MADISON ââ?¬â?? The Wisconsin biotechnology and medical device industry, which already produces $7 billion in annual sales, is poised to grow in 2006.
And by 2015, it could be a $10 billion industry in the state, top industry and government officials have predicted.
ââ?¬Å?We have the critical mass to get serious about this sector of our economy,ââ?¬Â Jim Leonhart, a biotech executive said Tuesday at a Wisconsin Innovation Network luncheon.
Practically every big U.S. city and most states would love to become the next hot biotech cluster. Having the cachet of a biotech haven helps attract bright scientists, new startups and, eventually, more tax revenue.
But amid the competition for biotech companies, some locations offer much better incentives than others. Thus, e-mail newsletter FierceBiotech is putting out a list of five emerging hot spots for biotech, to be published in full on Wednesday. The winners are, in alphabetical order: California, Maryland and its I-270 tech corridor, New Jersey, Singapore and Wisconsin.
Wisconsin makes the list based in part on a $375 million research facility the state is building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The state is also very aggressive in attracting biotech and medical device companies.
Wisconsin’s national rank for venture capital investment – a common yardstick for entrepreneurialism and economic innovation in a regional economy – dropped to 35th last year from 26th in 2004, according to a survey released Monday.
The endowments of U.S. colleges and universities earned decent returns in 2005, although most did not match the level of success they had in 2004.
Higher-education endowments earned an average 9.3 percent in the 2005 fiscal year, compared with the average 15.1 percent posted in the 2004 fiscal year, which ended on June 30 for most institutions.
Rachel Chizek, a 21-year-old biochemistry major at Lakeland College, wants to work with DNA when she graduates in 2007, but is worried she’ll have to leave Wisconsin to do that.
But according to Michael Morgan, Wisconsin secretary of revenue, the state aims to create new jobs in the biotechnological field so future graduates such as Chizek won’t have to leave the state to work in their field.
Dane County residents will be healthier if the air is cleaner, so local forces are working to reduce bad air with help from the University of Wisconsin.
The Dane County Clean Air Coalition has received a $450,000 Wisconsin Partnership Fund grant from the UW School of Medicine and Public Health to prevent health risks caused by ground-level ozone, fine particles and toxic air pollutants.
While riding down a rural Irish lane so narrow that two cars could barely pass – much less avoid the wandering sheep – Gov. Jim Doyle mused out loud last week about the contrast between the bumpy road and the growing technology center that lay at its end.
Back in Wisconsin, Doyle said, most argue that the state must build expensive highways to lure factories and research facilities.
Richard Florida, the best-selling author, consultant and professor at Geaorge Mason University submits to a Q & A interview in which he says: “We need to massively, massively invest in our universities and colleges. For every University of Wisconsin, there is a state that doesn’t have one.” Florida says Madison is a “beacon,” partly because of the university.
UW’s Business School will see the first graduates of its new specialized MBA program go into the job market in 2006, its first chance to see how the new program works for employers and graduates.
“It is our expectation that these men and women will be extremely attractive candidates for jobs in their chosen field,” Michael Knetter said.
The specialty MBA program allows students to choose from among more than a dozen career specialties before starting the program.
The line to return textbooks snaked up the steps of University Book Store and into the lobby. People who wanted to buy books had to fight their way through the crowds.
“I kinda like the fact it’s crazy crowded,” University of Wisconsin-Madison sophomore Adam Markoff, from Northbrook, Ill., said Monday. “I might run into someone I know.”
Students have returned to campus and classes begin today. The mob scene at the bookstore, expected to continue all week, demonstrates the continued allure of buying and selling textbooks in person.
Gov. Jim Doyle says he will propose new steps to maintain Wisconsin’s status as a leader in embryonic stem cell research during his State of the State speech (tonight). In an interview (yesterday), Doyle said he aims to have Wisconsin capture 10 percent of the stem cell research market by 2015. By then, Doyle estimates, the industry will be worth $10 billion nationwide and will employ 100,000 people.
