Motorola Overview

Motorola has a long history with the University of Illinois that dates back to 1976. About 25 years ago, University researchers formed a company called Compion. Through a series of acquisitions, Motorola eventually absorbed Compion. The company started in Champaign, moved to Urbana, and then moved to The Research Park at the University of Illinois in 2001. The Motorola office was the first building constructed at the The Research Park, which was established in 2000 by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Motorola is now an anchor company at The Research Park and is located just south of the Assembly Hall on the University of Illinois campus in Champaign.

Motorola established the office at The Research Park to help elevate their awareness on campus and create stronger relationships with students and faculty. “We saw the great advantage of increased interaction with the University,” explained John Brown, former Motorola vice president. Moving to The Research Park made Motorola’s local operation, which focuses on software development for personal communication devices such as cell phones, much more visible to University students and faculty.

The visibility is important because it helps Motorola tap the brainpower of the University’s students. “It certainly made it easier for students to know we were here,” Mr. Brown said. “When we moved here it was kind of like we had moved from out of town."

The Champaign facility hires part-time student programmers to work about 15 to 20 hours a week on various projects. Most of the students come from the University’s Computer Science Department, which is consistently ranked as one of the top five programs in the nation. “I like to call this a win-win-win situation,” Mr. Brown said. “For us, we get access to some very talented people. “The students get a lot of value out of this, too. Not only are they well paid, but in terms of career objectives it’s excellent experience to put on your resume. Motorola keeps the percentage of part-time student workers at 10% of their total workforce and currently has 20 students working at The Research Park office.

Motorola hires students as full-time interns in the summer to allow the interns to become familiar with the business and then Motorola often retains the student interns during the academic year to work on a part-time basis. Many of their interns have remained on their workforce for multiple years, which helps to form a connection with the student and increase their potential contribution to Motorola. The internship is highly sought after positions by students on campus and Motorola has been able to select top students with high academic and leadership achievement.

Motorola’s office in The Research Park at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign focuses on software development for cellular communication devices, and software testing for communication products.  Engineers at The Research Park office are making valuable product development contributions by having highly skilled engineers develop software, test for quality assurance, and work in a test lab facility.  Motorola continues to grow the Champaign office and now has over 250 employees. Motorola is currently expanding their number of offices, and remodeling space to allow for future growth. The company has six department managers that lead teams, many of whom have over 20 years experience. Motorola has been successful in tapping the local Champaign-Urbana engineering talent for its workforce in addition to attracting employees from the coasts that are seeking a change of pace and a community to raise a family.

Historically Motorola is one of the top employers of students from the University of Illinois’ College of Engineering.  The visibility of having an office at the Research Park is important because it helps Motorola gain exposure to the University’s students. The campus location in The Research Park has helped to form relationships with undergraduate students and serve as a valuable recruiting tool.

To find out more information about Motorola or
their office at The Research Park, contact Fred Segovich,
Manager of the Motorola Urbana-Champaign Design
Center at (217) 384-8531.

www.motorola.com