May 16, 2012
MADISON, May 16, 2012 – Eight entrepreneurial businesses have been certified for Qualified New Business Venture (QNBV) tax credits by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) to help them seek new investment.
May 11, 2012
The
Milwaukee Institute will spend $1 million to add two petabytes of computer storage capacity - estimated to be enough to hold all of the information in a stack of phone books stretching from Milwaukee to the moon, the nonprofit group's chairman said Thursday during a Wisconsin Innovation Network meeting.
May 9, 2012
Click
here to read a speech by Bruce Maas, chief information officer for the UW-Madison, on the need for public-private cooperation around improving Wisconsin's cyberstructure. He spoke Tuesday at the WiscNet Future Technology conference.
May 9, 2012
The
Morgridge Institute for Research
and the U.S. Department of Energy have reached a multimillion-dollar
agreement to help open a medical isotope plant in Janesville - a
development that Morgridge's director says could spark a manufacturing
cluster that could ultimately bring as many as 1,000 jobs to
economically beleaguered Rock County.
May 9, 2012
ABB is developing charging technology for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids that will be manufactured in New Berlin.
May 9, 2012
Twenty-five plans have been chosen to be finalists in the Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest. The plans include ideas for 3-D printing, flight training simulation and cloud computing and will vie to win a total of about $200,000 in seed capital and in-kind services. The finalists were chosen from 248 applicants.
May 9, 2012
Accuray said the acquisition of Madison-based TomoTherapy last year nearly doubled its sales for the quarter that ended March 31 over the same period last year.
May 7, 2012
Twenty-five entries representing sectors as broad as recreational fishing to software development and innovations in manufacturing are competing in the finalist round of the ninth annual Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest.
May 7, 2012
Al Gore has been inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame. So has Wisconsin’s Larry Landweber.
May 4, 2012
An Elm Grove company that offers online speech learning for children said Wednesday it has raised $300,000 of funding from angel investors.
May 4, 2012
ZBB Energy Corp. said it won a power management system contract for a microgrid installation at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
May 4, 2012
The latest combat ship built at Marinette Marine Corp. will be commissioned this fall in Galveston, Texas. USS Fort Worth, scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in June, will be commissioned Sept. 22, according to U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.).
May 4, 2012
“Wisconsin has climbed to No. 20 in the annual rankings of best and worst states to do business, as compiled by Chief Executive magazine. Two years ago, the state was ranked 41st.
May 4, 2012
A Milwaukee company that plans to launch an employment website this summer has won a national competition for innovative technology.
May 2, 2012
Lawrence Landweber, an emeritus professor of computer science at the UW-Madison, was among 33 initial inductees into the Internet Society's Hall of Fame. Landweber was inducted into the hall in April as an "innovator" who proposed the creation of a federally funded network, called CSNET, to link university computer science programs that couldn't get on Arpanet.
CSNET, funded in 1981, linked up more than 180 universities internationally, spread the gospel of the Internet and served as the predecessor to NSFnet that became one of the Internet's backbone networks. Click here to read more.
May 2, 2012
Serial entrepreneur Julie Wainwright, whose meteoric business highs and lows have included Reel.com, Pets.com and her current company, The RealReal, will speak at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference, to be held June 5-6 at Milwaukee’s Pfister Hotel.
May 1, 2012
Wisconsin Technology Council President Tom Still will receive the “Communicator of the Year” award May 15 in Milwaukee from the Southeastern Wisconsin chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.
May 1, 2012
The Potawatomi Business Development Corp. will break ground on a $36-million data center on Milwaukee's North Side. Click here to read a Biz Times Daily story.
April 27, 2012
Stratatech Corp. has seen positive preliminary results in its clinical trial of a human skin substitute for treatment of severe burns, the Madison company said Friday.
April 27, 2012
A Whitewater company that makes software that helps retailers analyze foot traffic has won the BizStarts Collegiate Business Plan Competition.
Scanalytics' product looks like a large mat with wires coming out of it that retailers can put under the carpet to measure foot traffic so they can make more informed decisions based on objective, trending data, said Dan Steininger, BizStarts president.
April 26, 2012
One year ago,
Dan Vilione seriously considered moving his Groupon-like startup from Milwaukee to tech mecca San Francisco where capital for companies like his would be more plentiful.
April 26, 2012
Have an idea for a software program that will make life easier or an online business you’ve dreamed of? Tech types and their supporters will gather on Friday for Startup Weekend Madison, a marathon, 54-hour collaboration aimed at turning digital ideas into reality.
April 25, 2012
Click
here to read a WisBusiness.com story about the April 24 meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network in Madison, which examined current research surrounding stem cells -- as well as the growth of a leading company, Cellular Dynamics International.
April 25, 2012
Click
here to read a Madison Capital Times story on the April 24 meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network, where UW-Madison researcher Anita Bhattacharrya and Chris Parker of Cellular Dynamics International talked about advancements in the stem cell industry.
April 23, 2012
Ohio's efforts to build a "knowledge economy" have ranged from creating more pools of venture capital to streamlining the transfer of academic research from the lab to the marketplace.
April 23, 2012
Angel investors from across the Midwest will join startup companies and others who are building Wisconsin’s high-growth economy at the 10th annual Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference, to be held June 5-6, 2012, at Milwaukee’s Pfister Hotel.
April 20, 2012
It's either a step toward democratizing investment or an invitation to fraud. Take your pick. "Crowdfunding," a Web-powered money-raising technique pioneered by charities and arts projects, is moving into the world of business.
April 18, 2012
SolRayo, a Madison technology startup company, is getting a $500,000 Phase 2 Small Business Technology Transfer grant from the National Science Foundation to bring to market the coatings it has developed to make batteries last longer.
April 18, 2012
Two young UW-Madison graduates who had a vision about what complications could result from life in the digital world — after death — have sold their digital estate planning company to a Swiss competitor.
April 18, 2012
7 Start-Ups Who Are Changing the Way We Learn
April 18, 2012
U.S Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack toured the Virent Energy facility in Madison Wednesday. Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa, talked about the importance of next-generation biofuels and other bioproducts made from renewable resources. Click here to read more.
April 17, 2012
Read a special report from the securities team at Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek on the “Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act: How the JOBS Act May Succeed (and Fail) in Attracting Capital for Startup Companies”
April 17, 2012
Serial entrepreneur Bob Dorf, co-author of “The Startup Owner’s Manual” and a nationally renowned adviser on customer development and lean startup principles, will speak at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference, to be held June 5-6 at Milwaukee’s Pfister Hotel.
April 16, 2012
A Milwaukee start-up that began as an online joke-telling site and built itself into a company with a growing suite of digital voice technologies has raised more than $4 million of venture capital.
HarQen LLC closed earlier this month on the final leg of its third fundraising round. The $4.3 million of venture funding brings to more than $7 million the amount that the 5-year-old company has raised from outside investors.
April 16, 2012
Dreaming of catching a flight to the moon ... or beyond? If it happens, it could be on a vehicle equipped with life support systems developed by Madison’s Orbital Technologies Corp.
April 13, 2012
Imbed Biosciences Inc. has received a federal research grant of more than $326,000 to continue developing biologic dressings that could be used to prevent wound infections and promote cell growth and healing.
April 13, 2012
Historically, medical diagnosis and additional testing has been ordered based solely on what the medical provider feels or hears during a physical examination of a patient.
April 13, 2012
In the latest edition of WisBusiness: The Show, Tom Still discusses how the Entrepreneurs’ Toolkit provides an online resource for entrepreneurs; Liz Schrum delivers the ups and downs of the WisBusiness stock report; and Matt Hauser, president of the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, talks about gasoline prices.
April 12, 2012
The Entrepreneurs’ Toolkit, a soup-to-nuts guide for Wisconsin entrepreneurs, is available at www.WItoolkit.com and through the Wisconsin Technology Council’s website. It was launched this month.
April 9, 2012
Madison information technology company
5Nines and its vice president, Anton Kapela, are featured in an article in the April 2012 issue of
Popular Science magazine.
April 9, 2012
It's hardly news that American employers routinely turn to India to hire tech-savvy talent. From the perspective of metro Milwaukee, however, employers in the foreseeable future will have no choice but to look outside the region to fill tech positions - even when they want to hire locally, according to new research to be presented Monday by the Greater Milwaukee Committee.
April 9, 2012
In a state accustomed to its professional and college sports teams ranking among the nation's finest, the lusty cheer of "We're No. 40!" isn't likely to generate much excitement. Except, perhaps, when 40th represents a move up from the bottom.
April 6, 2012
Polaris Industries is eligible for $595,000 in economic development tax credits through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, creating up to 89 jobs related to the company’s expansion in Osceola.
April 6, 2012
Gov. Scott Walker signed two pieces of economic development legislation Thursday at Palermo's Pizza in Milwaukee.
One of the new laws tweaks a state program that encourages angel investing. The program makes financial backers of certain young, high-potential businesses eligible for a 25% tax credit on the amount they invest in the company.
April 3, 2012
Stem cells derived from the skin and blood of blind people are morphing
into retina-like balls in Dr. David Gamm's lab at UW-Madison.
April 3, 2012
Dohmen Co. said it has acquired Emeryville, Calif.-based BioSoteria, which provides drug safety and risk management services to the biopharmaceutical industry.
