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Category: Business/Technology

Campus Connection: UW to unveil alternate uniforms for Sept. 27 game at Nebraska

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Capital Times

The University of Wisconsin will be unveiling an alternate uniform design that the Badgers football team will be wearing for its Sept. 29 game at Nebraska, an athletic department official confirmed Tuesday evening. Last week the World-Herald reported on Nebraska?s apparently much-anticipated unveiling of the Cornhuskers? alternate uniform for the late-September showdown that will be the Big Ten Conference opener for both teams….This whole situation could be viewed as a little awkward for both the university and Adidas, as a long-simmering dispute between UW-Madison and the apparel giant ended up in Dane County Circuit Court on July 13 due to allegations of sweatshop abuses at a factory Adidas subcontracted with in Indonesia.

Biz Beat: Rotary president Sparkman wants to shine a light on economic disparities

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Capital Times

Wesley Sparkman would like to say life for African-Americans in Madison has improved since he was pulled over by police for no reason other his Illinois license plates while attending the UW in the early 1990s. Unfortunately, Sparkman realizes much work needs to be done. He?s quick to quote statistics showing that nearly a third of black men under age 55 (and 47 percent of those ages 25-29) in Dane County are either in jail, on probation or under court supervision.

Madison police increase Downtown presence

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Wisconsin State Journal

The weekend after police had to use pepper spray to quell several fights among a hostile crowd in the troubled 600 block of University Avenue, officers were out in force driving home the message that violence and intimidation by people congregating outside Downtown bars won?t be tolerated. At 12:30 a.m. Saturday, three marked police vehicles were parked on the north side of the 600 block of University Avenue with several officers standing watch on the street as two others handcuffed a man suspected of dealing drugs. A fourth squad car was stationed across North Frances Street from Wando?s bar, where the mayhem had broken out early July 22.

Investors save Edgewater, offer developer millions the city refused to give

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Wisconsin State Journal

Developer Robert Dunn is forging ahead with a $98 million rebirth of the historic Edgewater hotel, but with no public financial assistance and a new investment by a group including philanthropists W. Jerome Frautschi and Pleasant Rowland. Dunn, resurrecting the most controversial, polarizing development project in years, intends to follow plans approved by the city two years ago and break ground this fall. Dunn intends to get a building permit, break ground for the Downtown and campus-area attraction on UW-Madison’s homecoming weekend Oct. 26, and finish the project in the late spring of 2014.

Property Trax: Madison ranked No. 1 city in U.S. for young adults, beating out Austin, Texas

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Wisconsin State Journal

Madison was ranked No. 1 by Kiplinger?s Personal Finance today (Wednesday) on a new list of the Top 5 best cities for young adults. The magazine said Madison was an ?educated, tech-savvy city? with many recent college graduates who help foster an ?entrepreneurial community? for start-up companies. Its intellectual capital also was bolstered by the presence of UW-Madison and other colleges, along with Epic Systems, a top health care software developer based in Verona.

UW-Madison receives $7M grant for manure conversion projects

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison has received a $7 million federal grant that will help a large dairy farm near Green Bay convert cow manure into ethanol, fertilizer and mulch.”The idea is to use virtually everything,” said John Markley, a biochemistry professor and a principal investigator for the project, which is a joint effort between the university, Madison-based biotech company Soil Net and Maple Leaf dairy farm near Green Bay.

Editorial: Root for important research

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Wisconsin State Journal

It?s exciting to see stem cell pioneer James Thomson attracting millions of more dollars to Wisconsin for exciting research. Yes, the famed scientist and so many of his talented colleagues in the public and private sectors still call Madison their home ? something we should all be proud of and thankful for. Thomson?s lab just landed a $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to help speed the discovery of drugs and improve their safety for humans.

The State Journal reported in April that Madison’s stem cell enterprise may not be as big as those in Boston, San Diego, San Francisco and other big cities on the coasts. Yet Madison likely has more people per capita working in the field ? and a drive to stay on top. Let’s root for this important sector of our economy that’s increasingly important in saving, improving and extending lives.