To get to that target, Doyle said he will call for the Department of Commerce to dedicate $5 million to find, fund and recruit companies that find practical applications for stem cell research, such as Cellular Dynamics, the Madison-based company established by stem cell pioneer and UW-Madison researcher James Thomson.
For years, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has existed in the shadow of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Marquette University. But under the leadership of chancellor Carlos Santiago, UWM is making strides to step to the forefront of Wisconsin universities, which is a positive development for the Milwaukee-area business community.
Madison is giving new meaning to “gene pool,” as a small but growing number of companies in the molecular diagnostic field are springing up around the university and attracting the attention of venture capitalists.
MADISON, Wis. — Over 320 movers and shakers from Madison’s business community came together at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center on Monday, Jan. 9 to recognize the recipients of this yearââ?¬â?¢s Best of Madison Business Awards, presented by Madison Magazine.
Honorees for 2006 included the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department (represented by Vince Sweeney, Senior Associate Athletic Director).
The gala also raises money for The Brian D. Howell Science and Communications Scholarship Fund which provides financial support for a college-level internship designed to encourage University of Wisconsin-Madison students to pursue interests in journalism, science, and new technology.
TomoTherapy, one of Madison’s fastest growing businesses, has raised an additional $14 million in investor financing.
It might seem odd that a long-haired hippie fresh out of University of Wisconsin-Madison would set aside his diplomas in business management and sociology, hop into a beat-up Corolla and head for Seattle, just to learn everything there is to know about coffee.
A new report commissioned by the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce in its effort to block a proposal to guarantee workers paid sick leave paints a catastrophic picture of what would happen if the measure were to be approved.
….UW-Madison economist Laura Dresser said that credible studies have shown that the sick leave ordinance would affect about 17 percent of businesses in Madison, and those firms would face less than a 3.5 percent increase in their labor costs.
She said that there were “serious problems” with the methodology employed by Northstar Economics, a private consulting group.
The Information Technology Association of Wisconsin has named a former Charter Communications executive and entrepreneur as its first president and CEO.
Jim Rice took the helm Jan. 1 at ITAW, which was formed last June by a group of Wisconsin businesses as the first statewide organization dedicated to advancing IT.
….In the early 1990s, Rice co-founded Stress Photonics, a technology spin-out from the UW-Madison Engineering Department in the area of thermoelastic stress analysis.
Unseasonably warm weather and another announcement that a state company received millions of dollars in venture funding make Wisconsin seem almost like, well, California.
Madison-based TomoTherapy Inc.’s revelation Wednesday that it raised an additional $14 million of private equity funding in late December brings to $33 million the amount of private equity capital three fast-growing Wisconsin firms said this week they’ve raised.
Up to 185 companies would leave Madison – taking with them nearly $21 million in property tax revenues – if the city enacts a proposal requiring employers to give workers paid sick days, according to a study to be released today by business advocates.
With electric rates and natural gas prices in Wisconsin soaring, customers have lost one of the most outspoken critics of utility profits.
Nino Amato was removed Monday as president of the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group, a trade organization that represents large manufacturers and energy users. He had served 4 years in that position.
….Amato’s departure comes 1 1/2 years after he lost the presidency of the Wisconsin Technical College System board, which he maintains was due to his outspoken stances on the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents.
Wisconsin lost $4.7 billion in household net worth over a five-year period as more highly paid and well-educated residents moved out of the state than came in, according to a study that also found high numbers of 20-somethings and seniors leaving.
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin lost $4.7 billion in household net worth over a five-year period as more highly paid and well-educated residents moved out of the state than came in, according to a study that also found high numbers of 20-somethings and seniors leaving.
It’s been nearly six months since Mithridion Inc., a Madison company developing drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease, won the top prize in the Governor’s Business Plan Contest. And the impact of its victory continues.
“It has raised awareness. People know who we are and know something about what we’re trying to do, which is always very helpful,” said Trevor Twose, Mithridion’s chief executive officer.
Twose, who co-founded the company with UW-Madison associate professor Jeff Johnson, is in the midst of raising money from angel investors to help Mithridion take the technology from UW to the next stage: developing a drug candidate.