April 2, 2012
Broadjam, a music social networking website based in Madison, says musicians who are members can now upload and store an unlimited number of songs, photos and videos.
April 2, 2012
SciLog is getting used to its new, bigger offices and labs at 801 Deming Way in the Old Sauk Trails business park.
March 28, 2012
The Badger State is home to a thriving, billion-dollar medical imaging industry that reverberates throughout the state's economy, providing jobs at companies large and small.
March 27, 2012
Virent is flying high after earning praise from an arm of the Air Force for a bio jet fuel made from pine tree wood chips.
March 27, 2012
Milwaukee-based Briggs & Stratton Corp. today announced it has developed a potent new fuel preservative to fend off the potentially damaging effects of ethanol-blended fuels while keeping fuel fresh for up to three years.
March 26, 2012
Three years ago, there was a good chance that Mercury Marine would leave Wisconsin. A package of state and local incentives helped keep the company and about 2,000 jobs here.
March 22, 2012
Billions of dollars in government contracts are pouring into Wisconsin, yet many companies could be missing opportunities because they don't know how to navigate the federal procurement system. That's one of the reasons that Marquette University is co-sponsoring a March 27 workshop, at the Wisconsin Club, on winning government contracts.
March 21, 2012
Commentary by Gilles Bousquet and Tony Evers
MADISON—It is widely recognized that we live and work in a world that is increasingly interdependent and interconnected. Yet, the financial resources at our disposal to respond to the educational challenges of this global environment continue to shrink.
March 19, 2012
Technology spun off from the Medical College of Wisconsin could provide relief for patients who suffer from severe acid reflux. Reza Shaker, a Medical College gastroenterologist, is testing a prototype device he created that uses pressure to keep stomach acid from rising into the throat.
March 19, 2012
“Something Ventured,” an acclaimed independent film that traces the role of venture and angel capitalists in the rise of California’s Silicon Valley, will premiere in Wisconsin Thursday, March 29, at Sundance 608 Cinemas in Madison’s Hilldale Shopping Center.
March 16, 2012
Angel investors took the state by storm last year, putting more than $61 million into small, high-potential companies. Read the full Journal Sentinel story on the latest Wisconsin Portfolio, a publication of the Wisconsin Angel Network and the Wisconsin Technology Council.
March 15, 2012
In the latest edition of WisBusiness: The Show, Tom Still discusses how technology can help break the deadlock over iron mining in Wisconsin; Liz Schrum delivers the ups and downs of the WisBusiness stock report; and Zach Brandon, director of the Wisconsin Angel Network, talks about a fresh report on angel and venture capital in Wisconsin.
March 14, 2012
Wisconsin firms raised more than $152 million in early stage funding in 2011, reflecting a record year for angel investments but a decline in venture capital financing from 2010 totals, according to a report by the Wisconsin Angel Network.
March 13, 2012
Rockwell Automation Inc. said Monday it had acquired a privately held industrial controls company started by a University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering professor.
March 13, 2012
Tanner Brethorst has spent the last 14 months building a brewery with the help of family and friends who have invested money and provided help with engineering and construction. And now, the work is paying off.
March 8, 2012
The National Institutes of Health has awarded
Lucigen Corp. of Middleton $2.5 million to help identify new drug candidates to treat infections, including those resistant to antibiotics.
March 8, 2012
Locked behind a set of double doors in a sparkling clean warehouse on the city's far east side is a miniature refinery.
March 8, 2012
After years of jobs as varied as driving a cab, making loans and repossessing cars, A-Sun Truth finally found a way to put the skills he learned 20 years ago as a U.S. Marine to good use.
March 8, 2012
Wisconsin gained an estimated 15,700 private-sector jobs in January while the state's unemployment rate declined to 6.9 percent from 7.0 percent in December, according to the most recent monthly unemployment data from the state Department of Workforce Development.
March 8, 2012
A total of 51 entries from 19 communities are semifinalists in the ninth annual Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest, aimed at promoting entrepreneurship in advanced manufacturing, business services, information technology and life sciences.
March 6, 2012
Click
here to read a Wisconsin Technology Network story about the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery winning the 2012 award for "Laboratory of the Year," an international award sponsored by R&D magazine since 1966.
March 6, 2012
Fifty-one entries from about 19 communities have advanced to the semi-final round of the ninth annual Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest, contest producers announced Monday.
March 3, 2012
When asked whether today’s start-ups focused on social or consumer Internet space are in a bubble, the response from the VCs was “no.” The companies we met had business fundamentals to support the interest shown in these sectors.
March 2, 2012
Click
here to read about a special Wisconsin Innovation Network event on "The Science of Beer," featuring Dr. David Ryder of MillerCoors. The March 6 event will be held at Capital Brewery in Middleton. Register
here.
March 2, 2012
Zach Brandon, director of the Wisconsin Angel Network, will speak March 7 at the annual summit of the Angel Capital Association in Austin, Texas.
March 2, 2012
In the latest edition of
WisBusiness: The Show, Tom Still talks about the need for more skilled workers in Wisconsin, Liz Schrum delivers the ups and downs of the WisBusiness stock report, and Paul Radspinner, chief executive officer of FluGen, discusses his company’s work around the prevention and treatment of flu viruses.
February 27, 2012
Click
here to read a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel column by Tom Still on Wisconsin's 21st century workforce needs.
February 24, 2012
A group led by the former dean of the business school at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh has launched a new fund -- Angels on the Water -- that will invest in start-up companies in northeastern Wisconsin and the rest of the state.
February 24, 2012
Enjoy a free breakfast and March 24 workshop with Band of Angels consultant Tim Taylor on building content for investor presentations.
February 22, 2012
Gov. Scott Walker has announced two companies are eligible for Technology Development Loans from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
February 20, 2012
Seventeen students, including four from the Madison area, have advanced to the second phase of Wisconsin YES!, a business plan contest for Wisconsin students in middle and high school.
February 17, 2012
In the latest edition of WisBusiness: The Show, Tom Still talks about the reported demise of venture capital legislation, Liz Schrum delivers the WisBusiness stock report, and Ben Brancel – secretary of the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection – discusses farm exports, technology and other trends.
February 16, 2012
Oshkosh Corp. has received a $94 million order from the U.S. Marine Corps for a type of truck first fielded in the war in Afghanistan three years ago.
February 16, 2012
Forward Health Group has been selected to participate with major health systems as one of six Health Care Innovator Finalists at the prestigious West Coast BluePrint Health IT Innovation Exchange Summit. The Madison company was known as Population Manager when it reached the finals of the 2010 Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest. Click here to learn more.
February 16, 2012
MADISON – A statewide panel of judges have selected 17 students to move to Phase 2 of Wisconsin YES!, a youth business plan contest for students in middle school and high school.
February 16, 2012
MADISON – Jack Heinemann, director of the Wisconsin Security Research Consortium, will speak at the annual “Ideas2Profits” conference to be held April 19-20 at the Tundra Lodge in Green Bay. Heinemann will serve on a panel that will explore the ins and outs of working with national laboratories.
February 16, 2012
In a last-ditch effort to get an investment capital bill passed before the end of this session, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. has floated a proposal to fund promising young companies with money raised from the sale of unused investment tax credits.
February 16, 2012
A statewide panel of judges have selected 17 students to move to Phase 2 of Wisconsin YES!, a youth business plan contest for students in middle school and high school.
February 15, 2012
NEW Capital Management, a venture capital and growth equity firm in Appleton with half a dozen Madison companies in its portfolio, has closed on its second fund with more than $25 million committed.
February 14, 2012
Electronic Theatre Controls plans to expand its office and manufacturing building in Middleton and add at least 100 jobs over the next several years.
February 14, 2012
Wisconsin's controversial venture capital legislation appears to be dead, at least for the current floor session.
February 14, 2012
New Capital Management, an Appleton-based venture capital and growth equity firm, recently closed its NEW Capital Fund II Limited Partnership, with committed capital of more than $25 million.
February 14, 2012
Wisconsin Angel Network director, Zach Brandon, explains the who, why, what of angel investing in this month’s issue of Corporate Report.
February 14, 2012
Thirty-five well-dressed men and women are sipping wine and chatting in the lounge of one of Milwaukee's oldest and most exclusive social clubs. A century ago, this is where the city's beer and banking giants mixed and mingled. Tonight's crowd isn't all that different — many of these men and women are worth at least a million dollars. Once a month, they pool their money to invest in high-tech, fast-growth startups. They call themselves the
Silicon Pastures Angel Investment Network.
February 13, 2012
Marinette Marine Corp. has received an $89.6 million order from the U.S. Coast Guard for 40 boats.
February 13, 2012
The complexities inherent in meeting the nation's energy challenges were on display last week in Congress, where a House committee led by U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, the veteran Republican from Wisconsin, dumped sugar in the tank of the nation's ethanol industry.
February 10, 2012
Plans to bring renewable power from proposed dams in Manitoba to Minnesota and Wisconsin are taking shape.
February 10, 2012
A new free website has been launched to help businesses looking at locating or expanding in Wisconsin.The new site created by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and GIS Planning Inc. is designed to help company executives and site selectors with information that will help them make their decisions.
February 10, 2012
HarQen Inc. has developed what founder and chief executive officer Kelly Fitzsimmons believes is a better online conferencing product and has attracted nearly $1.8 million in investments including funds from high-profile start-up investor Tom Shannon.
