Quoted: Charles West, program director for sales and sales management programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business.
Changing with the times
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Category: Business/Technology
Big expansion for ex-Tetrionics facility
Capital Times
St. Louis-based biotech giant Sigma-Aldrich Corp., which has more than 6,000 employees and operations in 34 countries, confirmed that it will continue with a major expansion of a local biotech facility it acquired last year.
The company said the project will add 38,000 square feet to the 23,500-square-foot building at 645 Science Drive in University Research Park that houses what was Tetrionics. The former Tetrionics is now part of SAFC, a custom chemical manufacturer and a division of Sigma-Aldrich.
Remain on course to economic growth
Wisconsin State Journal
Most of us work harder at our jobs when we can see we are succeeding. So Wisconsin policy-makers and business executives should work harder on the job of economic development in the upcoming year than their counterparts in any surrounding state.
Rob Zaleski: Upscale homes put prairie at risk
Capital Times
Greg Armstrong, the former director of the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, saw it coming.
He knew that when the Fitchburg City Council approved the upper-crust Harlan Hills subdivision in 1998 – shortly after Fitchburg residents had voted not to borrow $750,000 to help purchase the 73-acre site just east of Seminole Highway – it was yet another setback for the Arboretum’s prized but ecologically fragile Greene Prairie.
Reader views: Extend benefits to all
Wisconsin State Journal
Extend benefits to all In response to the Monday editorial, “Allow the UW system domestic partner insurance benefits,” we need to go one step further and allow all state employees the same. It is already set for city and county government employees. Why not the UW and state?
Potosi turns to UW-Platteville students for help
Wisconsin State Journal
The village of Potosi has tourism potential. But like many rural communities, it doesn’t have much capital to invest in developing it.
UW-Platteville has always made itself available to help surrounding communities, said Duane Ford, dean of the College of Business, Industry, Life Science and Agriculture. Five years ago, however, the business of helping became official with the formation of the Community University Partnership.
Business leaders bullish about 2005
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Donald A. Nichols, professor of economics and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Big guns target Holtzman
Capital Times
A determined effort is under way to unseat Ald. Steve Holtzman, the city alderman for District 19 since 1995.
Challenger Noel Radomski has already tapped the endorsement of City Council President Brenda Konkel and the high-profile services of Mark Bugher, director of University Research Park and chair of the Economic Development Commission. Bugher has signed on as campaign treasurer.
Reader views: Wage too low, even for students
Wisconsin State Journal
Wage too low, even for students Mac VerStanding claims raising the minimum wage would ruin State Street, which he describes as “lined with locally owned stores staffed largely by college students doing homework behind the counter.” He goes on to suggest that these college students are well taken care of with financial aid and pre-paid room and board: Even paid a mere $5.15 an hour, these students greatly appreciate the wage, which goes to textbooks or walking-around money.
Madison’s InterWorks deals in disaster response
Wisconsin State Journal
In the North Few Street offices of a low-profile company called InterWorks, Paul Thompson prepared informally Tuesday for a disaster of tsunami proportions.
Thompson, 61, an architect, was one of the founders of the UW-Madison Disaster Management Center in 1982.
Susan Lampert-Smith: Optimists Want Stand In The Wurst Way
Wisconsin State Journal
It’s enough to turn an Optimist into a pessimist.
And it raises the cosmic question: Just what is it worth to sell a bratwurst inside Camp Randall Stadium?
Tom Still: Lawmakers must embrace Doyle’s biotech plan
Wisconsin State Journal
The response has been less than overwhelming to Gov. Jim Doyle’s proposal to invest nearly $750 million in public and private money in Wisconsin’s biotechnology future. Budget-conscious members of the Legislature have choked on the price tag, opponents on stem cell research have once again protested, and Milwaukee politicians have asked if they’re being shortchanged in favor of Madison.
Lawmakers must embrance Doyle’s biotech plan (Wisconsin State Journal)
“The response has been less than overwhelming to Governor Jim Doyle’s proposal to invest nearly $750 million in public and private money in the state’s biotechnology future…,” says Wisconsin Technology Council president Tom Still.
“Doyle should address all legitimate gripes about the specifics of his plan, but he shouldn’t back down a nanometer on the core idea behind it: Wisconsin has a chance to be a national leader in biotechnology, including stem cell research, and that opportunity won’t wait forever while we wring our hands.” (12/26/04 Opinion)
Gard wants ‘sunshine’ law
Capital Times
Assembly Speaker John Gard has proposed a new “sunshine” law that would require any individual or organization that attempts to win a procurement or construction contract with the state to register and report on their activities to the state Ethics Board, as lobbyists do.
