Category: Business/Technology

BioPulping International, a Madison biotechnology company that is developing a commercial application for pretreating wood chips and other biomass material for pulping, has received a $400,000 federal grant. The phase II grant, through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Small Business Innovative Research program, is for a sulfite pretreatment process to convert wood chips to bioethanol. The work will be conducted in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service, the Forest Products Laboratory, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and some key industrial partners, including Lignotech, Zeachem, and Catchlight Energy – a Chevron company.

Ever wonder if your business is spending more than necessary on the basic expenses of telephone, data and Internet services? Thatâ??s where Valicom Corp., Fitchburg, comes in.Founded nearly 20 years ago by Nancy Peckham, Valicom analyzes clientsâ?? telecom costs and recommends ways to make them more efficient and less expensive. A Brookfield native, Peckham earned a bachelorâ??s degree in psychology from UW-Madison and began working in the telecommunications industry just as it was shaking up, with deregulation spurring a flurry of competition followed by a trail of mergers and acquisitions.

FluGen Inc. has gotten rights from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation to further develop a new class of antiviral drugs with the potential to stop viruses after a patient has been infected, the Madison start-up said Tuesday morning.

The housing conference was sponsored by the Graaskamp Center for Real Estate at UW-Madisonâ??s School of Business, the Wisconsin Realtors Association, the state Department of Commerce, the Wisconsin Bankers Association and the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority.

Stemina also said its chief scientific officer, Gabriela Cezar, has taken a one-year leave of absence from her faculty position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to work in Brazil with Burrill & Co., a California venture capital firm that invests in life sciences companies. Cezar will continue to be the companyâ??s part-time chief scientific officer, and she will split her time between Madison and Brazil, Donley said.

Noted: Entrustet is the brainchild of two young serial entrepreneurs and graduates of UW-Madison: Nathan Lustig and Jesse Davis.

Laid off Madison construction laborer Sherman Lightfoot said his prayers were answered Wednesday when the City Council approved the $98 million Edgewater hotel redevelopment project. Council backing of the Edgewater redevelopment comes as a group of UW-Madison campus construction projects are wrapping up.

The political baptism came with fire.As a 26-year-old, freshman City Council member, Bridget Maniaci helped shepherd one of the biggest, most controversial and polarizing projects in Madison history â?? the Hammes Co.â??s $98 million redevelopment of The Edgewater hotel. Maniaci, who ousted veteran Ald. Brenda Konkel, the cityâ??s most relentless progressive, in the spring of 2009 to represent the Near East Sideâ??s 2nd District, spent her first year in office in a high-stakes political pressure cooker amid a whoâ??s who of city power brokers. Early on, she warmed to the project and eventually became a champion, some calling her advocacy courageous and others suggesting she was manipulated by a savvy developer, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and council leaders who supported the project. Maniaci, who graduated with bachelorâ??s degrees in political science and economics from UW-Madison and is a manager for Empire Photography on Monroe Street, had interned for Cieslewicz and worked on local campaigns but had experienced nothing like the Edgewater saga â?? closed-door meetings with â??men with sizable egosâ? and â??women who have mastered the art of put-downs.â?

The recent recession took a toll on many area companies, but NeuWave Medical has continued to plow ahead and was recently named a “Wisconsin Company to Watch” by the Wisconsin Entrepreneursâ?? Network. In recent years, the medical industry has been abuzz with minimally invasive techniques and procedures across all disciplines. Madison is particularly well suited to develop a vibrant, innovative biomedical industry, says a company representative. “The possibilities are endless, and there is tremendous untapped potential, particularly at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.”

After a year of passionate, polarizing debate and a final marathon meeting, the Madison City Council approved the Hammes Co.â??s proposed $98 million redevelopment of the historic Edgewater hotel.

The council, after an eight-hour public hearing featuring an A list of movers and shakers, historic preservationists, hoteliers and residents, and four more hours of questions for staff and debate, cast five separate votes to move forward one of the most controversial developments in recent city memory.

ConjuGon – from conjugation, which describes how bacteria exchange genetic information – was founded in 2002 by Marcin Filutowicz and Richard Burgess, two University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists.

Madison has the ninth strongest economy in the U.S., according to Policom Corp.â??s 2010 rankings. The survey examines 23 measures of economic strength over a 20-year period. Data from 1989 to 2008 involving 366 metropolitan statistical areas was considered for the latest report. “While most communities have slowed or declined during this recession, the strongest areas have been able to weather the storm,” said William Fruth, president of Policom, based in Palm City, Fla. Madison has a diversified job base, with the state capital, UW-Madison, and employment strength in insurance, finance, technology and meat processing, Fruth said.

Dear Editor: As business and civic leaders, biking enthusiasts, local elected officials, and transportation experts, we joined together to learn how to make biking better here at home.

If youâ??ve got a chance this afternoon, head to the Pyle Centerâ??s Alumni Lounge at 702 Langdon St. at 4 p.m to hear Richard Longworth.

A veteran Chicago writer and teacher, Longworth has made a splash in economic development circles with his book “Caught in the Middle: Americaâ??s Heartland in the Age of Globalism.” The Iowa native and Norrthwestern grad Longworth knows his stuff. He notes the Midwest was once a center of innovation and industry for the 20th century. Think cars and rubber; agriculture and chemicals.

When people think of cheese, they think of Wisconsin: the dairy cows grazing on green grass next to a little red barn, a small family cheese factory where mom and dad turn out a few pounds of cheese a day, buying handmade cheese at a farmersâ?? market, a cheese maker cutting a wedge of cheese from a block of cheddar.

All true, but it doesnâ??t really portray Wisconsin or U.S. cheese making in 2010 as a walk through the Exhibition Hall at the Alliant Energy Center on Wednesday and Thursday of this week would quickly show.

Echometrixâ??s products are based on technologies developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and licensed from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

….In a better economy, the areaâ??s proximity to the Capitol, UW-Madison and Williamson Street businesses might have been enough to spur development, but going forward, observers acknowledge there are physical limits and negative perceptions that must be surmounted. And, with tight financial markets that have dampened building plans nationally, many also suggest that the city may need to provide developers with some financial kindling to spark development.