February 8, 2012
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. is leading three trade missions this spring in regions where Wisconsin companies can explore expanding their exports and partnerships.
February 8, 2012
Paul Peercy, dean of the UW-Madison College of Engineering for 13 years and a member of the board of directors of the Wisconsin Technology Council, will retire as dean once a search for his successor is complete
February 6, 2012
Wisconsin taxpayers could find themselves digging through more receipts than usual this tax season as the state Department of Revenue makes another effort to collect taxes on out-of-state purchases.
February 6, 2012
Entrepreneurs from 81 communities across Wisconsin submitted 248 entries in the ninth annual Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest, contest organizers announced Monday.
February 3, 2012
In the latest edition of WisBusiness: The Show, Tom Still tracks the progress of past finalists in the Governor's Business Plan Contest, Liz Schrum delivers the WisBusiness stock report, and Neil Peters-Michaud of Cascade Asset Management talks about the growing industry around electronics and computer recycling.
February 2, 2012
Connecture Inc., a growing health insurance software firm, will move its headquarters from Atlanta, Ga., and add about 100 jobs this year in the Waukesha area. Click
here to read a Journal Sentinel story.
January 31, 2012
Alice.com, a Middleton company that sells consumer packaged goods online, is getting another financial infusion.
January 31, 2012
Federal stimulus dollars approved in 2009 will be used to create as many as 659 jobs and provide high-speed Internet access to more than 7,400 rural households in Wisconsin this year.
January 30, 2012
Finalists in the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest since its inception in 2004 have performed well over time, with 76.7 percent remaining in business today. Those same finalists have raised at least $52 million in private equity and other financing, and they plan to hire more workers in the year ahead.
January 30, 2012
In a SoLoMo world, Internet display ads are just plain old-fashioned. SoLoMo - which describes the collision of social features, local business promotions (e.g., coupons) and mobile applications - is driving marketing trends and changing the way businesses build and monitor their brands.
January 30, 2012
The average Wisconsin citizen probably believes state government is paralyzed by partisanship.
Recall elections, perpetual campaign fundraising and party-line votes on major proposals, such as last week's Assembly vote on the mining bill, offer little reason for Joe and Jane Badger to think otherwise.
January 30, 2012
When thalidomide came to market in the 1950s as a morning sickness treatment, no one imagined the many cases of birth defects that would result from use of the drug.
January 30, 2012
A countdown of the top ten reasons to enter the Governor's Business Plan Contest.
January 27, 2012
Zach Brandon of the Wisconsin Technology Council paints a dramatic story of what Wisconsin’s pathetic track record on venture capital has meant to the job base. His numbers on venture investing say that if Wisconsin had kept pace with the national average, it would have almost no unemployment.
The message is clear. If the Badger state is serious about job creation, it needs to pick up the pace on venture capital formation. Minnesota has pulled in $6.5 billion in venture money over the last 40 years; Wisconsin $1.2 billion. Read the full post here.
January 27, 2012
“Crowd funding: Mob rule or empowering the masses?” will be discussed at the Thursday, Feb. 9 meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network’s Milwaukee chapter.
January 26, 2012
Lucigen of Middleton has received a $187,000 grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research to study LRRK2. Mutations of the LRRK2 gene have been found to be connected to an increased risk of Parkinson's.
January 26, 2012
Finalists in the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest since its inception in 2004 have performed well over time, with 76.7 percent remaining in business today. Those same finalists have raised at least $52 million in private equity and other financing, and they plan to hire more workers in the year ahead.
January 25, 2012
A top official of
Epic Systems Corp. dazzled his tech industry colleagues on Tuesday with figures of the Verona company's rapid growth.
January 25, 2012
A Middleton start-up aiming to make medical isotopes said Tuesday that it will build a new manufacturing plant in Janesville. Shine Medical Technologies said it hopes to complete the plant, which would have more than 100 permanent employees, in 2015.
January 23, 2012
Dave Sobota grew up on the West Side, sold popcorn at the Hilldale Theater and delivered the Wisconsin State Journal from his Radio Flyer wagon as he walked a paper route in the Nakoma neighborhood.
January 23, 2012
Thanks to improved sales in the oil and gas markets, Twin Disc Inc. (
TWIN) on Monday said fiscal second quarter increased to $5.86 million, or 51 cents a share, from $4.03 million , or 35 cents per share, for the same period a year ago.
January 23, 2012
Technology and the biosciences have been pillars of the Madison region’s economic development strategy for more than a decade now. We’ve invested heavily in these sectors, and the never-ending conundrum of a shortage of venture capital suggests untold, unlimited potential.
January 20, 2012
The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh's innovative dry fermentation anaerobic biodigester project has been chosen as a finalist for the Readers' Choice Renewable Energy Award by RenewableEnergyWorld.com.
January 20, 2012
Welcome to a new episode of "WisBusiness: The Show," a twice-a-month Web show covering state business news and issues.
January 20, 2012
Wisconsin companies raised $72 million in venture capital in 2011, a 40 percent drop from a year earlier, according to figures released Friday.
January 19, 2012
Randy Spaulding couldn't have picked a worse time to try and raise money for his new medical equipment company in West Bend.
January 19, 2012
A Milwaukee business incubator to provide space for water technology firms is getting $750,000 in state funds, it was announced Thursday.
January 18, 2012
When the leaders of the biotechnology program at Madison College saw an industry need for laboratory technicians who could work with all types of stem cells, they hustled to come up with a plan.
January 18, 2012
Office space suitable for start-up companies will be among the prizes available to finalists in the 2012 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest.
January 18, 2012
Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch encourages Wisconsin entrepreneurs to enter the ninth annual Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest in a two-minute video describing the contest and its results over time. The deadline for the 2012 contest is 5 p.m. Jan. 31 at http://www.govsbizplancontest.com/
January 17, 2012
The Wisconsin Angel Network has been working with a group of Oshkosh business leaders to launch Northeast Wisconsin's first angel group. "Angels on the Water" plans to raise $2.5 million to finance entrepreneurs and start-up businesses in the region.
January 17, 2012
A Maine-based aircraft company announced Monday it is moving its headquarters to Superior, creating up to 600 new jobs.
January 17, 2012
Brandon sat down with WUWM’s Erin Toner to discuss a stated priority for both parties in the new legislative session starting Tuesday. The yet-to-be unveiled legislation would establish a state-leveraged venture capital fund. Listen to the full interview here.
January 17, 2012
How to win the 2012 Wisconsin Governor’s Plan Contest and an update on a proposed state-leveraged angel and venture capital fund will be discussed at the Wednesday, Jan. 18 meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network’s Northeast Wisconsin chapter.
January 15, 2012
A Jan. 14 news story in the New York Times described one of Wisconsin's biggest technology success stories, Epic Systems, the electronic health records company that helps to keep track of 40 million patients. Click
here to read more and
here to register for a Jan. 24 WIN-Madison luncheon featuring Epic's chief administrative officer, Steve Dickmann.
January 13, 2012
A meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network in Milwaukee on the prospects for passage of a venture capital bill drew broad news coverage. Guests were Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, and Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville. Click here to read a story in WisBusiness.com, and here to see the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel coverage.
January 12, 2012
Milwaukee-based software developer Zeon Solutions Inc. said Wednesday it has acquired e-commerce development firm Grand River, which will bring total employment to more than 280.
January 11, 2012
Virent announced the issuance of five new U.S. patents covering aspects of its catalytic BioForming® platform.
January 11, 2012
The former GE Healthcare Lunar building on the Far West Side, at 726 Heartland Trail, will soon see new life.
January 11, 2012
With seven biosafety hoods, plenty of space and a big screen to project images from microscopes, a new stem cell classroom at Madison Area Technical College is a major advance from the cramped quarters where students previously learned how to grow the cells.
Tech Council President Tom Still was the guest speaker at the ribbon-cutting.
January 11, 2012
A program to explore how management and labor can work better together for their mutual benefit will be held this month in honor of one of UW-Madison’s greatest economists.
“Building Management and Worker Partnerships for a More Prosperous America” will be held 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26 in honor of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Professor John R. Commons. The event will be held in the Varsity Room of Union South, 1308 West Dayton Street, on the UW-Madison campus.
Speakers include former Missouri U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, president of the Gephardt Group, and former Wisconsin U.S. Rep. David Obey, along with representatives from business and labor.
January 9, 2012
Officials at SHINE Medical Technologies said they're confident that the company will decide by the end of January whether they will build an $80 million isotope facility in Stevens Point or Janesville.
January 9, 2012
A Massachusetts-based software firm opening a center in Wausau has hired its first 10 employees here and could select an office site by next week, a company official said Friday.
January 9, 2012
A recent story in the Los Angeles Times on the December uptick in the nation's economic and employment pictures quotes Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, on the role of small business creation.
January 6, 2012
ZBB Energy Corp. said Thursday its joint venture company in China has won contracts to provide energy storage and power management systems to customers including the Chinese government.
January 6, 2012
Aberdean Consulting LLC, a leading provider of information technology solutions and services to small and midsized businesses, today announced that it has acquired the client list of Madison-based Sundial Software Corp.’s small business support service. Two Sundial employees instrumental in managing and providing service to those clients will be joining Aberdean. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
January 5, 2012
Welcome to a new episode of "WisBusiness: The Show," a twice-a-month Web show covering state business news and issues.
