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Category: Business/Technology

On Campus: UW-Madison a partner in Chicago manufacturing lab

Wisconsin State Journal

The newly formed Digital Lab for Manufacturing will develop a variety of digital tools to enhance efficiency and lower the cost of manufactured products. The Defense Department kicked in $70 million to the effort, with companies and research universities throughout the country joining as partners.

Tom Still: Tech-based innovation across America: Wisconsin is far from alone

Wisconsin State Journal

The SSTI (State Science and Technology Institute) praised the UW-Madison?s investment in its ?Discovery to Product? initiative to help move good ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace. That?s an idea funded, in part, by the Legislature?s UW System Incentive Grants. Only this month, the UW System and WEDC announced creation of a $2 million fund to help transfer technology from other system campuses.

College kids’ business changes name to Canary

Wicked Local, Boston

A company started by a Cohasset college student has undergone an important name change ? from Cbay to Canary. The change was made to avoid confusion with that ?other? online auction site that starts with an ?e.? Unlike that other site, however, Canary sells goods on a client?s behalf and donates a portion of sales to charity.

WOOF Supplies pays it forward…with notebooks

Badger Herald

This past year a colorful new assortment of notebooks with canine characteristics reached the shelves of the University Bookstore here in Madison. You may have given ?paws? to the WOOF logo as you strolled down the paper aisle in that frantic last-minute rush to fetch some school supplies before the new semester. Perhaps you stopped to admire the howling pup on the cover or even purchased one out of sheer adoration. But you probably didn?t know that ?WOOF? isn?t just what the dog says or merely some vibrant notebook with a dog graphic on it. WOOF Supplies is a charitable organization that seeks to enhance educational opportunities for underprivileged students in the U.S. WOOF is an acronym for ?Working On Our Future,? and it aspires to do just that.

Silent sports contribute millions

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Skiers, bikers and other silent sports enthusiasts spent $26.4 million in trips to three northern Wisconsin counties in 2012, resulting in $14.7 million being pumped into the counties economies, according to a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension Department of Urban and Regional Planning.

UW-Madison School of Business gets $1.1M from accounting firm

Madison.com

Ernst & Young’s pledge includes $850,000 for the Global Mindset Leaders program and the remaining funds going to other accounting programs. The global mindset idea has two components: academic and extra-curricular activities for undergraduate business students that demonstrate the value of diversity in the classroom, workplace and business environment, and secondly, scholarships to under-represented minority students.

Morgridge Institute’s SWAMP project launches to root out software vulnerabilities

Wisconsin State Journal

A new project based in Madison aims to root out software vulnerabilities that can leave the door open for viruses, website hacking or other forms of cybercrime, estimated as a $100 billion industry. The SWAMP, or the Software Assurance Marketplace, is a collaboration of the private, nonprofit Morgridge Institute for Research along with UW-Madison, Indiana University and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

Gene Patent Case Fuels U.S. Court Test of Stem Cell Right

Bloomberg

As scientists get closer to using embryonic stem cells in new treatments for blindness, spinal cord injuries and heart disease, a U.S. legal debate could determine who profits from that research. Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit advocacy group, wants an appeals court to invalidate a University of Wisconsin-Madison?s patent for stem cells derived from human embryos, saying it?s too similar to earlier research. The Santa Monica, California, group also says the U.S. Supreme Court?s June ruling limiting ownership rights of human genes should apply to stem cells, a potentially lucrative field for medical breakthroughs.

UW students train computers to play angry birds

Daily Cardinal

Artificial Intelligence is defined as the ability for a machine such as a computer to perform functions analogous to learning and decision making. This past summer undergraduates Anjali Narayan-Chen and Liqi Xu taught the computer how to play Angry Birds. Angry birds is a popular game where using a slingshot, the player shoots wingless birds to kill pigs. And like other games, there are several levels of difficulty, different sizes and colors of birds, and different obstacles. With each game, new birds and special abilities can be activated by the player.

Rehabilitative device bridges the gap between stroke victims’ brains and hands

Gizmag

We?ve recently seen rehabilitative systems in which stroke victims use their thoughts either to move animated images of their paralyzed limbs, or to activate robotic devices that guide their limbs through the desired movements. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, however, have just announced an alternative approach. Their device acts as an intermediary between the brain and a non-responsive hand, receiving signals from the one and transmitting them to the other.

Still: Ten trends defining tech-based development in Wisconsin

WisBusiness.com

Campus entrepreneurism: A decade ago, it was difficult to find organized entrepreneurial education programs on Wisconsin campuses, the exceptions being the Weinert Center of Entrepreneurship at UW-Madison and the Kohler Center for Entrepreneurship at Marquette University. Today, such programs are relatively widespread and popular. At the UW-Whitewater, for example, the “Launch Pad” is a student business incubator. At the UW-Madison, a dormitory floor has been set aside for self-identified entrepreneurs. This campus fad won?t soon fade.