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Category: Business/Technology

On Campus: UW-Madison hires consultant to study efficiency

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison is embarking on an external study to look for areas where the university could function more cheaply, effectively and efficiently. There are no cost estimates yet for the contract that university leaders signed with Huron Consulting Group earlier this month. Instead, the company will bill the university on an hourly basis, giving the university flexibility on how much it wants to spend, said Darrell Bazzell, vice chancellor for administration.

Campus Connection: UW hires consultants to conduct efficiency study

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Capital Times

The University of Wisconsin-Madison signed off on a deal earlier this month which asks the Huron Consulting Group to study if the university is running as efficiently and effectively as possible. There is no estimate for how much this project might cost the university at this time, said Darrell Bazzell, UW-Madison?s vice chancellor for administration. However, university administrators told faculty leaders in September that such an endeavor could cost upwards of $3 million. Taxpayer dollars will not be used to pay for the project, said Bazzell.

TomoTherapy sale raises questions

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

They went public within three months of each other, each with a host of eager investors buying into the promise of their radiation therapy systems.

Four years later, one is about to swallow the other.Accuray Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., said this month it will purchase TomoTherapy Inc. for about $277 million.

Walker guts farmland preservation efforts

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Capital Times

Farmland will be less expensive to develop and harder for farm families to permanently protect under a series of proposals in Gov. Scott Walker?s budget. The governor?s plans to eliminate the farmland conversion fee and a farmland preservation program still in its infancy gut key components of the Working Lands Initiative. The moves hand developers a victory and deal conservationists and those who want to keep farmland in the family a blow.

Richard Reinke: The owners would like us to watch basketball, go back to sleep

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Capital Times

….The WSJ promotes watching basketball as a means of ?pulling us together? is a case in point. A reminder that the owners (media included) are encouraging us to go back to sleep, believing in the American Dream — a euphemism for the American Nightmare. The busting of unions, the raiding (of the Employee Trust Fund) are problems we must confront — awake.

Stem cell researchers awarded $500K prize in NY

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Madison.com

Three stem cell researchers have been awarded the annual Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research for their pioneering work in human stem cells. The winners announced Wednesday are Elaine Fuchs of Rockefeller University in New York City; James A. Thomson of the private, nonprofit Morgridge Institute for Research and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health; and Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan and Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in San Francisco.

Amy Sherman Kortbein: Realtors group supports public employees who ensure state?s high quality of life

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: For many of us the last month has been a surreal roller coaster ride. We?ve seen the highs of being part of historic protests surrounded by so many of Wisconsin?s hard-working citizens, followed by the lows of watching the governor and his followers strip the rights of those same citizens. We are so proud of the public employees of the state of Wisconsin. Many of them have had a significant portion of their income and dignity stripped from them in the past week and yet they responded by turning out in record numbers for a peaceful protest this weekend. We were proud to join them.

Gov. Jack Markell: Race to the bottom won?t lead to more jobs

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Capital Times

WASHINGTON ? Two months ago, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker invited businesses in Illinois to ?escape to Wisconsin? as a result of the recently enacted tax increases in Illinois. Admittedly, I don?t know whether Walker?s offer has been effective. My own experience, though, as a business executive and as a governor, tells me that businesses are interested in a lot more than a low tax rate when they decide where to locate.

Biz Beat: Camp Randall hotel deal reached

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Capital Times

New owners have surfaced for the long-dormant boutique hotel project across from Camp Randall Stadium. Red Hospitality LLC of Houston, Texas announced Monday that it would complete work on the 48-room “HotelRED” at the corner of Monroe and Regent streets. The goal is to open by this summer.

Kenneth Ragland & Peter Carstensen: Sale of state power plants not in the public interest

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: The Wisconsin budget repair bill (AB 11) gives the secretary of the Department of Administration sole power to sell the state-owned power plants for any price without hearings, bids or oversight. Moreover, the bill would preclude the Public Service Commission from overseeing and approving the services and prices of the new owners. Such a sale exposes each of the 37 University of Wisconsin campuses, prisons, and health service facilities to great risk.

Biz Beat: TomoTherapy sale costs Madison a HQ

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Capital Times

Once the darling of the Madison area high-tech scene, TomoTherapy has been sold to a Silicon Valley-based company in a deal both firms say will help them in the competitive medical devices space.

The new owner, subject to regulatory approval, is Accuray Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., which trades under the ARAY symbol. The firm has about 450 employees and sells the “CyberKnife system,” an image-guided radiosurgery system used for the treatment of solid tumors. TomoTherapy, a UW-Madison spin-off which has been struggling to turn a profit, has about 350 employees at its headquarters off Old Sauk Road.