January 3, 2012
Click
here to read a story from the Chronicle of Higher Education on the balance between researchers publishing their findings related to animal-borne viruses such as avian flu -- and keeping such information out of the hands of potential bioterrorists. The work of UW-Madison researcher Yoshi Kawaoka is referenced.
January 3, 2012
Calumet Venture Fund, a firm dedicated to investing in early-stage technology companies in the Midwest, recently secured next-round financing for two of its portfolio companies. A $3.6 million Series B financing for OptiMine Software, led by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, closed on Oct. 21, 2011. Series C financing for Montage Talent Inc., led by Baird Venture Partners closed Dec. 12, 2011, with $3 million raised.
January 3, 2012
YES!, a statewide youth business plan contest, will close to entries 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6.
December 22, 2011
Please watch three videos of possible interest as you prepare for the holiday season and a successful 2012.
December 19, 2011
In the Samuel Beckett play "Waiting for Godot," two characters named Vladimir and Estragon wait in vain on a roadside for someone named Godot to arrive. They pass the time by eating, sleeping, talking, arguing, singing and more to "to hold the terrible silence at bay."
December 17, 2011
Eso-Technologies is going back into clinical trials in January with a redesigned heart monitor. The Middleton company is developing a monitor that goes down the throat into the esophagus, which is less invasive than the current standard that involves threading the monitor through blood vessels to the heart, CEO Bonnie Reinke says. It is meant for use during heart surgery.
December 16, 2011
Click here to read a story in NewGeography.com, a website tied to author and futurist Joel Kotkin, that ranks the Milwaukee area No. 2 nationally in manufacturing. Houston was No. 1 in the "heavy metal" rankings. Kotkin has spoken on the importance of cities in Madison and Milwaukee over time, as have principals of the Praxis Strategy Group, which examined the nation's 51 largest cities.
December 16, 2011
The Coca-Cola Co. has chosen Virent Inc., a Madison company working on renewable fuels, as one of three companies to help the soft drink giant provide plastic bottles made entirely from plants, not petroleum.
December 15, 2011
The ninth annual Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest is accepting entries online for the 2012 competition until 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012.
December 15, 2011
LA CROSSE -- Despite a challenging economy, the La Crosse businesses saw progress in 2011. But, growing that progress, according to an expert, requires technology.
Wisconsin Technology Council president Tom Still delivered the keynote speech at this year's meeting of the La Crosse Area Development Corporation. He says the La Crosse area has great potential and needs to utilize technology in developing businesses.
December 15, 2011
In a move that signals its continued interest in emerging markets in the Upper Midwest, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board announced Thursday it will commit up to $80 million to Northgate Capital through SWIB’s Venture Capital Catalyst Portfolio.
December 14, 2011
Montage Talent, a Delafield-based provider of video interviewing solutions, has closed a $3 million financing round led by Baird Venture Partners.
Founded in 2007, Montage is a pioneer in the development of video technology that optimizes the hiring process. Through a high-touch candidate engagement model, Montage connects potential job candidates with employers while driving faster decisions.
Baird Venture Partners is a venture capital fund of Baird Private Equity with offices in Milwaukee, Wis. Montage’s existing investors, including Wisconsin-based Calumet Venture Fund, also participated in the financing.
The proceeds will be used to expand the company’s client engagement activities, continue technology development and for working capital.
December 14, 2011
Spending a half trillion dollars each year, the U.S. federal government is the world's single largest customer. In recent years, Wisconsin's share of all federal work has leapfrogged, jumping from 38th per capita in 2008 to 14th in 2010, according to the Wisconsin Procurement Institute, a Milwaukee nonprofit that helps companies snag federal contracts.
December 12, 2011
Brown County ranked fourth in the 2012 Fourth Economy survey of mid-sized counties in the United States. The private survey, recently highlighted by Innovation America, ranks counties that it believes are "ideally positioned to attract modern investment and managed economic growth." Click
here to learn more.
December 9, 2011
Please watch the latest edition of "WisBusiness: The Show," the twice-a-month online show covering state business news and issues.
December 6, 2011
WisBusiness.com recently interviewed Zach Brandon, director of the Wisconsin Angel Network, on the need for greater broadband access in rural Wisconsin. Click
here to read more. The angel network is a project of the Wisconsin Technology Council, which recently issued a report on broadband access.
December 6, 2011
Tim Keane, director of the Golden Angels Network and outgoing director of the Kohler Center for Entrepreneurship at Marquette University, will become chairman of the Wisconsin Angel Network advisory committee.
December 2, 2011
Virent Inc. of Madison said Friday it is one of eight firms awarded contracts by the Federal Aviation Administration to develop plant-based jet fuels.
December 1, 2011
AquaMost, a Madison company developing a new type of water purification technology, has received another $4 million in investment funds and grant money.
Led by Golden Angels Network of Milwaukee with participation by Inventure Capital and Wisconsin Investment Partners, both of Madison, investors have provided $3 million in second-round financing. AquaMost also has received a $1 million phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health.
AquaMost's technology, called photoelectrocatalytic oxidation, was invented at UW-Madison.
Read the Wisconsin State Journal story
hereRead a recent WisBusiness.com news feature on AquaMost
here .
November 29, 2011
No one has ever claimed the $4.5 billion flame retardant marketplace has a reputation for being eco-friendly. In fact, many of the market’s existing products have been found to be toxic and biopersistent. Interfacial Solutions is innovating a way to change all of that.
November 29, 2011
Wisconsin YES! will be open for Wisconsin middle and high school students to submit their science, tech or other business ideas online until 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6, contest organizers said Tuesday. The extension allows time for students to enter over the holiday break.
November 29, 2011
WisconsinEye recently filmed WIN-Madison's forum on "Thriving or Just Surviving? Report on the Region’s Economy. Click here to watch the full program online at wiseye.org.
November 28, 2011
Boxes are stacking up in Murfie.com's airy offices on the eighth floor of the U.S. Bank building on Capitol Square. But that's a good thing.
November 28, 2011
Click
here to read a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story on the Milwaukee region's approach to business "clusters," a term that refers to groups of related businesses and supply chains.
November 23, 2011
Click
here to view the latest edition of "WisBusiness.com: The Show." In this episode, Tom Still discusses the upside to the volatility of the Wisconsin economy, Liz Schrum talks to Platteville Schools' Greg Quam about technology education in schools and the WisBusiness.com Stock Report discusses jobs and farms.
November 22, 2011
Trisept Solutions of Bayside and an IT firm based in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday announced a joint venture that is expected to create up to 250 jobs over the next five years.
November 22, 2011
Baird Capital Partners will announce Tuesday morning it has acquired Digi-Star Holdings Inc., a Fort Atkinson-based maker of agricultural scales and precision measuring equipment.
November 22, 2011
Firms from the Upper Midwest won awards and funding in a national clean tech business competition Wednesday night.
November 21, 2011
Click here to read Tom Still's latest column in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in which he analyses the mix of up, down and sideways economic news in Wisconsin and what it might mean for the future.
November 21, 2011
George Dalton, who founded Brookfield-based Fiserv Inc., which became one of the world's largest data processors for financial institutions, died Nov. 17 at 83. Click
here to read an obituary from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Dalton was a past keynote speaker at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs' Conference.
November 17, 2011
Click
here to read a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial endorsing a "fund of funds" approach to a state-leveraged venture and angel capital bill that would help Wisconsin companies attract financing. Also, read a
guest column published in the Journal Sentinel defending the CAPCO alternative.
November 16, 2011
A report that concluded the Madison area is at “a critical turning point” and its economic success can no longer be taken for granted will be discussed at the Tuesday, Nov. 22, meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network in Madison.
November 15, 2011
Two recent contracts won by ZBB Energy Corp. will help the Menomonee Falls company demonstrate that its energy storage system can be used for charging electric vehicles.
ZBB Energy, which develops energy storage systems and power electronics, also said Monday that it narrowed its fiscal first quarter loss.
November 14, 2011
Widespread access to high-speed broadband coverage is necessary for the overall health and prosperity of much of rural Wisconsin, a report issued Monday by the Wisconsin Technology Council has concluded.
November 11, 2011
Click
here to read about the latest expansion plans of Epic Systems Inc., a Verona-based company and a global leader in electronic health records. Epic's chief administrative officer, Steve Dickmann, will speak at the Jan. 24, 2012, meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network in Madison. Register through our Events page.
November 8, 2011
Click
here to read a Milwaukee Business Journal story on Gov. Scott Walker's executive order creating the Wisconsin Technology Committee, which reaffirms the role of the Wisconsin Technology Council as an independent, non-profit science and technology adviser to the governor and the Legislature.
November 7, 2011
Wisconsin Youth Entrepreneurs in Science, a statewide youth business plan contest modeled after the successful Governor’s Business Plan Contest, is open for online entries from Wisconsin middle- and high-school students through Dec. 5, 2011.
November 7, 2011
The issue: The effort by the state Legislature to pass venture capital proposal
November 6, 2011
Click
here to view the latest edition of "WisBusiness.com: The Show." This edition features the rising and falling news segment, a commentary by Tom Still on Wisconsin's "jobs paradox," and an interview with Mike Theo, president of the Wisconsin Realtors Association.