Chris Rickert: Kohl’s gets deal; retirees get … job?

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Wisconsin State Journal

A recent UW-Madison study projects 766,326 of the 808,914 additional people living in Wisconsin in 2040 will be over 65 ? a demographic shift that almost certainly will require more taxpayer-funded medical, housing and income help for this group whose working days largely will be over. So clearly, giving a multibillion-dollar company up to $62.5 million in tax credits over 12 years is the prudent thing to do.

Pepper spray used to break up bar time fights on University Avenue

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Capital Times

Fights that broke out at bar time on University Avenue early Sunday morning were quelled by a police sergeant using pepper spray on the combatants. Madison police said the fights started up in a large crowd milling around bars in the 600 block of University Avenue. “The sergeant was monitoring the large crowd,” said police spokesman Joel DeSpain in a news release. “When the fights broke out, the sergeant hoped to keep the violence from escalating and was concerned weapons could become involved.”

Wisconsin frac sand sites double

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Capital Times

The number of Wisconsin frac sand mining operations has more than doubled in the past year, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism found, and the state leads the nation in production….A year ago, the Center identified 41 facilities operating or proposed in the state. This summer 87 are operating or under construction, with another 20 facilities in the proposal stage.

Time to toot the ?high tech? horn

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Wisconsin Radio Network

Both the UW-System and high-tech manufacturing companies in Southern Wisconsin need to do a better job at promoting themselves. That was a common theme at recent panel at a UW-Madison conference on university-business partnerships. Mike Andrew, a global affairs director at Johnson Controls, said UW schools have ?an excellent reputation? for research. However, he still encounters people outside Wisconsin who believe ?if it?s worth happening, it?s only happening at MIT or Berkeley.?

Big boost in state population seen, especially older residents, study says

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Wisconsin State Journal

The number of Wisconsin residents older than 65 will double within 30 years, suggesting a host of challenges that future employers, leaders and taxpayers will face, a new state study shows. Released Thursday by the state Department of Administration, the report by UW-Madison?s Applied Population Laboratory predicts the state?s overall population will grow by about 800,000 people by 2040, bringing the total to about 6.5 million.

Big challenges for graying state

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Wisconsin State Journal

….Wow. We?re graying fast. And that means longer lives, something we all hope for. In fact, Wisconsin enjoys higher life expectancies than the nation as a whole, a trend that?s expected to continue. But our rapidly aging population also will mean fewer workers per retiree to pay the state?s bills for everything from schools to health care to government services for the elderly and poor. And that makes keeping, educating and attracting young, talented, highly productive people more important than ever for Wisconsin. Our state and region need to encourage entrepreneurs, innovation and technology that lead to more high-paying jobs.

All About Jobs

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Madison Magazine

Noted: Attitudes are similar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Wisconsin School of Business. ?We don?t look at what we?re doing as a training program,? says Steve Schroeder, assistant dean for the bachelor?s of business administration program and director of its Business Career Center. ?We?re different than that. We?re not in the profession of training students for a particular job. I think what we do?and do particularly well?is train students on how to think, how to solve problems and how to analyze situations.?

Common Council passes amended Downtown Plan

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Daily Cardinal

After years of planning, city officials approved a plan Tuesday outlining what downtown Madison will look like in the next 20 years. The Downtown Plan concept began in 2008 but was introduced for the first time to Madison?s Common Council in November 2011. According to the plan?s text, it ?builds on a rich planning tradition to provide a dynamic framework for the next 20 years.?

Economic development study group to provide update Thursday

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Wisconsin State Journal

Business, labor, community and academic leaders will get a briefing Thursday in Madison about a study in progress that will look at how well prepared Wisconsin is to meet the needs of businesses for skilled employees in coming years….The briefing will be hosted by Madison Area Technical College, UW-Madison, UW Colleges, UW-Extension and Competitive Wisconsin.