TomoTherapy to be sold to California company

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Wisconsin State Journal

TomoTherapy is likely to keep making its radiation therapy machines in Madison even after Accuray buys the company, but there could be other staff cuts, the head of the Sunnyvale, Calif., company hinted Monday. ? TomoTherapy, established in 1997 based on technology with UW-Madison roots, has a Hi-Art system that spirals around a patient firing radiation beams at cancerous tissue.

TomoTherapy to be sold to California company

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Madison-based TomoTherapy is being sold to Accuray in a deal valued at about $277 million, it was announced Monday. The companies signed a definitive agreement that calls for Accuray to buy TomoTherapy for $4.80 per share in cash and stock. The companies said the transaction will create a premier radiation oncology company.

(TomoTherapy was a university-based start-up company co-founded by UW-Madison researchers Rock Mackie and Paul Reckwerdt.)

TomoTherapy was

Ed Garvey: Don?t put UW under right-wing thumb

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Capital Times

It is hard to know who is pulling the strings on the Walker/Fitzgerald puppet show, but someone other than Gov. Scott Walker and Family Fitzgerald has cooked up a radical agenda that just doesn?t seem like a ?Wisconsin idea.?

I would really like to know who drafted the manifesto. Seems more like the Koch brothers and the CATO Institute than Lee Dreyfus, Warren Knowles or Mike Ellis.It just doesn?t seem like it fits the definition of this ?special place? called Wisconsin as Bob La Follette described us. It isn?t John Muir, Aldo Leopold or John Bascom.

….Let us join together and declare they do not have the right to dispose of the great state university of Wisconsin. This is not a power plant ? it is the font of ideas and dreams. It is us. The real stakeholders are the people of this state and students of the future. Not David Koch.

Biz Beat: Energy programs get Walker ax

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Capital Times

If you like burning fossil fuels – hey, aren?t those Koch brothers in the pipeline business? – then you?ll love Gov. Walker?s proposed budget. The 1,345-pager takes a whack at scores of environmental efforts, from nixing the state Office of Energy Independence to actually encouraging state vehicles to use more gasoline.

Seriously, you can?t make this stuff up. And with pump prices marching toward $4 a gallon, you wonder if any thought went into the long-term fiscal impacts.

Campus Connection: Proposal would stack MATC board with ?business persons’

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Capital Times

Sen. Glenn Grothman is hoping to introduce legislation that would guarantee those from the private sector have a much stronger voice in how the state?s 16 Wisconsin Technical College System districts operate. A draft of the legislation, which is being circulated by the Republican from West Bend, mandates that six of the nine members appointed to each college?s district board be “business persons.”

Biz Beat: Arts funding to take major hit

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Capital Times

Add support for the arts to the list of items getting slashed under Gov. Walker?s proposed budget. The budget unveiled Tuesday calls for a 68 percent cut in state funding for the Wisconsin Arts Board while rolling the agency into the Department of Tourism.

Walker also wants to eliminate the Percent for Arts Program, which provides $500,000 annually for public art in new state buildings. Among the projects funded by the Percent for Arts program is the “Nails Tails” sculpture in front of Camp Randall Stadium.

Hundreds protest outside of Koch lobby office

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Capital Times

While hundreds of people protested on the sidewalk, a maintenance worker with Urban Land Interests stood Thursday outside the building housing the lobbying offices of Koch Industries, Inc. A security guard stood inside.

“We?re watching out for our tenants,” said the maintenance worker, who declined to be identified. “He is hired by us to keep people out of our building and to protect the privacy of our tenants – not necessarily for Koch, but our tenants in general,” he added, of the security guard. “We can?t have people walking through who don?t belong there.”

Biz Beat: Will Walker moves hurt or help business?

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Capital Times

Economists continue to sift through Gov. Walker?s budget repair bill, wondering what impact a pay cut for thousands of public workers might have on the local business community. If workers have less disposable income in their pockets, the thinking goes, they?ll have less to spend on furniture, eating out or a new car.

One analysis released Wednesday by a UW-Madison Extension economist suggests that laying off 1,500 state employees, as Walker has threatened, would actually have less negative impact on the economy than subjecting some 350,000 public employees in Wisconsin to a 7.7 percent cut in take-home pay. That pay cut figure is based on employees contributing to their pensions and more to their health insurance.

Quoted: Steven Deller of Extension’s Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics

UW students develop phone app to find grocery products and coupons locally

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Wisconsin State Journal

A new smart phone application developed by three UW-Madison students can help shoppers find local products at a grocery store and learn more about them. The True Local iPhone app was launched Wednesday at Fresh Madison Market, the only store that has been licensed to use it. The app can scan a barcode, list local products by categories and provide coupons that can be scanned off the phone at checkout.