November 4, 2011
It isn't hard to find skilled scientists and engineers in Madison or to bring them here from other parts of the country. It isn't even much of a problem to land $1 million or so to start a company here. But what is very difficult is bringing in enough money to take a company beyond the startup stage, and that's where the state needs to step in.
November 4, 2011
One company, TrustEgg, wants to help you save money for your children; another, Brainsy, wants to help you figure out what clothes to wear.
The two Madison companies tied for first place in the Elevator Pitch Olympics on Thursday, one of the highlights of the two-day Early Stage Symposium at Monona Terrace.
November 4, 2011
Northstar Medical Radioisotopes, one of the presenting companies at the Nov. 2-3 Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium, will receive a $4.6 million federal grant to continue its work toward developing an alternative source for a commonly used medical isotope. Click here to learn more.
November 4, 2011
Click here to see a slide presentation by Rich Bendis, president of Innovation America, delivered during his keynote speech at the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium in Madison.
October 31, 2011
Read about the diverse line-up of companies that will present at the 2011 Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium, Wednesday and Thursday at Madison's Monona Terrace Convention Center, in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
October 31, 2011
Still on the fence about coming to the annual Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium in Madison? Here are 10 reasons to join nearly 400 registrants Wednesday and Thursday for one of the Midwest’s premier events for entrepreneurs.
October 29, 2011
Click
here to read a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story on Gov. Scott Walker's support for a state-leveraged venture capital fund that would include elements of what was recommended by the Wisconsin Growth Capital Coalition.
October 27, 2011
About 40 early stage companies will present to
potential investors at the 2011 Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium, to be held
Nov. 2-3 at Madison’s Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center.
October 25, 2011
Click here to read a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story about a report from the Public Policy Forum, a Milwaukee-based group that has recommended enhanced technology transfer efforts by southeast Wisconsin's academic research institutions. In 2004 and 2009, the Tech Council published related reports on "The Economic Value of Academic R&D in Wisconsin," which can be found at www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com/publications
October 24, 2011
Investors from Wisconsin, the Midwest and beyond will share their expertise with entrepreneurs and others at the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium, to be held Nov. 2-3 at Madison’s Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center. Register at http://www.wisearlystage.com/
October 23, 2011
Click
here to read a story from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the debate in Georgia over a certified capital company (CAPCO) plan for financing state investments in early stage companies. The plan is under fire for being too expensive and a boon for the CAPCOs, criticism similar to what has been leveled in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Growth Capital Coalition supports a non-CAPCO "fund of funds" plan.
October 23, 2011
Allyn Ziegenhagen, a member of the Wisconsin Innovation Network and a leader in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni club in Wisconsin, has been named a 2011 recipient of MIT's Harold Lobdell Distinguished Service Award. Ziegenhagen has been active in the annual MIT CLub of Wisconsin Achievement Awards, the EAA Fly-In and MIT's science, engineering, technology and math programs in Wisconsin. Click here to learn more about Ziegenhagen and the award.
October 21, 2011
Click here to read a Janesville Gazette story on Bill Dougan, a UW-Whitewater professor who has helped stimulate entrepreneurial activity on and around campus. Dougan is also a long-time judge in the Governor's Business Plan Contest, produced by the Tech Council.
October 20, 2011
Thomas “Rock” Mackie, a scientist and entrepreneur who leads the medical device team at the Morgridge Institute for Research, will speak over lunch Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium in Madison.
October 18, 2011
Cellular Dynamics International, the stem cell company founded by UW-Madison researcher James Thomson in 2004, has won the top prize in the Wall Street Journal's 2011 Technology Innovation Awards. Click here to read a Wisconsin State Journal story for more.
October 17, 2011
HarQen Inc. of Milwaukee, a firm that focuses on collaborative voice services, has raised $2.5 million in its current $4 million round of venture capital funding, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported.
October 15, 2011
Click here to watch the latest edition of "WisBusiness: The Show," produced by Tweedee Productions. This week's guest: Kay Koplovitz, a Milwaukee native who co-founded Springboard Enterprises.
October 13, 2011
Lucigen Corp., a Middleton biotech firm, said Monday it has been awarded $350,000 in grants from the National Institutes of Health to fund additional research and development. The two grants will be used to develop genetic sequencing tools, and to create an affordable tool to help researchers study data from genes and proteins within individual cells.
October 13, 2011
A plant-based jet fuel developed by Virent Energy Systems has passed a round of U.S. Air Force testing. The fuel, produced by Virent in conjunction with its partner, Shell, was tested at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
October 13, 2011
A Lodi contract manufacturer for the pharmaceutical industry said Monday it is breaking ground on a $3.5 million addition that is the first phase of a plan to increase revenue and add jobs. Anteco Pharma is building the 25,000-square-foot addition to bolster its pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing capacity, the company said. It expects to be operating by June.
October 10, 2011
Anteco Pharma is breaking ground on a 25,000-square-foot addition to its manufacturing facility in Lodi, Wis., just north of Madison, company officials announced Monday. This expansion will focus on manufacture of pharmaceutical and medical device products.
October 9, 2011
I got a call from my younger (and smarter) brother the other night that seemed a bit out of character. The relentlessly upbeat tone in his voice had given way to a hint of concern. "How's business in the heartland?" he asked. "I need a reality check, because it's stuck in neutral here."
October 7, 2011
BizStarts Milwaukee Inc. celebrated its third anniversary of helping entrepreneurs in southeastern Wisconsin start companies and create jobs. Since its founding, BizStarts has helped more than a dozen companies raise more than $24 million and create 157 full-time jobs. The project has reviewed more than 230 business plans and presentations. Read full story
here.
September 30, 2011
Please watch the latest edition of “WisBusiness: The Show,” the twice-a-month online show covering state business news and issues. In this edition, Tom Still’s commentary examines the love-hate relationship with Google, and Liz Schrum delivers the WisBusiness stock report. Also, serial entrepreneur Ralph Kauten of Quintessence Biosciences talks about his company’s efforts to develop cancer-fighting drugs.
Click here to view the show produced by Tweedee Productions, as well as our archives of past shows. The show is sponsored by Grant Thornton, Madison Gas & Electric, Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C., and the UW-Milwaukee
September 30, 2011
The Wisconsin Technology Council has signed an informal agreement with Monument Capital Group LLC, Washington, D.C., that seeks to increase Wisconsin’s reach into international capital markets and to facilitate deal flow that will benefit Wisconsin firms.
September 29, 2011
David Krakauer, a professor at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico, will become the director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. He will succeed John Wiley, the former UW-Madison chancellor who was serving in that role on an interim basis. Click
here to learn more.
September 29, 2011
A key portion of the Wisconsin Growth Capital Coalition’s recently released report on growing angel and venture capital in Wisconsin will be taken up by the Legislature in the next 45 days. The special session on jobs was announced Wednesday by Gov. Scott Walker.
September 28, 2011
Tim Cowley owns jewelry stores in Wisconsin and is website savvy. But he figures few of the people in his line of work are making much use of the Internet for marketing purposes. “A lot of them don’t even like to email,” said Cowley, who was attending a presentation Tuesday afternoon on Google’s efforts to get small Wisconsin businesses online by offering them free websites and other services.
September 28, 2011
A WisBusiness.com panel discussion on Wednesday Oct. 12 will examine the future of broadband in Wisconsin. The discussion comes in the wake of a major telecommunications regulation update signed into law earlier this year by Gov. Scott Walker, more federal grants to local telecommunications companies in Wisconsin for broadband, and the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger.
September 25, 2011
Soft-spoken Cliff King doesn't come across like a business executive who would threaten to move his company out of Wisconsin - unless he believed he might not have a choice. "We were born and raised here, we grew the company here and we have all kinds of ties here," said King, chief executive officer of Skyward, a Stevens Point information technology company that sells management software for schools. "But at some point, it becomes a business decision." Read full Journal Sentinel commentary here.
September 23, 2011
"Wisconsin Get Your Business Online" is a program sponsored by Google to help small businesses build a web site, secure a customized domain name for a year and learn more about online marketing -- all for free. The Wisconsin Technology Council is among the local partners for the program, which begins with workshops Oct. 3-4 in Milwaukee.
September 23, 2011
Rich Bendis, an entrepreneur and investor who leads Innovation America and is known as one of the nation’s leading experts on the innovation economy, will speak Nov. 2 to open the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium at Madison’s Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center.
September 22, 2011
The UW-Madison ranked 23rd in the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine's ninth annual survey that ranks the top 25 undergraduate and top 25 graduate entrepreneurship programs in the nation.
September 20, 2011
A new plan for Wisconsin to invest up to $500 million over at least six years in a venture capital fund aimed at spurring investment in job-creating, homegrown companies includes no mention of a role for controversial certified capital companies, or CAPCOs.
September 20, 2011
Some of the oldest buildings in Madison house some of the newest technology and innovations. Two business incubators that have opened in the past year, 94Labs and Sector67, are not the traditional offices or laboratories, and their methods are anything but standard; yet, they are helping entrepreneurs create products and start companies more rapidly than ever before — one, through an intensive program that focuses immediately on customers, and the other, by providing tools to turn pie-in-the-sky ideas into real things.
September 19, 2011
The latest research and development priorities at Google’s Madison office and a new Google program to help Wisconsin small businesses build and run websites will be discussed at the Tuesday, Sept. 27 meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network in Madison.