After years of preparation, Madison poised to adopt new blueprint for Downtown

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Wisconsin State Journal

Years in the making, a proposed Downtown Plan envisions a two-acre park built on fill in Lake Monona, a boardwalk from James Madison Park to UW-Madison?s Memorial Union, and higher buildings and denser development in the Mifflin neigborhood. The plan, which will influence how the Isthmus looks, feels and works for decades, identifies potential redevelopment sites that could accommodate up to $2.5 billion in new construction with more than 4,000 new dwelling units and an additional 4 million square feet of commercial space.

Campus Connection: UW-Madison seeks court’s opinion on Adidas situation

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Capital Times

UW-Madison is putting the ball in the legal system?s court in an effort to determine whether Adidas has violated the terms of its contract with the university due to allegations of sweatshop abuses at a factory the apparel giant subcontracted with in Indonesia.The state?s Department of Justice on Friday filed a legal document with the Dane County Circuit Court asking for declaratory relief on behalf of the UW System?s Board of Regents and UW-Madison.

UW Athletics: Alvarez anxiously awaits Adidas decision

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Madison.com

University of Wisconsin interim chancellor David Ward says a decision regarding the school?s contracted relationship with Adidas is imminent, and no one is monitoring the controversial process more closely than Barry Alvarez. As UW athletic director, Alvarez has one of the bigger stakes in the game seeing how Adidas provides an estimated $2.5 million annually in footwear and apparel to the 23 Badgers sports programs. “That would be devastating to us, losing that Adidas contract,?? Alvarez said. “It would be devastating to our athletic program. It would cut the legs right out from under us.??

UW sues Adidas, seeks compensation for Indonesian workers

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Wisconsin State Journal

The thorny, long-running dispute between the UW-Madison and Adidas over the apparel giant?s labor practices in Indonesia landed in Dane County Circuit Court Friday. The university alleged in a lawsuit that Adidas ? which outfits UW-Madison athletes and coaches ? must pay Indonesian workers up to nearly $2 million still owed for back wages and benefits to honor a code of conduct provision in its contract. The chairwoman of a university committee charged with ensuring ethical conduct by contractors criticized the lawsuit as ineffective.

“It’s disappointing,” said Lydia Zepeda, a professor of consumer science and chairwoman of the Labor Licensing Policy Committee. “I believe it’s a way to continue the relationship with Adidas.” She said that, with claims and appeals, the legal process could drag on for months or years as UW-Madison athletes and coaches continue to sport apparel bearing the tri-stripe Adidas logo.

Tech and Biotech: Asthmapolis device cleared for market

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Wisconsin State Journal

Asthmapolis is all fired up after getting clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in early July to market its high-tech asthma-tracking device. ?It?s very, very exciting. There?s a super-positive, wonderful energy around the office every day,? said Inger Couture, chief regulatory officer. The young company, established in 2010 based on the work of co-founder David Van Sickle, an asthma epidemiologist and honorary associate fellow at the UW-Madison, already has moved to bigger quarters at 612 W. Main St. from its previous offices at 3 S. Pinckney St.

Five big jobs need bold leaders

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Wisconsin State Journal

It?s quite a list. Madison is looking for a university chancellor, a school district superintendent, a chamber of commerce president, a regional economic booster and someone to lead its community foundation. Finding the right people ? leaders who are bold, aggressive, smart and willing to challenge all of us to move this city and region forward ? is crucial. So let?s get at it, being sure to search far and wide for top talent to fill these difficult jobs.

Feds to fund natural gas research

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Eaton is part of a group of local companies in the power energy and controls sector that have formed the Wisconsin Energy Research Consortium to facilitate local R&D and workforce development efforts for such businesses located primarily in the greater Milwaukee area.

The consortium pairs the three engineering schools in Milwaukee as well as the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Chris Rickert: It’s not landlords’ job to get us to vote

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Wisconsin State Journal

In my first semester at UW-Madison, my dorm?s resident assistant or some other upperclass stand-in for the university escorted a bunch of us to the local polling place or to register to vote ? I forget which.It was a nice gesture in a presidential election year for kids who?d only recently arrived from out of town or out of state, but I would have voted anyway.