Economist Knetter warns partisan politics will stall recovery; favors UW-Madison split (WisBusiness.com)

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www.wisbusiness.com

Former UW-Madison Business School dean Michael Knetter railed Tuesday against partisan politics, saying the rancor and uncertainty endangers the nation?s economic recovery. Knetter said it?s harder than in the past to predict how the economy will recover because of contentious politics and what he calls “policy uncertainty.”

Vital Signs: Media hones in on Koch brothers and Walker’s proposal to sell state energy plants

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Capital Times

No wonder Gov. Walker was in such a hurry to get his budget repair bill passed. Every day new stuff comes out about it. The labor issues were obvious and got all the attention for a while. But then people started uncovering the fact that the bill would hand the Walker administration sweeping powers to revamp Medicaid with little public and legislative input. Now a third piece of the 144-page bill is making headlines ? a power grab some critics believe could be political payback to the conservative Koch brothers.

FluGen obtains $7.8 million in new financing

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Wisconsin State Journal

FluGen, of Madison, has received $7.8 million to begin human clinical trials, probably this fall, of its product: a painless, microneedle skin patch the size of a poker chip that will be used to deliver vaccines against influenza and other illnesses. Its technology is licensed through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

ALRC votes to extend law limiting bars downtown, discusses changes that would loosen law

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Wisconsin State Journal

The city?s Alcohol License Review Committee voted Wednesday night to extend an ordinance aimed to limit the growth of new taverns in the student-heavy Downtown district and reverse an uptick in alcohol-related violent crime. The alcohol license density ordinance, passed by the City Council in 2007 and scheduled to sunset on March 5, was extended to July 5 and will be up for a final council vote at the March 1 meeting.

Magda Konieczna: UW is economic engine that merits support

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Wisconsin State Journal

Should Gov. Scott Walker focus on cutting state spending ? rather than raising taxes ? to balance Wisconsin?s $3 billion-plus shortfall? The state?s fiscal house is in trouble. That is undeniable. Suggestions to balance the books through large-scale cuts to the university, however, are misguided. Every dollar spent on the UW returns $21 into the state?s economy, according the 2010 NorthStar Economic Impact Study of UW-Madison.

Bill Berry: UW Extension budget is money well spent

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Capital Times

STEVENS POINT ? A recently completed gig called Voices of Rural Wisconsin sent me to all corners of the state and points between for conversations with rural folks. The project, sponsored by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, was simple in scope: We asked participants to talk about their life experiences and to envision what is needed to ensure a healthy future for rural Wisconsin.

….As state and local elected officials deal with tough budget challenges in the coming days, one can only hope they?ll recognize the value of this outreach arm of the UW System.

Cross Country: Direct dairy sales give some farmers an advantage

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Capital Times

Of the 150 or so people in the room attending the annual Quality Milk Conference in Madison this week, most were employees of dairy processing plants across the state. They were members of the Wisconsin Association of Dairy Plant Field Representatives. These are people who are milk quality experts who work closely with dairy producers to ensure that milk meets the highest standards for consumption in the form of milk, cheese, ice cream and a wide array of dairy products.

Biz Beat: Main Street knows; it’s all about sales

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Capital Times

President Obama has appealed to the goodwill of the business community, asking the Chamber of Commerce to do its patriotic duty and hire more workers. Gov. Walker has proclaimed Wisconsin “Open for Business” and is offering up tax breaks for companies that add more employees. He has also vowed to reduce regulation.

But ask local businesses what matters most and they will tell you: it?s the revenue, stupid.

John Kaufman: Perverting the progressive Wisconsin Idea

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Capital Times

As the University of Wisconsin invokes the Wisconsin Idea to justify its growing scientific collaboration with corporate America, and the once famously publicly oriented government of Wisconsin declares itself ?open for business,? it may help to revisit the true spirit of Wisconsin?s progressive idea.

In 1912 Charles McCarthy, head of the state?s Legislative Reference Bureau, wrote a short book explaining ?The Wisconsin Idea,? the state?s innovative effort to counteract a growing corporate tyranny.

Campus Connection: Dubious past for firm picked as UW consultant

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Capital Times

If UW-Madison is looking for ways to save money by becoming more effective and efficient, should it be relying on a consulting firm that has a history of accounting errors?

Campus Connection reported Tuesday that UW-Madison is moving forward with plans to hire the Huron Consulting Group to study if the university is truly a lean and mean educating machine — or whether in can find savings by streamlining certain aspects of its operation. But a few readers pointed out Huron?s past is littered with questionable decisions and legal woes.