Students to Bear More of the Cost of College
New York Times
College students in virtually every state will be required to shoulder more of the cost of their education under new federal rules that govern most of the nation’s financial aid.
Because of the changes, which take effect next fall and are expected to save the government $300 million in the 2005-6 academic year, at least 1.3 million students will receive smaller Pell Grants, the nation’s primary scholarship for those of low income, according to two analyses of the new rules.
Should contractors with state report to Ethics Board?
Wisconsin State Journal
Contractors seeking work from the state would have to report to the state Ethics Board how they try to influence the procurement process under a change proposed Wednesday by Assembly Speaker John Gard….Gard’s proposal would include building contractors, who do about $400 million a year in work through the state Building Commission.
Lawmaker to propose contract disclosures
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Saying too little is known about how private firms win state contracts, Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) said Wednesday he will propose changes that would require executives to disclose their meetings with state officials who control those contracts.
UW’s DeLuca tops Madison biz awards
Capital Times
UW-Madison Professor Hector DeLuca and three local proponents of economic development were the winners of the fifth annual Best of Madison Business Awards from Madison Business, which is part of Madison Magazine.
DeLuca, chair of the UW Biochemistry Department and CEO of Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals, received the Brian D. Howell Award for Excellence in Innovation.
Only UW won’t offer same-sex benefit
Wisconsin State Journal
Starting next month, UW- Madison will be the only Big Ten university that does not offer health insurance for the partners of its gay and lesbian staff. It’s a distinction school officials say will hurt the university’s ability to recruit and retain employees.
Penn State University, the only other holdout, will add it as an official benefit, likely in January. Penn State now offers such coverage using private donations.
Health insurance for domestic partners is not allowed for state employees, including at the university, under Wisconsin law. Coupled with the state’s long-standing, lower- than-average salaries, it hurts the university’s competitive edge, school officials said.
Stem-cell study nears next level (AP)
IRVINE, Calif. – So far, not a single person has been helped by human embryonic stem cells.
But in cramped university labs, a young neurobiologist with movie-star good looks, a Carl Sagan-like fondness for the popular media and an entrepreneur’s nose for profits is getting tantalizingly close.
Stem cell funding sought (Baltimore Sun)
Fearful that California’s investment in stem cell science will sap Maryland’s biotech industry, two lawmakers are proposing legislation to dedicate $25 million a year to helping the state’s scientists pursue the promising but controversial research.
Quoted: Terry Devitt, a spokesman for the University of Wisconsin. (Login required.)
Close isthmus on Halloween? Option is most extreme idea eyed to halt violence
Capital Times
City officials, anxious to head off another Halloween disaster, considered options Thursday ranging from closing off the entire isthmus to moving the bash away from its State Street home.
University of Wisconsin Defends Semiconductor Patent (WPR)
Wisconsin Public Radio
(MADISON) The University of Wisconsin is aggressively defending its patent for a semiconductor process developed on campus. The University has just settled out of court with Samsung Electronics, and is now targeting another electronics giant on a similar matter.
Work Begins on Vet Lab (WSJ)
Construction began Wednesday on the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, a $24 million building on the UW-Madison Campus.
Great Wolf Resorts’ IPO met by wave of traders
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: Jim Seward, UW- Madison associate professor of finance and director of the Nicholas Center for Applied Corporate Finance.
Trials of vaccine trade
Wisconsin State Journal
Visitors to Gary Rattmann’s barn dress like they’re in an operating room rather than on a farm.
“We’re very careful,” Rattmann said. “People aren’t allowed in the building unless they’re completely gowned up.”
The weirder side of WARF’s patents (WisBusiness.com)
www.wisbusiness.com
Over the past eight decades, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, or WARF, has helped patent and manage discoveries that have profoundly affected human health.
And, some might say, human history
It’s The Holidays, And We Are Going For Broke
Wisconsin State Journal
Kristi Slack of Stoughton can remember past years when the bills from her holiday spending in December could take until the following May to pay off.
So now, rather than pay into the summer after, the 35-year-old social work professor at UW-Madison starts saving for presents the summer before the giving season.
Ending Bitter Fight, PeopleSoft’s Board Agrees to Merger With Rival Software Maker Oracle
Chronicle of Higher Education
After resisting for 18 months, PeopleSoft Inc. agreed on Monday to merge with the Oracle Corporation. The news came as a disappointment to many college officials who are wary about Oracle’s gaining control over PeopleSoft’s software products, which are widely used in higher education and which compete with Oracle’s own offerings.
