Advertisements in the student newspapers and a particularly large banner, which the city forced to be taken down Thursday, have highlighted new strategies implemented by Brothers Bar and Grill owners Eric and Marc Fortney.
The owner of a popular college bar says theyâ??ve put a large banner on the building to draw attention, not for business, but he says to raise awareness of the barâ??s expected move.
Owners of a popular downtown bar that is slated to be demolished to make way for a University of Wisconsin-Madison expansion put up a giant sign to protest the universityâ??s plan.
With demand outpacing supply, local food producers need to shore up delivery systems to get their goods to customers, according to a study out Thursday from UW-Madison and the UW-Extension.
“Scaling Up: Meeting the Demand for Local Food” takes a look at 11 enterprises and organizations trying to fill the middle level distribution role, which has suffered a setback in recent years when established distributors went out of business.
This sign is hard to miss while driving down University Ave. The owners of Brothers Bar and Grill are in the midst of legal battle with the UW Board of Regents in an attempt to prevent the university from taking their property for a new UW-Madison School of Music Building.
Madison-based Cellular Dynamics International has raised $40.6 million, according to a filing the company made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The privately held company, known as CDI, sells stem cell-derived heart cells to Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche and others to help them test the toxicity of drugs. CDI was founded by stem cell pioneer James Thomson and several other University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, along with some people previously associated with NimbleGen Systems LLC.
When Nathan Greenawalt was working on his economics degree at UW-Madison, the vision of his future didnâ??t include traveling to the backwoods of Kentucky to buy a moonshine still.
Pleasant View Road is little more than a dirt path in places right now. Drive west on Mineral Point Road past Target and it is easy to miss the beginning of Pleasant Viewâ??s southern extension, which will connect it to Valley View Road and the cityâ??s burgeoning southwest side.
But stand at the intersection of Pleasant View and Mineral Point at 5 p.m. on any weeknight and look east toward Madison, and itâ??s easy to see why Pleasant View may become one of the most important new roads in the city.
….The majority remains farmland, waiting for the recently approved University Research Park II to be built as one of the cityâ??s largest new economic development projects.
The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that academic inventions spurred the “creation of a record 543 new university spinoff companies in the 2008 fiscal year, while generating more than $2.3 billion in licensing revenue for 154 institutions and their inventors.”
According to this Chronicle survey, the University of Wisconsin-Madison was one of just 10 institutions that reported licensing revenue of more than $50 million. The survey shows UW-Madison ranked No. 9, with $54.1 million in licensing income.
Colleges and universities created 542 companies, issued 2,821 patents, and generated $2.379 billion in licensing income in the 2008 fiscal year, according to an annual survey by the Association of University Technology Managers.
For the second time in less than three years, telecommunications giant AT&T is involved in crafting major deregulation legislation at private meetings in the Capitol. Consumer advocates, meanwhile, appear to lack a seat or voice in the process.
Quoted: Barry Orton, UW-Madison professor of telecommunications
The ongoing struggle between Brothers Bar and Grill and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents intensified Thursday after the owners of Brothers released an open letter to an anonymous donor to the Universityâ??s project for a new music performance facility.
Letâ??s pause for a moment, take a break from the relentless blabbing and blogging about the trials and tribulations of the newspaper industry and consider a few facts.
….We remain bemused by the incessant doom-and-gloom predictions of so many, including some who should know better.
Case in point: in a recent story about the future of newspapers in the Isthmus, a Madison weekly, a UW-Madison journalism professor said of newspapers: “Most of them are effectively bankrupt right now. …”
That is wrong – again, as wrong as wrong could be.
The private sector of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery â?? the Morgridge Institute for Research â?? announced a team of University of Wisconsin researchers who will lead a series of focus areas.
Dear Editor: Readers of the recent Cap Times editorial trashing large farms (referred to as â??factory farmsâ?) should know:
….Dairy farm families, whether they operate a small, large, organic or conventional operation, should be cherished and thanked everyday for the nutritious food they work so hard to produce. Sensationalized and groundless editorials threaten the vitality of the Wisconsin dairy industry, its infrastructure, and all dairy farms regardless of size.
(Ric Grummer is a UW-Madison professor of dairy science)
Necessity isnâ??t always the mother of invention. Sometimes, itâ??s homework. Two upcoming UW-Madison events will highlight student inventions.
Quoted: Tom Oâ??Guinn, executive director of the Center for Brand and Product Management at the UW-Madison School of Business.
The creativity and inventiveness of UW-Madison students will be on full display this week during the annual Innovation Days competition at Engineering Hall.
The competition will feature 23 inventions built by 37 students, vying for more than $27,000 in prizes. The competition is for those inventions and ideas judged to be the most innovative and most likely to succeed in the marketplace.
Future deal-makers from three Wisconsin universities will compete at the Milwaukee Athletic Club on Saturday in a contest that tests their ability to analyze and make recommendations about real-life investment banking transactions.
Quoted: Bob Cropp, an emeritus professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Recreational cycling generates $1.5 billion in economic activity a year in Wisconsin, according to a first-of-its-kind study by graduate students in UW-Madisonâ??s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.
Madisonâ??s storied Greenbush neighborhood is at a pivot point, says Jim Woodward, president and CEO of Meriter Health Services. Unless steps are taken now to stem an emerging trend of property neglect, the neighborhood wonâ??t be as good a place to live or do business 10 years from now, he says.