Madison may have no trouble tooting its own horn, but it hasn’t done much with its flag. Unbeknown to many, the city has had an official flag since 1962.
….John Taylor, local philanthropist and owner of J Taylor’s Rare Maps, Notable Books and Antiquities on North Carroll Street, said he had city flags made because he wanted to display one in front of his store, which he opened about eight months ago. The flags are now for sale at Taylor’s store…. Taylor said he donates a portion of all store proceeds to the History of Cartography project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Trotting out Madison’s official flag is but one of the ways the city intends to honor its 150th birthday.
….Looking back over 2005, there are some things I’ll take the liberty of commenting on.
For the first time since the late 1800s the number of dairy farms in Wisconsin fell below 15,000. Some will blame government, big business, county extension agents, UW-Madison researchers, chemical companies, milk processors, media and even other farmers.
I say baloney, balderdash and b.s. Farmers are like other business owners: they do the best they can given the resources available.
Kristin Kent, a second year UW-Madison student in the university’s Master of Business Adminstration program, would like to see businesses make more socially responsible choices.
“Right now it is very easy and cheap to waste – natural resources, people, ecosystems, land are all disposable,” Kent said.
….”We’re more party Badger fans than football Badger fans,” (Steve) Bartlett said of himself and his wife Linda. “They play exciting football, but we just wanted to get away from the clouds and the snow and the cold.”
That’s why the Bartletts didn’t hesitate to book their trip here. The same can’t be said for thousands of other UW fans, who decided against this bowl trip for various reasons.
UW-Madison and its technology transfer organization, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, received more than $47.5 million in 2004 in licensing revenues, or fees paid to use the patents the university holds for inventions and discoveries made by campus faculty and researchers. That’s the third highest in the nation, according to the Association of University Technology Managers, behind the University of California System and New York University. It’s also $10 million more than the $37.5 million in licensing revenues the university collected in 2003, when it ranked 6th in the nation.
TomoTherapy has an enviable problem: how to fill more than 50 job openings.
MADISON – University Research Park head Mark Bugher, a former Republican cabinet officer, is spreading the message that UW and its research assets are a treasure often unappreciated close to home.
After recent travels to Europe and Florida, Bugher is convinced that Wisconsin has an economic dynamo in the making — a fact sometimes seen clearer from afar than inside the state’s borders.
And he notes some of the hurdles to full exploitation of the economic engine that is UW.
The University of Michigan has suspended sales of Coca-Cola products on its three campuses over allegations that the company permits human rights and environmental abuses abroad.
The suspension, which begins Jan. 1, will affect vending machines, residence halls, cafeterias and campus restaurants. Coke’s contracts with the university are worth about $1.4 million.
ââ?¬â? The controversial new power plant on the west side of the UW-Madison campus finally fired up in 2005 and began lighting and cooling area buildings in May.
ââ?¬â?Ã? Cellular Dynamics, the company formed by UW- Madison stem-cell pioneer James Thomson, received $2 million in grants and loans from the state.
Marching in the UW Band kept them in shape when they were in college. Eventually, they married two saxophone players who were brothers.
More recently Cathy and Joanne Gauthier were new moms looking for a fitness program that they could do with their young children.
So they decided to start a business called CJ Fitness and become licensed providers of Stroller Strides, a national workout program that combines power walking with intervals of body toning exercises.
….In the garment industry, Steve & Barry’s fits into an emerging category of “extreme-value retailers who go to off-the-beaten-track marketplaces like Madagascar where they can really get tremendous deals,” said Lois Huff of Retail Forward, a consulting firm in Columbus, Ohio.
They cater to tightfisted customers “looking for something that’s ‘good enough’ – decent quality at a great price,” Huff said. “There’s a huge shift in many consumers toward that kind of a mind-set.”
If lawsuits in state and federal courts against Madison taverns that sought to end some drink specials magically came to an end over the holiday season, tavern owners would still be out almost a half-million dollars in legal fees.