September 19, 2011
Please watch the latest edition of “WisBusiness: The Show,” the twice-a-month online show covering state business news and issues. This edition features Tom Still talking about the prospects for a state venture capital program. Also, timber and farming headline the WisBusiness.com Stock Report and Liz Schrum interviews Todd Asmuth, CEO of Aquamost, about his company's clean water technologies.
Click here to view the show produced by Tweedee Productions, as well as our archives of past shows.
September 15, 2011
WAUWATOSA – Creation of a state-leveraged venture capital fund that would spur company formation and job growth over time was recommended Thursday in a report by the 58-member Wisconsin Growth Capital Coalition. The report was released during the fifth annual Resource Rendezvous conference.
September 15, 2011
The producers of the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium are
looking for cutting-edge companies from Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest to
present to investors at the Nov. 2-3 conference at Madison’s Monona Terrace
Community and Convention Center.
September 7, 2011
Click here to watch a segment from Mike Gousha’s “UPFRONT” weekly news magazine show on WISN-TV, Ch. 12, Milwaukee, in which he discusses Wisconsin’s jobs picture with Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council.
September 7, 2011
The list of federal science and technology “scouts” and related speakers continues to grow for the fifth annual “Resource Rendezvous.”
September 5, 2011
Click
here to read a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story about Aver Informatics, a DePere company that has raised $1.3 million in angel financing.
September 2, 2011
Carlos Salazar, a leading technology scout for the National Security Agency, will be among the guest speakers representing key federal agencies at the fifth annual “Resource Rendezvous.”
September 1, 2011
Virent Energy Systems Inc. was awarded up to $4 million on Tuesday for a project to accelerate the development of drop-in biofuels as well as bio-based chemicals. Virent's was one of three small-scale projects awarded funding by the Department of Energy, the agency announced.
September 1, 2011
Please watch the latest edition of “WisBusiness: The Show,” the twice-a-month online show covering state business news and issues. In this edition, Tom Still’s commentary explains why one bad monthly jobs report isn’t the end of the world. In the WisBusiness.com stock report, ethanol subsidies are falling while the Medical College of Wisconsin shines. And the TEAM Companies’ Mike Wicker joins Liz Schrum to talk about the changing business of data centers.
August 29, 2011
You could practically hear the panic buttons being punched a week or so ago when the news broke that Wisconsin lost 12,500 private sector jobs in July, the biggest monthly loss since the depths of the 2008-'09 recession.
August 29, 2011
If you buy packaged cereal with fruit in it, the fruit probably has been freeze dried. Coffee has been sold freeze dried for decades. Anteco Pharma of Lodi does freeze drying for other substances, such as bacteria and pharmaceutical ingredients.
August 26, 2011
Three out-of-state financial companies spent more than 650 hours and poured more than $150,000 into lobbying for a widely criticized venture capital bill that Wisconsin lawmakers tabled earlier this year but are likely to re-examine in the fall.
August 26, 2011
Backhoes will begin moving dirt on Monday for a new building at Promega Corp.'s Fitchburg campus — the biggest building yet for the privately owned biotechnology company.
August 26, 2011
Click
here to read a recent posting by EMSI, a nationally known economic modeling firm, on the importance of net new business formation to job creation. The "data spotlight" column cites Wisconsin as an example.
August 24, 2011
Early stage companies in Wisconsin and beyond will learn how to increase their chance of receiving federal grant dollars or research agreements on Sept. 15 during the fifth annual “Resource Rendezvous.”
August 24, 2011
With more than 70 percent of the online search market share in the United States, Google is by far the dominant Internet player with roughly $28 billion in ad revenue.
Google also controls 98 percent of the U.S. mobile search market and has an overall search market share of 94 percent in Europe, according to published reports.
August 22, 2011
Please watch the latest edition of “WisBusiness: The Show” the twice-a-month Web show covering state business news and issues. In this edition, Tom Still talks about the post-recall election need to focus on economic growth and Eric Girard of Van Holten’s, a Waterloo firm, talks about the company’s global pickle-in-a-pouch business. Our “stock report” has the business highs and lows for mid-August.
Click here to view the show produced by Tweedee Productions, as well as our archives of past shows.
August 22, 2011
A Hartland developer of insulation-embedded wall and floor frames for the construction industry is a finalist in a Midwest clean-tech competition.
August 22, 2011
The Wisconsin State Journal recently featured an "Executive Q&A" profile of Mark Moody, the president of WEA Trust. Moody is a member of the Wisconsin Technology Council board of directors.
August 21, 2011
The Medical College of Wisconsin has received its largest grant ever, just under $45 million in federal money over six years, to fund and analyze large clinical research trials aimed at answering fundamental questions surrounding one of medicine's best weapons against certain cancers.
August 17, 2011
Renaissance Learning Inc., a Wisconsin Rapids provider of learning aids, said Tuesday it has agreed to be sold to a private equity firm for $440 million in cash.
August 16, 2011
The Obama administration on Tuesday announced a joint project among the U.S. departments of Agriculture, Energy and the Navy to invest $510 million over three years to produce advanced biofuels for planes and ships.
August 15, 2011
Mother's book teaches children how to manage food allergies
Amy Recob was eating dinner with her family one night when her 18-month-old daughter, Mollie, suddenly became violently ill. "She was eating dinner, then something happened where she began excessive vomiting and coughing," she said.
August 15, 2011
Madison-based Virent Energy on Monday was one of two companies selected to proceed with additional research and development of "drop-in" biofuels. The National Advanced Biofuels Consortium was funding six different technological
processes that are being developed to replace gasoline, diesel and jet fuels, and is now moving forward with a second phase of research.
August 15, 2011
The U.S. Navy has awarded ZBB Energy Corp. a contract valued at $1.2 million for an energy storage system that will be used to help power a Naval facility on a Pacific island west of Los Angeles. The Menomonee Falls clean-tech company said it will supply an energy storage system that includes a power and energy control center as well as the company's zinc bromide flow batteries, which will be used in combination with wind turbines already installed at the San Nicolas Island Naval Facility.
August 14, 2011
Robert Golden, dean of the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, can hardly contain his excitement when he's asked about research financed through money set aside after nonprofit Blue Cross Blue Shield United of Wisconsin converted to a for-profit corporation.
August 12, 2011
Click
here to read a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story about Thursday's Wisconsin Innovation Network meeting in Wauwatosa, where a panel discussed efforts to revive the debate over a state-leveraged ventrue capital program.
August 11, 2011
An editorial published Aug. 11 in the Wisconsin State Journal urges Gov. Scott Walker and lawmakers from both political parties to work together on passing a venture capital program in Wisconsin. Click
here to read more.
August 9, 2011
CHICAGO, IL – July 21, 2011 - BDO USA, LLP, one of the nation’s leading accounting and consulting organizations, today announced the appointment of Deron Curliss as partner and assurance business line leader for the firm’s Wisconsin practices. In this role, Curliss will be responsible for overseeing assurance professionals and managing client and prospect relationships in the Milwaukee and Madison offices. The firm is expanding into the Madison market, opening a temporary office in Middleton, and planning to establish a permanent presence by year-end.
August 5, 2011
Located in Milwaukee, Veteran Entrepreneurial Transfer (VETransfer) was launched in March 2011 and is the first ever Veteran-focused business incubator. Read blog post here.
August 5, 2011
For a company whose motto is "Stay strong. Move on," competition is second nature. Perfect Cross LLC, the Nashotah maker of RapidForce adhesive muscle support and pain relief products for athletes and fitness enthusiasts, most recently competed in the Governor's Business Plan Contest. The firm won in the category of advanced manufacturing.
August 4, 2011
MADISON – Please watch the latest edition of “WisBusiness: The Show” the twice-a-month Web show covering state business news and issues. In this edition, Tom Still talks about the long-term effects of federal spending cuts on academic research and Tom Primiano of NanoOncology Inc. discusses his company’s development of cancer-fighting drugs. Our “stock report” has the business highs and lows for early August.
Click here the show produced by Tweedee Productions, as well as our archives of past shows.
August 2, 2011
MILWAUKEE – The proposed creation of a state-leveraged venture capital fund will be the topic of a panel discussion at the Thursday Aug. 11 meeting of the WIN-Milwaukee chapter.
August 2, 2011
More than four decades ago, Hans Sollinger lost one of his closest relatives to diabetes, an experience that strengthened his resolve to find a more effective treatment for the disease. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness and amputation in the United States, and 1 million patients could potentially qualify for pancreatic and kidney transplants because of the disease. About 1,000 patients end up receiving transplants each year.
July 31, 2011
Forbes magazine says Madison is the third best city in the U.S. for young professionals. Its survey looks at factors such as concentration of big businesses; the number of small businesses per capita; cost of living; unemployment rate; median salaries for 24-year old to 34-year old employed college graduates, provided by PayScale.com; and 2010 to 2012 job growth projections by Moody's Economy.com
July 30, 2011
It's hard to fault GE Healthcare for expanding its reach into China, where more than 1.3 billion people account for nearly one of every five human beings on the planet. There's no bigger emerging market for medical equipment in the world.
July 29, 2011
MADISON – Please watch the latest edition of “WisBusiness: The Show” the twice-a-month Web show covering state business news and issues. In this edition, Tom Still talks about GE Healthcare’s decision to move its X-ray headquarters from Waukesha to China and Scott VanderSanden, president of AT&T Wisconsin, discusses a proposed merger with T-Mobile and what that might mean for the state. Our “stock report” has the business highs and lows for late July.