Students Oppose Plans For Mifflin Street Development

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WISC-TV 3

Some UW students are worried a developer?s plan to build a new apartment building in the Mifflin Street neighborhood will drive up the cost of rent in the campus-area neighborhood.

The plans call for turning Mifflin?s vacant Planned Parenthood building into a 4-story, 45-unit apartment complex. While developers are hoping to offer something new, a group of student residents said that offer may compromise the character of the neighborhood.

Marshall Smith: Development missed by Soglin, Cieslewicz

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Wisconsin State Journal

Watching the crowds before the Super Bowl and major away games for the Packers and Badgers, I note a significant indicator: Most of those people live there. Many of these vital, prosperous people have left Wisconsin and emigrated to lands of economic and personal opportunity. UW-Madison has thwarted much of the exodus through UW Research Park and other vital activities, but Madison has done nothing.

Ted Tibbitts: Solution coming for texting at the wheel

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Wisconsin State Journal

The concern over texting while driving, emphasized in recent Opinion page articles, is being addressed by Scott Tibbitts, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. Scott is president of Katasi, a company formed from a team of entrepreneurs to solve the texting problem. This company has developed a small device that can be installed in a car that notifies the cell phone carriers that a particular cell phone is being used by a driver of the vehicle.

Sconnie Nation turning into Packer country

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Wisconsin State Journal

The success of the Green Bay Packers has been a green and gold mine for local retailer Sconnie Nation, which has made fans of the very players they feature. The Madison-based outfitter has sold 3,000 Packers shirts since the team beat the Bears in the NFC Championship game on Jan. 23.

?We?re getting a much bigger boost from the Super Bowl than we did for the Rose Bowl,? company co-founder Troy Vosseller said. Sconnie Nation was founded in 2004 by Vosseller and Ben Feitchner while they were students at UW-Madison. The apparel and products all have Wisconsin themes.

Will Wisconsin’s emerging technologies survive under Walker?

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Capital Times

….During his first month in office, Walker has proposed strict rules that could hamper the wind power industry, nixed the Charter Street Biomass Project on the UW-Madison campus and returned more than $800 million in federal money for upgrading Wisconsin?s passenger and freight rail infrastructure. There?s also talk about limiting embryonic stem cell research, an issue that?s more symbolic than substantive.

Put together, it?s not exactly what economic development advocates were hoping to see from a governor who?s vowed to create 250,000 new private sector jobs.

Steve Limbach: Walker lacks vision for long-range future

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Wisconsin State Journal

As I listened to the president?s State of the Union speech, it became clear how at odds our new governor is with the initiatives that will shape our country and return us to a sound economy. I believe the president has it right in looking at innovation, technology and new green industries as having a huge and saving influence on our long-range future. Gov. Scott Walker, however, does not seem to understand or appreciate these issues…UW-Madison planned to add a co-generation power plant, giving the state an opportunity for new markets in biomass fuels and energy research, while providing clean energy. Walker turned it down.

Walt Hannan: Walker dealing with predecessors? mistakes

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Wisconsin State Journal

Our governor is dealing with the Madison liberal left problem about as rapidly as can be expected. He is looking into all the high-cost foolishness of past administrations…Walker also eliminated the proposed biofuel boiler at the Charter Street heating plant for a substantial cost saving. UW-Madison gets rid of its dirty coal pile and the planners want to replace it with piles of wood chips, corn stalks and the like. Using home-grown products as a fuel source may be desired, but it can be just as effective at a rural location as it would be near the center of our capital city.

County exec hopefuls talk economy at candidates forum

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Wisconsin State Journal

In a forum Thursday night between the candidates for Dane County?s top job, economic development was what everyone was talking about. The five candidates in attendance talked about how to protect vital social services, hold the line on taxes, stimulate the economy and produce more jobs. Candidate Zach Brandon said the county needs to grow its economy and create the right jobs ? not just jobs for people who make $100,000 a year or are UW graduates. “Leadership doesn?t mean waiting to see what (Gov.) Scott Walker does.”

Property Trax: Madison builder wins luxury student dorm contract, one of Michigan’s largest building projects

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Wisconsin State Journal

Stevens Construction Corp. won a competitive bidding process to serve as general contractor for a private residence hall to be built on the edge of the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. Company president Geoffrey Vine told Property Trax the construction contract for the 14-story building was around $42 million.

….Building in and around university campuses isn’t new for Stevens Construction, which has a staff of more than 140 who can do carpentry as well as concrete work on sites. Last year, the company finished two multimillion-dollar, mixed-use projects in Downtown Madison that cater mainly or partly to students.