Illinois Tech Index Launched

Last week, NASDAQ saw the debut of the Illinois Tech Index (symbol: ILTI), currently recognized as the only technology index in the U.S. tracking publicly traded technology companies within an individual state. Based on 61 firms with their headquarters in Illinois, the Illinois Tech Index is derived from the aggregate value of the firms’ total shares outstanding. When the index officially started on Monday, May 19, the base value of the ILTI was 1000.00. As of Wednesday’s close of markets, the Index finished at 969.20.
 
The AeA and the Illinois Biotechnology Industry Organization (iBio) identified within certain industries the Illinois companies eligible for inclusion. The composition of the index will be updated on a semiannual basis. Besides highlighting the state’s leading tech companies, the mission of the Illinois Tech Index is to increase the state’s venture capital and technology investment activity, attract technology talent and jobs, and support entrepreneurial growth.
 
Longtime readers of the SSTI Weekly Digest may remember attempts to tie distinct groups of technology companies to the market. The “Baldrige Index,” for example, was last covered in the Feb. 28, 1997 issue of the Digest. This fictitious index was composed of the publicly traded winners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards. In that year, the collection of five wholly owned award winners outperformed the S&P 500 by a ratio of 3.5 to 1. NIST’s comparison of the winners of Baldrige Awards to the S&P 500 took place from 1994 until 2004.
 
Additional information about the Illinois Tech Index can be found at:
http://www.aeanet.org./aeacouncils/mw_techindex.asp