Illinois Institute of Technology's 70,000-square-foot, $37 million innovation center, the Kaplan Institute, opened last month. With a collaborative approach, the center’s leader aims to foster the development of ambitious clean energy solutions. Illinois Institute of Technology opened the doors to a 70,000-square-foot, $37 million innovation center last month that will be home to ambitious industrial collaborations, where engineering students will partner with faculty and businesses to collaborate on big-picture ideas — from electric cars and grid management to the internet of things. Leading the project is Howard Tullman, Chicago’s serial entrepreneur and longtime leader of 1871, another innovation center. He said…