Category: Business/Technology

While UW-Milwaukee aims to expand its research capacity as a way to catalyze new jobs and investment – it is adding programs in engineering and water technology – the school barely registers on one of the nationâ??s most crucial measures of innovation: the annual tally of newly issued U.S. patents. In 2009, the number totaled three.

The stateâ??s flagship research university in Madison, by contrast, ranks near the top of the national tables with 117 patents last year. That puts UW-Madison at No. 3 behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at No. 2 (132 patents in 2009) and the entire 10-campus University of California system at No. 1 (172 patents). Californiaâ??s state system, which includes UC-Berkeley and UCLA, assigns patents under a single entity.

A Wisconsin economist says the stateâ??s economic recovery will closely mirror what happens at the national level. A great deal of uncertainty remains, according to University of Wisconsin School of Business Dean Michael Knetter. â??Certainly a bottomâ??s been reached, but I would say that this is one of those periods in our economic history where thereâ??s probably more uncertainty about the nature about the nature of this recovery than Iâ??ve seen since Iâ??ve been a practicing economist watching the economy,â? Knetter told WisconsinEye.

Developers of the hotel across from Camp Randall Stadium have put the stalled 48-room project on the market. Owner Bob Sieger is seeking partners to invest a minimum of $2.5 million in the project.

“Bob has put a lot of time and energy into this and is looking for a partner,” said listing broker David Baehr.

Work was halted in October and the construction company Kraemer Brothers has filed a $3.7 million lien against the developer Sieger LLC.Construction began on the project in November, 2008. The plan was for the 48-room hotel to open in time for part of the Badgersâ?? 2009 football season.

Four young men were arrested and a fifth remains at large following a crime spree early Sunday morning in downtown Madison.

Before it ended, police said, the spree involved a shooting, a liquor store break-in and a chase with a police dog nabbing a suspect and standing on top of him while waiting for his master to arrive to make the arrest.

Mentions that last year, Kimberly-Clark received 155 patents, outstripping the University of Wisconsin-Madison (117 patents) and GE Healthcare Ltd., which has many operations in Waukesha (89 patents), according to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office data.

An appellate court has upheld a 2006 decision that awarded the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation $1 million in its case against a Canadian biotechnology company, the foundation said Wednesday.

Neil Lerner, director of UW-Madisonâ??s Small Business Development Center, offers these tips for people who want to start their own business.

Itâ??s three days after an early December snowstorm dumped 14 inches on Madison and most city streets remain covered with a layer of compacted snow.

Rush-hour traffic is moving at a crawl and the talk radio jocks are having a field day ripping the mayor for not using enough road salt in the name of environmental protection.

But Fred Mohs isnâ??t cursing the icy conditions. Heâ??s just strolled three blocks in brilliant sunshine from his whitewashed mansion on Wisconsin Avenue to his cozy law office on the Capitol Square.

Noted: In addition to Drake and the University of Iowa, other Centers of Actuarial Excellence are: University of Connecticut, Georgia State University, Illinois State University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, St. Johnâ??s University, Temple University and University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States, and the University of Manitoba, Université Laval and the University of Waterloo in Canada.

The First Business Bank Economic Survey of Milwaukee and Waukesha counties is based on responses from 566 businesses across the two counties and was conducted by the A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Tiger Woods sex scandal has been a boon for online publications, even though it hasnâ??t generated the same amount of Internet traffic as Michael Jacksonâ??s death or President Barack Obamaâ??s inauguration, the Associated Press reported.

Provocative remarks by Yahoo Inc. CEO Carol Bartz at an investor conference in New York this week illustrate how major Internet channels and niche publications are benefiting from the Woods controversy.

Known for her off-color commentary, the UW-Madison graduate told financial analysts Tuesday that the Woods story is “better than Michael Jackson dying” for helping Yahoo make money, because it is easier to sell ads against salacious content than morbid stories, AP reported.

It may be a brave new world, but not every bold business move is made by a 23-year-old who looks 16. â??Iâ??m a geezer entrepreneur,â? 59-year-old Tom Olscheske was saying Wednesday. His Madison-based company, a-Peer, is helping create a cultural park in Shanghai. The companyâ??s main focus is digital technology as it relates to the music and video industry, and China â?? which Olscheske first visited as a UW-Madison student in 1971 â?? is its start-up market.

Wisconsin has lost a bigger percentage of its work force during the current recession than it did during other recent recessions, in 2001, 1990 and 1981, according to a report from the UW-Madisonâ??s Center on Wisconsin Strategy.

Mirk Buzdum and Dick “Cappy” Capstran, a pair of garage entrepreneurs in Milwaukee, know full well that their designs for drill bits and cutting tools are good.

“Itâ??s obvious that these technologies are valid, because people are stealing them and theyâ??re in production,” Buzdum said.

But their anger isnâ??t directed only at the multinational companies that they say are ripping off their ideas. A big part of the blame, they say, falls on the agency that is supposed to protect them and the rest of the nationâ??s innovators: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The patent applications drafted by Buzdum and Capstran are among the 1.2 million applications pending at the agency – a backlog that was the subject of a Journal Sentinel investigation published in August.

Todd Streicher and his partners started 5Nines in 2003 as an outgrowth of Matador Consulting, founded two years earlier to provide advice on Internet marketing and computer applications for business use. 5Nines offers a data center, is an Internet service provider and handles computer support. Streicher has a bachelor’s degree from UW-Madison in psychology.

Russell Athletics, a clothing company that formerly produced licensed UW-Madison athletic apparel, announced plans last week to reopen a factory in Honduras and rehire the 1,200 workers who were let go when the factory shut down business last year.

Russell Athletic, a former apparel licensee of the University of Wisconsin, made an agreement Tuesday with the union representing workers from one of its former plants in Honduras, which would allow the company to reapply for a contract.

The brains behind the Apex real estate empire claims it all started with a paper route.

When Bruce Bosben was 13, he began delivering The Capital Times to homes on Madisonâ??s west side. Bosben was eventually handling six different routes with the help of his family and in 1983 was named â??CT Carrier of the Year.â?

By the time he started college at UW-Madison, Bosben had saved enough money to pay his own tuition and launch the Empire Records store in the Westgate Mall.

Kenny Dichter will hold a talk at Camp Randall about how he turned his passion for Badger sports into entrepreneurial ventures that ultimately led him to found Marquis Jet, a leader in fractional ownership private aviation.