. | Venture Partners, launched by Indiana entrepreneur and attorney J. Eric Davis. More of a business incubator than a venture capital firm, this new acceleration company will focus on providing the entrepreneurial talent and services needed to help emerging technology companies launch, operate, and grow.

“It is time for an economic renaissance to reawaken American innovation and ingenuity,” founder Davis said in a press release. “I started J.E.D. | Venture Partners to accelerate the start-up and funding process for promising companies. In most cases entrepreneurs need more than just an attorney to help them get started. They need someone that understands technology development, fund-raising and how to launch a new product or service. They need a trusted and experienced partner that is able to provide meaningful executive support. My aim is to provide the legal and executive support during these growth stages, to enable the entrepreneurs to focus their energy on making their product or technology successful.”

The co-founder of Copient Technologies, Arxan Technologies, and Kylin Therapeutics, Davis is an attorney with a history of helping startups and inventors turn their ideas into businesses. With this new incubator, he plans to put his experience and knowledge to use in helping nurture startups through the process of raising funds.

“Whether [an] organization is attempting to launch a new business or product, develop new markets, prepare for fund raising, JED | Venture Partners provides the experienced leadership to fill this gap,” Davis told midVentures. “We are currently working to help develop and incubate some of the most promising technologies spinning out of the Midwest’s major research universities.”

Earlier this month, NoWait, a cloud-based seating management service for restaurants, made news by winning the Start-up, Boot-up competition held by managed hosting and Internet infrastructure company Contegix. There were dozens of Internet-based startups that competed, judged based on competitive differentiation, future growth plans, sales strategy, development platform, promise for commercial success or positive social change, and dependence on cloud technology. NoWait, with its cost-effective and low-maintenance reservation solutions for restaurants, was the winner.

“NoWait’s application to the Start-up, Boot-up competition shows both the power of the cloud and how to solve a frustration most of us have dealt with, and do it in an innovative and simple way,” Matthew Porter, CEO of Contegix said in a statement. “As we have seen with many of our own customers, 100 percent uptime is critical to their business, and their business is managed entirely in the cloud. NoWait has already demonstrated a sound business concept, a growth strategy, superior developer skills and a passionate commitment to their business, so we are excited to help them on their entrepreneurial journey with our award package.”

The contest awarded the cloud-based restaurant seating management service more than $75,000 worth of technology and free office space in St. Louis, which includes a Contegix managed web and managed database server, upgrades and unmanaged development tools, a Digital Matters three-month startup consulting package, a Customware TrainingRocket professional cloud training application, and a Zimbra email and collaboration solution delivered as a VMware virtual appliance.

“Winning the Contegix prize will help us ensure the highest possible service for our clients,” NoWait CEO Robb Myer told midVentures about the contest. “We are very excited to have won the Contegix Start up, Boot up business competition. It is another indicator that we are onto something hot. The time has come for a better restaurant wait list management process. We are very excited to be the company leading this innovation.”

For more information on NoWait, visit NoWaitApp.com.

Mobile advertising platform creator Tap.Me, a Chicago-based startup launched at last summer’s Excelerate Labs, announced yesterday that DVD rental company Redbox will be the first advertiser to participate in its relevant, noninterruptive, in-context game ad platform. Tap.Me was a COMPETE track startup at last year’s midVenturesLAUNCH.

“Redbox is a leader in the home entertainment industry, and with their upcoming launch of video games, we’re ready to provide them with a unique new way to connect with their customers,” said Joshua Hernandez, CEO of Tap.Me. “This program is a testament to Redbox’s forward thinking and ability to leverage trends as we move into a new age of consumer-brand communication.”

“When building a two-sided network, [it] is all about picking the right partners from the get go,” Hernandez added, via email to midVentures. “Redbox is not only a amazing company to work with, but they truly believe in supporting innovation. We could not be more excited to be working such a top brand in refining our offerings and making sure we are building advertising products that brands find value in. Their insight and feedback has helped propel forward as we present Tap.Me to the advertising world.”

Redbox, which currently operates 21,000 kiosks nationwide, plans to add video game rentals to its offerings on June 17. That’s why this partnership with Tap.Me comes at such an opportune time, as it will allow the popular rental company to sponsor real-world rewards for games played on iOS-based devices like iPhones and iPads, all while enhancing its brand to today’s mobile market of over 30 million gamers.

“Adding a mobile gaming component via the Tap.Me platform is a natural extension of our marketing strategy,” said Gary Cohen, senior vice president of marketing and customer experience at Redbox. “It allows us to generate brand awareness with gamers where they’re already playing, without interrupting their experience.”

Due to this partnership, in the future, Redbox customers will be able to earn real-world rewards through fun and fast-paced mobile games, and what’s more, they’ll be able to share their achievements on social networks like Twitter and Facebook, heightening the company’s exposure further.

Last week, it was announced that Tap.Me had closed its Series A round of funding, adding Rockfish Brand Ventures, a new venture arm of Rockfish to the round.

For more information about Tap.Me, visit Tap.Me/wp.

Post edited May 20 by Shannalee T’Koy.