Business-school IT director points to reasons for wireless trend (WTN)
Wisconsin Technology Network
Madison, Wis. ââ?¬â? While the Madison chapter of the World Future Society is dedicated primarily to looking ahead for new social and technological developments, Scott Converse showed them how looking to the past can also be important if they want to see where the next big thing is coming from.
Converse, an information technology director at the UW-Madison School of Business and founder of the Web integration firm Can�t Dance Technologies, spoke to the society on Thursday at the Fluno Center about what he sees as the next big technoloy innovation.
Suit filed to stop city wage law
Capital Times
A coalition of business associations has filed a lawsuit to try to stop a minimum wage increase in the city of Madison, striving to overturn a hard-fought victory by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.
State start-ups need help sooner
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
It isn�t a shortage of venture capital that�s holding back Wisconsin business start-ups, it�s a flow of deals that comes in drips, not gushers.
Wells Fargo gets OK to run EdVest
Capital Times
California-based Wells Fargo & Co. will take over Wisconsin’s college savings programs once its acquisition of Strong Financial Corp. is finalized, providing a seamless transition for investors, state officials said Thursday.
UW cancels plan for dorm at University Square
Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has canceled its plans to put a 700-800 bed residence hall into the University Square development, said Alan Fish, associate vice chancellor for facilities, planning and management. Instead, the project will go forward with private apartments, said Susan Springman, spokeswoman for the developer, Executive Management Inc.
‘A good deal for taxpayers’ (Isthmus)
A few years ago, when Genesis Enterprise Center was looking for new office space, it tried to buy the Villager Mall.
Located in the 2200 and 2300 blocks of South Park Street, the Villager is home to a city library and public health center, as well as outreach offices for tye UW-Madison, MATC and Edgewood College, an Asian grocery store and other tenants.
New Calif. Agency Begins Stem Cell Project (AP)
Aggregate Research Industries
IRVINE, Calif. – Californians voted by a wide margin last month to pass a landmark $3 billion initiative to fund stem-cell research. That may have been the easy part.
UW open-source 3D environment tapped for commercial development
Wisconsin Technology Network
The North Carolina simulated learning company 3Dsolve is the latest partner in the development of the Croquet Project at UW-Madison, a graphical communications framework. The company announced on Monday at the I/ITSEC trade show in Orlando that it has begun developing software for the Croquet system to see how it can be applied to military and commercial avenues.
Device may be new pathway to the brain
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The tongue. It wiggles and waggles and shapes words conveying our brain’s thoughts.It also sends signals to the brain. And by manipulating those signals electronically, Wisconsin scientists say they may be able to help chronically dizzy patients walk again, help Navy divers find their way in murky waters and help the blind to see.
Merry pet gifts
Capital Times
It doesn’t really matter if they’ve been naughty or nice. American pets are increasingly being treated as members of the family, and that means participating in holiday celebrations, including getting, and sometimes giving, gifts. UW-Madison lecturer Patricia McConnell is quoted.
UW open-source 3D environment tapped for commercial development
Wisconsin Technology Network
Source: www.croquetproject.org
Madison, Wis. ââ?¬â? The North Carolina simulated learning company 3Dsolve is the latest partner in the development of the Croquet Project at UW-Madison, a graphical communications framework.
Milk prices boost dairy farmers
Wisconsin State Journal
After a year of unexpectedly high milk prices, more Wisconsin dairy producers are starting to invest in their operations, the head of the state’s largest farmers’ group said Monday.
At the Farm Bureau’s annual meeting at the Marriott Madison West in Middleton, UW- Madison researchers told about 500 farmers that the state’s economy could gain from strengthening an agribusiness sector that sends $51.5 billion circulating through Wisconsin each year.
Wisconsin boy with cancer becomes USC’s biggest hero (Tallahasse.com 12/4)
… Through his job at the UW-Madison Graduate School of Banking, Kirby Davidson met Jim Phillips, who sits on the Trojans’ board of directors. …
Thomson Warns California May Lure Wis. Researchers (wisbusiness.com)
www.wisbusiness.com
MADISON — California may not be able to lure famed stem cell researcher James Thomson away from UW-Madison.
But Thomson, the molecular biologist who first isolated and reproduced human embryonic stem cells, believes many talented post-doctoral researchers will be headed to the� Golden State.
Campus ‘Net Nerds’ get ‘tons’ of clients
Capital Times
Last school year Kristen Berman and her roommates spent way too much on beer to pay their neighbor for fixing their spyware-riddled computer. This school year the UW-Madison junior and marketing business major is running a thriving business fixing computers.