Click here see the show produced by Tweedee Productions, as well as our archives of past shows.
July 28, 2011
WASHINGTON — A lawsuit that threatened to end federal funding of embryonic stem cell research was thrown out, allowing the U.S. to continue to support a search for cures to deadly diseases over protests the work relies on destroyed human embryos. Read the Wisconsin State Journal story here.
July 28, 2011
ASHLAND – Laying the foundation for creation and attraction of technology-based jobs is the focus of the 2011 Lake Superior Business and Technology Conference, which will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 5 at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College, 2100 Beaser Avenue, Ashland.
July 28, 2011
Click
here to watch a 'WisconsinEye' online broadcast of the July 26 meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network meeting in Madison, where a panel discussed efforts to create a state-leverage venture capital fund in Wisconsin. The same topic will be explored at the Aug. 11 WIN-Milwaukee meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Wauwatosa. Visit our Events page to register.
July 22, 2011
An entrepreneur from the University of Wisconsin is putting the mobile in mobile Internet. While wireless networks enable devices like smartphones or tablet computers to connect to the Internet from just about anywhere, service is spotty or nonexistent in many cars, trains, planes, buses and other vehicles. Read full Journal Sentinel story
here.
July 22, 2011
A three-month-old incubator housed in the former Old Navy store at the Shops at Grand Avenue says it has already helped 37 Wisconsin-based, veteran-owned companies start or expand their businesses. It's called VETransfer.org and it was recently featured on "WisBusiness: The Show," produced by WisBusiness.com and the Tech Council. Read the full Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story
here.
July 21, 2011
MILWAUKEE — RecipeBridge, a Milwaukee-based recipe search engine company, has been acquired for an undisclosed price by Gourmet Ads, an Australian food advertising network. Read Journal Sentinel story here.
July 21, 2011
WAUWATOSA, Wis. -- Capital Midwest Fund announced that it has raised $40 million for a second venture capital fund that will invest at least 30 percent of its assets in Wisconsin companies. The fund intends to collect as much as $100 million by the end of the year. Read the Journal Sentinel story here.
July 20, 2011
MEQUON, Wis. — Endece LLC, a biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing proprietary compounds for treating cancer, announced it has raised $1.2 million from private investors that it will use to further develop a compound it says could potentially turn off any kind of cancer cell.
The 5-year-old company has raised $15 million to date from its Wisconsin-based angel investors plus an additional grant of $244,000 from the U.S. government’s Therapeutic Discovery Project and a $250,000 loan from the Wisconsin Department of Commerce Technology Venture Fund.
July 19, 2011
Designed to drive collaboration and co-investment between the two states, the Wisconsin Angel Network and the Minnesota Angel Network agreed today to designate a seat on their respective advisory boards for the other’s director.
Read Star Tribune blog here and Business Journal article here.
July 18, 2011
Interim Chancellor David Ward today announced the appointment of Mark Bugher, director of
University Research Park, to be his special assistant on a variety of policy issues.
July 15, 2011
EAGLE RIVER - In attempt to share ideas on how to bolster the economy in the Northwoods, the Vilas County Economic Development Corporation hosted local business leaders who are entertaining ways to help bring new business to the area.
July 15, 2011
Midwestern cities eclipsed many coastal competitors for top spots in America’s Best Cities For Young Professionals ranking. The list, compiled by Forbes, ranks Madison, Wis., third for young talent. Forbes touted Madison’s healthy job growth, low unemployment, large college-educated demographic and a cost of living that is at or below the national average. Madison topped regional neighbor, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., and the education and tech hubs of Austin, Texas and Boston, Mass. No West Coast cities made the cut. Four Fox Valley cities made Forbes' "small city' top 100 list. See the full list here.
July 14, 2011
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Commerce today released a new report that profiles U.S. employment in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. STEM: Good Jobs Now and for the Future offers an inside look at workers who are driving our nation’s innovation and competitiveness and helping America win the future with new ideas, new companies and new industries. A copy of the report can be found here.
July 13, 2011
Batteries, biofuels and water technology helped rank Wisconsin 13th among the 50 states in clean-tech jobs nationally last year, according to a new Brookings Institution-Battelle report. Click
here to read a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story.
July 13, 2011
The work of the Wisconsin Security Research Consortium in connecting Wisconsin companies and researchers with federal grant and contract opportunities will be featured at the Thursday, July 14 meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network’s Milwaukee-area chapter.
July 13, 2011
MADISON — Governor Scott Walker announced that two companies, Asthmapolis and Door 6, Inc., both of Madison, have received the Qualified New Business Venture certification from the former Department of Commerce.
July 13, 2011
Alice.com is going global. The e-commerce company, based in Middleton, says it is merging with Koto.com, a startup online retailer in Spain. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Alice.com chief executive officer Brian Wiegand said the two companies exchanged assets.
July 12, 2011
Those who follow Wisconsin’s economic development scene know the state suffers from a lack of investment dollars to help new companies get off the ground.
July 11, 2011
Visit
bio.wisbusiness.com to review news coverage of the 2011 BIO International Convention in Wasington, D.C. and the activities of the Wisconsin delegation. The blog includes a video of Gov. Scott Walker's remarks in opening the pavilion and a brief news interview. Click
here to see the video and
here to see the full blog.
July 11, 2011
Please watch the latest edition of “WisBusiness: The Show” the twice-a-month Web show covering state business news and issues. In this edition, Ted Lasser of Milwaukee-based VETransfer.org talks about efforts to help veterans become entrepreneurs. Tom Still, president of the Tech Council, talks about the Federal Trade Commission inquiry into the Internet search practices of Google. And our stock report has the highs and lows for mid-July.
July 9, 2011
A Madison company, Echometrix, is getting some military-level attention. The U.S. Marines are testing the company's EchoSoft system - ultrasound technology that can find soft-tissue injuries such as a torn tendon or rotator cuff. After trudging through rigorous training hikes, carrying heavy backpacks through mountainous territory, 50 Marines are being assessed for possible tendon damage using EchoSoft.
July 8, 2011
Several Wisconsin business groups are lobbying the state Legislature to pass venture capital legislation, according to a news release issed Wednesday by the Wisconsin Technology Council, which is leading the effort. Click here to read the full story in The Milwaukee Business Journal.
July 7, 2011
The director of the Wisconsin Angel Network (WAN), Zach Brandon, will address the Northwoods Angels event Wednesday, July 6, in Eagle River, the Vilas County Economic Development Corp. (VCEDC) announced Monday.
Prior to joining the network, Brandon most recently served as deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Commerce and served previously in the agency’s senior policy and external affairs role.
July 6, 2011
Primorigen Biosciences Inc. of Madison has entered into an exclusive worldwide distribution agreement with STEMCELL Technologies, Inc., of Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
July 6, 2011
Ernest Micek has been elected chair of the board of trustees for the Morgridge Institute for Research. He succeeds Carl E. Gulbrandsen, managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, who served as the founding chair of the biomedical research institution and will remain a member of the board.
July 6, 2011
With nearly three-dozen members from Wisconsin and around the country thus far, the Wisconsin Growth Capital Coalition has been reactivated through the Wisconsin Technology Council and its Wisconsin Angel Network to provide policymakers with non-partisan advice on proposed venture capital legislation.
July 5, 2011
Glendale - A new partnership involving the state's two biggest public universities and its biggest corporation should put southern Wisconsin on the map as a global research center for the high-tech batteries that will power the cars of the future, organizers said Thursday.
July 3, 2011
WASHINGTON – He may be nearing the end of his career on Capitol Hill, but U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl is playing a key role in the Federal Trade Commission’s inquiry into the Internet search practices of technology giant Google.
July 2, 2011
Washington - Shortly after Gov. Scott Walker snipped a red ribbon and officially opened the Wisconsin pavilion Tuesday morning at the 2011 BIO International Convention, we took a stroll past the exhibitor kiosks. I spotted a promising conversation.Read full Tom Still Journal Sentinel Commentary
here.
July 1, 2011
STEVENS POINT — State Rep. Scott Krug said he hasn’t agreed with state Rep. Louis Molepske Jr. on much, but the two find themselves on common ground when it comes to the importance of broadband technology for central Wisconsin.
Molepske, D-Stevens Point, and Krug, R-Wisconsin Rapids, took part Monday morning in the panel discussion “The Future of Broadband Technology” on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
The purpose of the panel, hosted by the Stevens Point Association of Downtown Businesses, Centergy and Wired Wisconsin, was to discuss what increasing broadband and mobile technology would mean to the region.
Read the Wausau Daily Herald story here.
July 1, 2011
Luminex Corporation Completes Acquisition of EraGen Biosciences, Inc.
AUSTIN, Texas — Luminex Corporation (NASDAQ: LMNX) announced the completion of its acquisition of privately-held EraGen Biosciences, Inc., a Madison, Wisconsin based innovator in molecular diagnostic testing technologies for infectious disease and genetic applications, for $34 million in cash.
Luminex expects the EraGen acquisition will add between $5 million and $7 million to 2011 consolidated revenue. Read orginal Wisconsin State Journal story here.
June 29, 2011
High-tech exports, including biotech products, continue to rise as share of total Wisconsin exports
WASHINGTON – High-tech exports in Wisconsin, including medical and scientific instruments and biotechnology products, are rising at a rate faster than five Midwestern state neighbors and the United States as a whole.