Campus area taverns had agreed to end the specials after they were pressured by the city and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But there is no chance that the legal actions, brought by the Minneapolis law firm of Lommen, Nelson, Cole & Stageberg on behalf of three UW students are going to end soon on either of two fronts.
Courtenay Sheffield, a University of Wisconsin-Madison marketing student, is leading a Swiss Colony campaign to stop fruitcake abuse and instead promote fruitcake whenever possible. Swiss Colony has even set up a Web site, ilovefruitcake.com.
Milio’s Sandwiches, the franchise formerly known as Big Mike’s Super Subs, is donating $100,000 to University of Wisconsin Children’s Hospital.
“Big Mike” Liautaud, founder and owner of company, presented a commitment check of $100,000 to the hospital today – along with a “sleigh full” of sandwiches for hospital staff – with a special holiday helper: Harlem Globetrotter guard Anthony Blake.
….In addition, for 2006, ’07 and ’08, Milio’s will partner with the hospital to raise funds and heighten awareness of the hospital and its programs.
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board has given preliminary approval to allocating up to $50 million to two new venture capital funds proposed by state firms Mason Wells and Venture Investors.
The Mason Wells Biomedical Fund II and Venture Investors Early Stage Fund IV are planned to focus on seed and early stage financing of life science opportunities coming out of Wisconsin universities and medical research facilities, said Monica Jaehnig, Wisconsin private equity portfolio manager. But the investments will not be limited to state firms.
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board would allocate up to $50 million to two Wisconsin venture funds that have made most of their investments in state companies, under a plan given preliminary approval Wednesday.
Students and anti-sweatshop activists celebrated University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor John Wiley’s embrace of much of their plan to reduce sweatshop labor.
But they said they would proceed carefully to make sure the university and its 150 clothing licensees proceed in good faith to help the workers who make UW logo apparel receive better pay and working conditions.
Henry Sanders Jr. is a free man again, so to speak.
After two years of seemingly nonstop work as vice president of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, he stepped down earlier this month, just as the chamber prepares for its fight against the proposed paid sick-leave law.
Three top executives of Milwaukee-area start-ups said Monday that southeastern Wisconsin has the potential but nowhere near the critical mass of companies needed for a vibrant biotech effort.
An educated work force, the relatively new master of science in biotechnology program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison geared toward producing managers, and a desire to develop a biotech industry are all helping efforts in the region and the state, said Frank Langley, chief executive officer at PointOne Systems LLC in Wauwatosa.
ST. PAUL, Minn. ââ?¬â? The University of St. Thomas is trying to give the creator of the next Microsoft or Best Buy a leg up on competitors with its new Schulze School of Entrepreneurship.
The university’s $22 million school in downtown Minneapolis not only aims to lecture to students about entrepreneurship, but also to give them virtually all the tools they’ll need to start a business.
A landmark downtown Madison tavern has closed its doors after nearly 30 years in business. Stillwaters, which has anchored the high profile intersection of State Street and East Johnson since the 1970s, has not renewed its lease at 250 State St. and will not reopen.
….(Marsh) Shapiro, who owns the two Nitty Gritty taverns in Madison, said he didn’t think the city smoking ban had anything to do with the closing.
“I’d like to say that’s the reason but I don’t think it had much to do with it,” Shapiro said.
But Shapiro said all downtown tavern owners are feeling the pressure over the class action lawsuit filed by UW-Madison students over the end of campus area drink specials. The case is still pending.
A senior scientist at the Waisman Center on the UW campus was killed Friday morning when his car skidded out of control on a slippery rural road and was struck by a pickup truck.
Killed was Vladimir Budker, 64, who lived on Sunrise Ridge Trail in the town of Springfield. Along with his work at the Waisman Center, Budker was a co-founder of the Mirus Bio Corp., a gene therapy firm that has been exploring ways to combat such diseases as muscular dystrophy and anemia.
The Manager’s Workshop, created in the mid-1990s by University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business professor Randall Dunham, is used by numerous business schools across North America.