Bill Lueders: Contracting report shines light, casts shadows

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Capital Times

Department of Administration spokeswoman Jocelyn Webster blamed the University of Wisconsin System, which ?was late in turning their submission for this report and DOA did not receive it until May 2012, which delayed the report.? David Giroux, spokesman for the UW System, gives a different account….The new report shows state agencies spent $363.8 million on outside service providers, a 26 percent jump, while the UW System?s spending on outside service contracts fell slightly, to $125.1 million. Giroux speculates that ?reductions in contracting are the result of overall spending cutbacks at UW System institutions.?

City council proposal would enlist landlords to boost voter turnout

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Wisconsin State Journal

In a bid to boost voter turnout, Madison City Council members are proposing that landlords must provide voter registration forms when tenants move into a residence. The move could have an impact around UW-Madison, where thousands of students take new apartments each year, as well as other parts of the city with concentrations of rental units, supporters said. Nearly half of the city?s dwelling units are rentals, the U.S. Census says. But many landlords are opposing the proposal because it strays dramatically from the city?s core responsibility to regulate housing conditions, fair housing, ethical practices, public health and safety.

Michael Bernard-Donals: University of Virginia’s experience resonates here

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Wisconsin State Journal

The University of Virginia?s board recently pressured the university?s president, Teresa Sullivan, to step down because it didn?t think she was making changes quickly enough. After an outcry from faculty, students and citizens of the state, the board backed down and reinstated Sullivan. I?d argue that what happened in Virginia should matter deeply to us here in Wisconsin because it highlights the crisis in public higher education both locally and across the country. The actions of Virginia?s board were an attempt to mandate change from the top and to run the university on a business management model. In this model, what matters is the bottom line, efficiency and return on investment.

Executive Q&A: Making maps in the digital age

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Wisconsin State Journal

It used to be that before people embarked on a trip to an unfamiliar place ? whether it was across the country or just across town ? they would haul out maps and chart their course. Today, a traveler is more likely to depend on a favorite website or a GPS device for directions. Founded in 1984 by Onno Brouwer, then director of the UW-Madison Cartography Lab, Mapping Specialists has about 20 employees and annual revenues of $1.7 million to $2 million.

Report: State’s use of outside contractors surged last year

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Wisconsin State Journal

The annual report, posted Monday on the Department of Administration?s website, shows that state agencies spent $363.8 million on private contractors from July 2010 to June 2011 ? an increase of 26 percent compared to the previous fiscal year. In contrast, the University of Wisconsin System?s hiring of contractors decreased 2 percent during the same period, to $125 million.

Dave Zweifel’s Madison: Puzzled cabbie seeks State Street solution

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Capital Times

Ron the cabbie, one of my morning coffee buddies at Park Street?s Cargo, is having trouble figuring out why Mayor Paul Soglin is so adamantly opposed to allowing taxis to ?cruise? for fares late night on State Street. ?Think of all the drunks that those cabbies keep off the road,? he said the other morning. ?Why wouldn?t you think that was a good idea.? Since the mayor is a former cab driver himself (he drove when he was at the UW back in the ?60s), I wondered why he was so adamant about this. He replied that, first of all, there?s an ordinance that makes that activity illegal and no cab company can unilaterally decide that it can be violated.

Madison 17th nationally on Technology Index list

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Wisconsin State Journal

Madison has been ranked a leading high-tech hub nationally on a new list measuring economic competitiveness in the technology field. The Technology Index, created by economic researcher Richard Florida, ranked cities and metropolitan areas based on concentration of high-tech companies, patents per capita and average annual patent growth. Madison tied with Minneapolis-St. Paul for No. 17 on the top-20 list. Florida singled out Madison?s ?budding tech hub? around UW-Madison.

Doug Moe: Renowned computer scientist’s legacy lives on in UW lab

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Wisconsin State Journal

On a Wednesday in May in a courtroom in San Francisco, Jim Gray, a legendary figure in the technology industry, was declared legally dead. Few in Madison likely noticed, but maybe they should have, for part of Gray?s considerable legacy exists here. It was in 2004 that Gray, a Microsoft scientist and world-renowned database expert ? recipient of the Turing Award, his field?s highest honor ? first suggested to his friend David DeWitt, a celebrated UW-Madison computer science professor, that Microsoft and UW should collaborate on a Microsoft lab in Madison that DeWitt would run.