Students will show off biomedical devices to professors and investors (Wisconsin Technology Network)
Wisconsin Technology Network
Madison, Wis. ââ?¬â? Students at the University of Wisconsin’s biomedical engineering department will have a chance to bring a semesterââ?¬â?¢s worth of work into the spotlight on Friday at the Biomedical Engineering Design Expo.
Gulbrandsen: UW’s stem cell program primed for growth (wisbusiness.com)
www.wisbusiness.com
Carl E. Gulbrandsen, managing director of Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and president of WiCell Research Institute, spoke recently with WisBusiness.com’s Brian Leaf about recent developments involving stem cells and their implications for Wisconsin.
Sinking dollar mainly hits those traveling
Wisconsin State Journal
Bill Steckel and his wife were planning a spring trip to Europe, but a hitch recently developed in their plans: The dollar has fallen to historic lows, making their vacation potentially much more expensive than they had anticipated.
“The short-term effect is going to be that it makes imported goods more expensive,” said UW-Madison economics professor Charles Engel.
State start-ups may get more financial help
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board is evaluating whether it should invest more in new Wisconsin companies, the agency’s top executive told a group of money managers in Milwaukee Tuesday.
New state network to aid startup firms
Capital Times
The state Department of Commerce will spend $5 million over the next five years to set up and run a statewide network aimed at spawning more small businesses in Wisconsin, Gov. Jim Doyle announced.
Doyle said the program, authorized by legislation he signed earlier this year, will serve more than 10,000 people and contribute more than $500 million to the state’s economy in its first year.
Mentor commissions biotech facility here
Capital Times
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Mentor Corp. announced that it has begun operating its new manufacturing facility at 535 Science Drive in University Research Park.
The plant was designed specifically for the production of products utilizing the botulinum toxin technology that Mentor licensed from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation last December.
Developer gets an earful about affordable housing
Capital Times
New apartments for more than 300 students would become available near the corner of Broom and Gorham in August 2006 if the plan of two Madison developers passes the scrutiny of Madison Plan Commission members and the City Council. Some are objecting, however.
State and university reach out to Wisc0nsin entrepreneurs (WTN)
Wisconsin Technology Network
Gov. Jim Doyle, right, is joined by Commerce Sec. Cory Nettles to talk about aiding entrepreneurs.
Madison, Wis. ââ?¬â? Wisconsinââ?¬â?¢s Department of Commerce will fund a public-sector coalition to provide entrepreneurs with business planning and other assistance at centers around the state, Governor Jim Doyle announced on Monday.
Business’ cranberries in new ice cream flavor (Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune)
Urban Processing is bringing its sweetened dried cranberry flair to ice cream. Cranberry cheesecake ice cream that is.
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect when staff members from the University of Wisconsin’s Babcock Hall Dairy in Madison came calling for a cranberry product to use in a new ice cream, said Cheryl Urban, president of Urban Processing.
Mentor Biologics moves into research park (WSJ)
Mentor Biologics has moved into University Research Park. Mentor will make a form of botulinum toxin designed to compete with the popular Botox.
Mentor has patents licensed from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
Women’s volleyball: UW hosting NCAA tourney games
Capital Times
Despite a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten Conference, the University of Wisconsin volleyball team earned the right to host first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games by being awarded one of the tournament’s top 16 seeds.
California’s New Stem-Cell Initiative Is Already Raising Concerns
New York Times
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 26 – As California moves to begin a lushly financed program of embryonic stem cell research, medical ethicists and other skeptics are concerned that the $3 billion that state voters approved for the endeavor could become a bonanza for private profiteers. (Login required.)
Colleges Seek a Record Number of Patents
Chronicle of Higher Education
Colleges and universities in the 2003 fiscal year filed for more patents, identified a greater number of scientific discoveries with commercial potential than ever, and signed a record number of licenses with companies seeking to turn academic inventions into drugs, devices, and other products, according to a report released this week. (Subscription required.)
“We are FBC.” (Madison Magazine)
Madison Magazine
Family-owned or – controlled businesses total at least 70 percent of all businesses nationwide. Rather than the usual round of executive education classes you might find at other college campuses, UW-Madison’s Family Business Center, which runs out of the Fluno Center, offers a membership program with a slew of services that incorporate best business practices with the academic research possibilities that only a world-class university can offer.
Charles Hoslet: The Doyle Initiative
www.wisbusiness.com
If you allow your imagination to wander, you can imagine a world ten, 15 or 20 years from now that is quite different from what we know today. Imagine a world where we are not going to our doctors to find out how to treat heart disease or diabetes, but how to prevent them
Area researchers fear stem cell brain drain (Ann Arbor, Mich. News)
Michigan officials ponder the effects of California’s stem-cell initiative there.