Dane County businesses that depend on local customers to buy their products are not as confident about adding to sales, profits and employees in 2006 as are companies that sell to a broader base, according to a new report.
The Dane County Economic Survey, released Wednesday, shows that 68.5 percent of companies with clients nationwide expect their earnings to rise next year. But among businesses that operate mainly in the Madison area, 51.8 percent are expecting higher profits in 2006.
Critical mass is important in building collaborations such as the one about which InvivoSciences is in preliminary discussions with Madison-based Gilson Inc.
Gilson is a privately held business started by a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor in 1953 that makes lab equipment like the Gilson Pipetman, a range of pipettes, or glass tubes that lab workers use to suction fluids.
Nearly half of Dane County’s businesses say they are earning more money this year than in 2004, and 57 percent say they expect profits to rise again in 2006.
But projections for the coming year are down from the levels of a year ago, according to the third annual Dane County Economic Survey, scheduled for release today. That’s due, in part, to higher energy costs and increased prices for materials, following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
“I would call (the results) less optimistic,” said Corey Chambas, chief executive officer of First Business Bank, Madison. “People are still positive but not as positive as last year.”
Luther’s Blues may be reborn as a Latin dance club – with free salsa lessons on Saturdays – if brothers Javier and Martin Palacios can convince the city that their business plan is sound.
….The brothers say they have gotten positive feedback from meetings they’ve had with local officials. Javier Palacios joined the Dane County Tavern League in March to network and seek advice about the venture.
But two UW administrators who have influence with the alcohol license committee say they are taking a wait-and-see attitude. They both are concerned that the venue, no matter who runs it, is too large to operate in the middle of campus.
If only . . . one of the giant pharmaceutical companies would build in Wisconsin. That’s been the mantra of those who have tried to push the state forward as a national biotechnology center.
At a conference in the Madison area Monday, they got a glimmer of encouragement.
The University of Wisconsin has tied Harvard as the most common alma mater for top executives, according to Spencer Stuart, an executive search firm.
Madison, Wis. ââ?¬â? A report from the Association of University Technology Managers has ranked UW-Madison and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation third in the country in value of the inventions created by faculty members for 2004, behind only the University of California System, counted as a single entity in second place, and New York University.
UW-Madison and its technology transfer organization — the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation — received more than $47.5 million last year in licensing revenues, or fees paid to use the patents the university holds for inventions and discoveries made by campus faculty and researchers. That’s the third highest in the nation, according to the Association of University Technology Managers, behind only the University of California System and New York University.
The Fitchburg Technology Campus has broken ground on a second building to house early-stage companies that will have Imago Scientific Instruments as its anchor tenant – the second local nanotechnology company to move onto the campus.
The fast-growing Imago Scientific ââ?¬â? a UW-Madison spinoff company ââ?¬â?Ã? has won national attention for a microscope that can provide 3-D images of samples down to the level of individual atoms.
There will be more space for young technology companies at the MGE Innovation Center at University Research Park. A $1 million remodeling project will add 20 suites to the center, at 510 Charmany Drive, in space being vacated by Epic Systems. The Innovation Center currently houses 34 companies and demand for incubator space continues to grow.
A search engine for presentations recorded and archived on Sonic’s technology, Mediasite.com debuted Thursday, featuring talks on a range of subjects. They include UW-Madison Medical School professor Dennis Maki discussing infectious diseases such as avian flu and former presidential candidate John Kerry speaking to a rally in Madison last year.
Twenty suites for early-stage companies will be added at University Research Park in a $1 million renovation of space being vacated by Epic Health Systems with its move to its new Verona headquarters.
The “incubator” space will feature suites ranging from 700 square feet to nearly twice that size on the east side of the MGE Innovation Center, 510 Charmany Drive. Construction is set to begin Monday.
The Innovation Center currently houses 34 companies, mostly start-ups, and Research Park director Mark Bugher said the demand for incubator space continues to grow as tech firms spin out of the UW-Madison or young companies with UW ties look for ways to relocate in Madison.