Report on hiring outside contractors 8 months late; state says it will be public soon

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Wisconsin State Journal

Gov. Scott Walker?s administration has not filed its annual report on the hiring of outside contractors to perform services for state agencies, eight months after the deadline set by state law. The Department of Administration is required to file the report, which is scrutinized by public employee unions and others, by Oct. 15 each year….The unusual delay was caused by the University of Wisconsin System, which did not turn in its portion of the report until last month, DOA spokeswoman Jocelyn Webster said Wednesday. “We do anticipate the report being finalized and made public very soon,” she said.

Executive Q&A: Boldt’s Gus Schultz says Kohl Center is a career highlight

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Wisconsin State Journal

Gus Schultz has been working for The Boldt Co. on Madison-area construction projects since before the state?s largest general contractor opened an office in the city. Schultz, 46, joined Boldt in 1990. He was based in the Milwaukee area until a permanent office was opened in Madison in 1998, but he had a hand in many important local building projects before that, starting with expansion jobs at St. Mary?s Hospital and including the construction of the Kohl Center, which opened in 1998 and remains among his favorites.
Boldt is involved in three major jobs (on campus): the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research, the Charter Street heating plant conversion and the expansion of Memorial Union and its shoreline restoration.

Weeklong class prepares participants to cash in on their billion-dollar idea

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Wisconsin State Journal

Starting a business is not the usual course of action for a budding doctor, pharmacist or scientist. But a UW-Madison program is trying to change that. Nearly 70 graduate students attended the weeklong Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Bootcamp at Grainger Hall last week, setting aside academics to learn the basics of the business world. “We?re trying to teach creativity, generating ideas, and different applications for their research,” said Dan Olszewski, director of the UW School of Business? Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship.

Doug Moe: For sale, your own island, for $29.5 million

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Wisconsin State Journal

There is a private island for sale off the west coast of Florida between Sarasota and Naples ? yes, the asking price is $29.5 million ? that was originally inhabited by an Oshkosh native who made his fortune in Madison….The scientist referenced by the (Wall Street) Journal was Charles Burgess, who graduated from UW-Madison in 1895 and taught chemical engineering there from graduation to 1913, when he resigned to devote his energies to a private laboratory he’d started in Madison in 1910. Early on, Burgess’ lab produced batteries for Madison’s French Battery Co., soon to be renamed Rayovac.

Campus Connection: No resolution following Adidas-UW mediation

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Capital Times

Adidas and UW-Madison appear no closer to coming to any sort of an agreement over a long-simmering dispute tied to the apparel giant?s refused to help pay some 2,700 Indonesian workers about $1.8 million in legally mandated severance pay. Officials representing both Adidas and UW-Madison met with a mediator last week in an effort to remedy the ongoing situation. But Vince Sweeney, UW-Madison?s vice chancellor for university relations, said in a phone conversation Monday that the ?dispute has not been resolved.?

Meet the chef: Charlie Jilek

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Wisconsin State Journal

Age: 25. Executive chef at: UW-Madison University Club, 803 State St., which is open to the public. How long have you been at the restaurant? Since November 2007. How long have you been cooking? Since I was 14.

Tech and Biotech: gener8tor looks to grow new Wisconsin tech firms

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Wisconsin State Journal

Madison is getting a new tech business accelerator: gener8tor. Its goal: To provide money and mentoring to young tech companies early on, before they?ve gotten any other outside investment, and give them a running start, said Joe Kirgues, a co-founder of gener8tor. In fact, two of gener8tor?s organizers, Kirgues and Joel Abraham, were with 94Labs. Joining them in the new project are Dan Armbrust, president of Granite Microsystems, and Troy Vosseller, founder of Sconnie Beer and co-founder of Sconnie Nation.?We got together and decided we wanted to work to help startups in the state,? said Kirgues, a Milwaukee native and a UW-Madison law school graduate.

