There’s this weird thing about the entrepreneurial spirit and trying to create jobs from a new idea: It takes intense work and focus but also patience, qualities hard to find in equal measure.

On the Near West Side, within blocks of each other, are examples of two such operations seeing results from its investments of labor, thought and capital. They will be part of an innovation economy taking root in what was Chicago’s old meatpacking and produce district.

Battery startup NanoGraf has cut the ribbon on its new manufacturing facility in Chicago’s West Loop.

NanoGraf CEO Francis Wang speaks with Bloomberg TV about NanoGraf’s work and recent ribbon-cutting.

After opening a 17,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the West Loop last week, battery tech startup NanoGraf is going deeper in its relationship with one of its more loyal customers. The Chicago tech startup this week received an $8 million contract from the U.S. Army intended to help the company scale production at its new facility.

NanoGraf Corp. is ready to make Chicago a battery capital for the entire United States. The Chicago-headquartered battery startup held a ribbon-cutting Friday for its new 17,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the West Loop.

A startup specializing in high-performance batteries is close to starting operations at a facility near Chicago’s central business district that will help power devices such as night-vision headsets and radios for the US military.