The figures were reported in a study commissioned for the Wisconsin Technology Council by NorthStar Economics Inc., a Madison-based firm that serves as the official economic adviser to the Tech Council. The figures were released during the 2011 BIO International Convention in Washington, D.C.
Wisconsin ranked 13th nationally in high-tech exports and 15th nationally in tech export concentration, the study concluded. Wisconsin experienced the largest increase among Midwest states in tech exports as a percentage of total exports from 2003 to 2009, with tech exports growing by 41.7 percent. That compared to Illinois (up 35.8 percent), Michigan (16.9 percent), Indiana (15 percent) and Iowa (2.4 percent) during the same period. Tech exports in the United States grew by 13 percent during the same period. Click here to read more.
June 27, 2011
Madison — Please watch the latest edition of “WisBusiness: The Show” the twice-a-month Web show covering state business news and issues. This edition features Don Noskowiak of Liveyearbook.com, the winner of the 2010 Governor’s Business Plan Contest, with news on the company’s progress. Tom Still, president of the Tech Council, talks about the June 27-30 BIO International Convention, and our stock report has the highs and lows for late June.
Click here to see the show produced by Tweedee Productions.
June 23, 2011
It’s nice to see that Gov. Scott Walker’s “open for business” mantra extends beyond the traditional sectors of Wisconsin’s economy — agriculture, tourism and manufacturing — to the biosciences and biotechnology.
June 22, 2011
NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes LLC is planning to build a $194 million production plant in Beloit that could employ as many as 150 workers by 2016.
NorthStar Medical, which is based in Madison, was founded in 2004 to develop technologies for making isotopes for medical applications. The company will use linear accelerators to produce the isotopes at the 82,000-square-foot building, Isensee said.
June 22, 2011
Sen. Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) and Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) are proposing that the newly created Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation sell up to $100 million in bonds to form an investment fund that would help homegrown venture funds invest as much as $500 million in high-potential companies in the state.
June 20, 2011
Madison-based Cell Line Genetics has struck a deal with Ambry Genetics, a California-based firm, for marketing and distribution of products related to stem cell research. Read a Wisconsin State Journal story
here.
June 14, 2011
The Greater Milwaukee Committee is pressing ahead with plans for a "design tech cluster" in Milwaukee to take advantage of emerging talent around software and mobile applications technology. Read a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
story.
June 14, 2011
Gov. Scott Walker announced June 13 that Zurex PharmAgra LLC, Madison, has received the Qualified New Business Venture certification from the Department of Commerce.
June 14, 2011
Click
here to read a column by John Torinus, chairman of Serigraph and a former Milwaukee newspaper editor, on Tim Kane of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Kane spoke at the June 7-8 Wisconsin Entrepreneurs' Conference, produced by the Wisconsin Technology Council.
June 13, 2011
Accuray said Monday it has completed its acquisition of Madison-based
TomoTherapy. The $277 million deal in cash and stock, which was proposed in March, was approved by TomoTherapy shareholders on Thursday.
June 10, 2011
Virent Energy Systems has won a $13.4 million federal grant to continue its work on producing renewable jet fuel from non-food crops. Click here to read a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story.
June 10, 2011
MADISON – Please watch the latest edition of “WisBusiness: The Show” the twice-a-month Web show covering state business news and issues. In this edition taped at the 2011 Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Milwaukee, Tim Kane of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation talks about the importance of start-up companies to the national and state economies. Tom Still, president of the Tech Council, talks about the rising interest in entrepreneurism on Wisconsin’s college campuses. And our stock report has the highs and lows for early June.
Click here to see the show produced by Tweedee Productions.
June 9, 2011
ZBB Energy Corp. will receive tax credits of up to $700,000 from the Australian government as a result of battery technology research the firm is conducting at its office in Australia. ZBB Technologies Limited is a subsidiary of the Menomonee Falls firm that does core research in flow battery cells, including R&D linked to its new joint venture with the South Korean firm Honam Petrochemicals. Read full Journal Sentinel business blog here.
June 9, 2011
Middleton-based Shine Medical Technologies said Tuesday morning it has raised $11 million of venture capital funding. Knox LLC - the investment vehicle for Frederick J. Mancheski, former chairman and chief executive of automotive parts supplier Echlin - led the round and contributed $10 million of the funding. Read full Journal Sentinel story here.
June 9, 2011
When he started Direct Supply Inc., Bob Hillis had no idea it would be seven years before he collected a paycheck. Now he's not only pulling in a salary, his medical supply distribution business is so successful he's hoping to eventually bring in thousands of more employees. Read full Journal Sentinel story here.
June 9, 2011
JANESVILLE — We’re in the running. Janesville, Chippewa Falls and Stevens Point are being considered for a business that would create 100 jobs with the possibility of more in the future. Read full GazetteXtra article here.
June 9, 2011
Cellular Dynamics International has an agreement letting iPS Academia Japan distribute the Madison company's stem cell-derived heart cells in Japan. Read full Wisconsin State Journal story
here.
June 9, 2011
MILWAUKEE – A Madison company aiming to help passengers in buses, trains and other vehicles connect to the Internet was the grand prize winner in the 2011 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest.
June 9, 2011
With legislation that would have allocated $400 million to help fund emerging companies in Wisconsin
on hold for now, high-powered financiers and others say they will attempt to find ideas for a better venture capital model for Wisconsin. Read full Journal Sentinel story
here.
June 9, 2011
A Madison company aiming to help passengers in buses, trains and other vehicles connect to the Internet won the top prize in the Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan contest. Read full Journal Sentinel story
here.
June 3, 2011
Bob Hillis, an entrepreneur and visionary leader who founded Direct Supply, which began as the nation’s first “virtual distributor” in 1985, will receive the eighth annual Ken Hendricks Memorial “Seize the Day” award at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference.
June 2, 2011
A talented line-up of entrepreneurs, investors and other start-up business experts will be featured in nearly 20 workshops and panel discussions at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference, June 7-8, 2011, in Milwaukee.
June 2, 2011
Virent Energy Systems of Madison has produced 'green gasoline' from sources that are not part of the nation's food supply, a blend of loblolly pine and corn stover. Read more in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story
here.
June 1, 2011
Former U.S. ambassadors Mark Green and Tom Loftus and veteran international development expert Anthony Carroll will discuss Wisconsin’s emerging role in addressing global health issues at a Monday, June 27, luncheon in Washington, D.C.
June 1, 2011
Foley & Lardner, the law firm based in Milwaukee, has created the Foley Venture Fund to invest in client-run start-up companies. Read more
here on WisBusiness.com
May 31, 2011
“In(VEST)formation: An update of what’s next in Wisconsin investing” is the theme of an investors-only forum at the 2011 Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference to be held June 7-8, 2011, in Milwaukee.
May 26, 2011
A first-time feature of the 2011 Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference will be the “Start-up Café,” a hands-on incubator that will build a software company during the two-day event while offering advice to entrepreneurs.
May 25, 2011
The proposed venture capital legislation in Wisconsin (SB-94/AB-129) was the topic of Tuesday's Wisconsin Innovation Network meeting in Madison. Click here to read a story from WisBusiness.com. Also, watch video coverage of the meeting from WisconsinEye.
May 25, 2011
In partnership with the WEA Trust and others, the Wisconsin Technology Council will launch a statewide business plan contest for students in middle and high school next fall. The Wisconsin Youth Entrepreneurs in Science contest, called Wisconsin YES!, will be open to all students in Wisconsin who are entering grades six through 12 for the 2011-2012 academic year.
May 25, 2011
A talented line-up of finalists in the eighth annual Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest will compete for the contest’s top cash and in-kind prizes during the June 7-8 Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference at The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee.
May 23, 2011
Please watch the latest edition of “WisBusiness: The Show” the twice-a-month Web show covering state business news and issues. In this edition, Carmine Durham, president and CEO of Zurex Pharma, talks about their recent fundraising round and how pending legislation could help companies such as theirs obtain more venture capital. Tom Still, president of the Tech Council, talks about the upcoming Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Milwaukee. And our stock report has the highs and lows for late May.
Click here see the show produced by Tweedee Productions.
May 23, 2011
Legislation that Gov. Scott Walker says will create jobs would provide hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to insurance companies, while giving control of a $250 million fund to out-of-state financial management companies that would not have to pay back the fund's principal and would keep up to 80% of its profits.
May 22, 2011
If the investor and entrepreneurial communities in Wisconsin agree on anything, it's the need for more private equity capital - especially for those "gazelle" companies that could sprint to the next level if only they could find the next round of financing.
February 20, 2011
Click
here to read a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story about a governor's office initiative to explore creation of a Wisconsin venture capital fund.
January 31, 2011
Click here to read an Appleton Post Crescent story on the state of venture capital investing in northeast Wisconsin. The story features Charlie Goff and the NEW Capital Fund, a member of the Wisconsin Angel Network.
January 7, 2011
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board has approved an $80 million allocation to a new venture capital "Catalyst Portfolio," which SWIB believes will help its staff connect both venture capitalists and companies in Wisconsin and the Midwest with national top-tier venture firms.
December 23, 2010
Xolve, a Platteville nanotechnology company that won the 2008 Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest, has raised $2 million in private equity. Click
here to read a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story.