Cashing in on cropland: farmland prices are on the rise

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Wisconsin State Journal

In Dane County, prices rose 7.6 percent to an average $5,851 per farm acre from 2010 to 2011 ? according to a study by the UW Center for Dairy Profitability ? and by 11 percent between 2006 and 2011. The center also found farmland values statewide rose 6.7 percent in 2011, to $3,475, and by 31 percent over the past six years in south-central Wisconsin, or from $3,739 to $4,902 per farmland acre. ?Agricultural land values have continued to be a bright spot in the otherwise weak real estate market,? said A.J. Brannstrom, a farm management specialist who does the center?s annual farmland surveys.

Experts: Farmland price boom unlikely to bust

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Wisconsin State Journal

After housing prices soared in the first half of last decade, they came down with a crash in the second half. That?s what many bubbles do, eventually. So what?s to stop the same thing from happening to rapidly rising farmland prices? Is this another unsustainable bubble, waiting to pop? Economists and farm specialists say no.

….UW-Madison agricultural economist Bruce Jones agreed a crash in farm values was unlikely. The circumstances are different, he said, from both the housing market scenario and the devastating farm crisis of the 1980s ? which was the last time farmland values dropped deeply for an extended period.

ALRC votes to renew Segredo’s licenses

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WKOW-TV 27

Madison?s Alcohol License Review Committee will allow Segredo, a bar and nightclub on University Avenue, to keep its liquor and entertainment licenses. That?s only if the business follows a few stipulations. Segredo has to contact police weekly with an incident report, and provide a copy of a revised employee handbook that reflects their message of how to cooperate with police.

Chris Rickert: A touch of irony on UW?s road to China

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison is pressuring its athletic apparel contractor, Adidas, to contribute to the approximately $3.2 million in severance pay owed to 2,800 workers at a former Adidas subcontractor in Indonesia. Meanwhile, interim chancellor David Ward is leading a delegation of state officials in China, where the university will open its first foreign office ? the UW Shanghai Innovation Office ? and kick off an entrepreneurship and innovation conference. Anyone else see the irony here? Indications are that the university probably doesn?t.

Study: Economic impact of Dane County arts scene is double comparable communities’

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Wisconsin State Journal

The amount of money that nonprofit arts and culture organizations in Dane County ? and their audiences ? poured into the local economy in 2010 was nearly double that of many other communities of comparable size, according to a new national study. Groups ranging from tiny dance companies to the region?s symphony orchestra helped generate more than $145.5 million, compared to the median $78 million spent in similar communities with populations of 250,000 to 500,000 people, according to “Arts and Economic Prosperity IV,” touted as the largest study ever of its kind.

Madison360: To reunite Wisconsin, elite leaders must step up

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Capital Times

?Together apart. ?Those words popped to mind in the aftermath of Wisconsin?s recall election as describing our political culture. The phrase was part of the title of a reporting project 20 years ago by the New Orleans Times-Picayune about myths on race and segregation in the south. I met the project?s editor shortly after it appeared and the title stuck with me. Now it seems to aptly describe Wisconsin?s gaping political divide. We are together, but very far apart.

….One compelling suggestion is that major business and academic leaders, people with the cash and clout to speak freely, need to step forward. The idea is not from a political scientist but rather a historian, a professor who left the University of Wisconsin-Madison last year.

Leland Pan: Why UW should put Adidas on notice now

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Capital Times

Over the past year, Wisconsinites have seen unprecedented attacks on workers? rights. But these attacks have not just been on public employees; since August, students at the University of Wisconsin have been pushing Interim Chancellor David Ward to hold Adidas, the primary producer of UW apparel, accountable for withholding $1.8 million in severance pay to 2,700 Indonesian garment workers. The company?s refusal to pay its workers is an explicit violation of Adidas? contract with the university, which states, ?Licensees shall provide legally mandated benefits.?

The struggles against sweatshops abroad and against corporate power in our own country may seem separate, but the rights of foreign workers are intimately connected to the conditions of workers in our own state. As corporations relocate to countries with weaker labor standards, workers in the U.S. endure major rollbacks to their own workplace standards.