So Meriter is preparing to step up and jump-start reinvestment in its own neighborhood with a â??workforce housingâ? initiative to lend employees money to enable them to buy houses in the neighborhood and invest themselves in its success.
While state lawmakers debate whether to help homeowners in foreclosure with a statewide requirement stipulating that lenders must agree to mediation sessions, in Dane County a similar decision already has been made. Starting Monday, Dane County residents facing foreclosure will have the right to request a mediation session that could help them keep their homes. Itâ??s only an option, though, and lenders can decline mediation. UW-Madison Law School students will help families prepare for the sessions.
Businesses in northeast Wisconsin weathered the recession better than those in Dane County in 2009 but both of those regions came out ahead of the Milwaukee area, according to a report being released Friday. In all, more than 1,300 business leaders responded to the poll by the A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Research at the UW-Madison School of Business.
Discussion was heated Wednesday night at the Vending Oversight Committee meeting as members debated a review draft for the proposed University Avenue vending area.
He admits itâ??s foreign territory for an unmarried, childless, 49-year-old man whoâ??s spent the majority of his time in the commercial real estate business, but Tom Baggot seems to have found his calling running Legacy Academy Activity Center, a 6,000-square-foot, indoor playground for children 12 and under.
The business schools in Madison and Milwaukee say theyâ??re bucking a national trend that sees fewer incoming freshmen wanting to major in business. An annual survey by the Higher Education Research Institute says 14 percent of freshmen want a bachelorâ??s degree in business. Thatâ??s down from 17 percent last year. But the business schools at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Marquette University say applications are holding steady if not rising.
A national study says the number of freshmen wanting to major in business is at its lowest level in 35 years. But administrators at two business schools in Wisconsin say theyâ??re bucking that trend.
The Higher Education Research Instituteâ??s annual survey shows 14.4 percent of freshmen want to get a bachelorâ??s in business, compared to just under 17-percent in the previous year. Itâ??s the lowest rate since 1974, when 14-percent wanted a business degree.
The Joint Southeast Campus Area Committee met Monday evening to discuss the significant redevelopment plans underway at Gordon Commons.
University of Wisconsin campus planners revealed more details about the construction of a new Gordon Commons and the relocation of the McBurney Center at a meeting of the Joint Southeast Campus Area Committee Monday night.
Legislation allowing research assistants at the University of Wisconsin to unionize has met controversy because it excludes international students from the bargaining table.
A high-rise student apartment building is coming to one of the most congested spots on the UW-Madison campus â?? with no new parking spaces.
Monday night, the Madison Plan Commission on a 5-2 vote approved a proposal from landlord Patrick Corcoran for an eight-story apartment tower at 621 Mendota Court.
The â??quiet timeâ? in Wisconsin agriculture — from Thanksgiving to New Yearâ??s or so — has given way to â??the meeting seasonâ? that runs hot and heavy through the WPS Farm Show in the first week of April. After that farmers get anxious to head to the fields, weather permitting, and start the cropping season anew.
UW-Madison Athletic Board officials discussed the possibility of increased ticket prices Tuesday for the 2010-â??11 Athletic Department budget.
The University of Wisconsin and UW-Milwaukee announced a joint grant program this week that would create collaborative research initiatives between the two universities.
Badger fans may see an increase in the price of tickets for the 2010-11 athletic season â?? a change that was described as â??inevitableâ? by a University of Wisconsin Athletic Board committee Tuesday.
The Democratsâ?? plan for creating jobs and improving Wisconsinâ??s economy is scheduled for a vote Thursday in the Senate. The proposal would expand the state program that provides tax credits for angel and venture capital investment and would increase partnerships between businesses and the University of Wisconsin.
MADISON, Wis. — Net farm income dropped in Wisconsin by 56 percent in 2009, according to a new report.
The report by University of Wisconsin-Madison agricultural economists notes the $1.1 billion in farm income last year was the lowest total since 2002.
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.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison accounting professor Terry Warfield.
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.
The economic recovery is under way but muted and fragile, and there isnâ??t much that can be done to hasten it, the dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s School of Business said Thursday.
While the economy should grow at a rate of about 3%, most of the major gains to be had from the stock market rebound already have occurred, Michael Knetter told about 500 business people gathered for the annual Wisconsin Bankers Association Economic Forecast Luncheon at the Monona Terrace Convention Center.
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.
Quoted: Mike Knetter, dean of the UW-Madison School of Business.
Catching up on a couple higher education-related items worth noting …The University of Wisconsin-Madison received 117 patents in 2009 according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel review of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office data.
While that number is impressive, the article reports that “Wisconsinâ??s most innovative company doesnâ??t engineer stem cells, create virtual worlds or manufacture touch-screen cell phones.
“Nope, the state company that received the most patents in 2009 is Kimberly-Clark Corp. — which makes diapers, paper towels and toilet paper. Last year, the company received 155 patents.
….The folks at UW Communications posted an article talking about new research led by UW-Madison biochemistry professor Judith Kimble that looks into the biological factors which control how stem cells develop.
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.
The effect of the recession on Wisconsinâ??s agriculture community will be examined at a forum open to the public in Madison on Jan. 20. The meeting is organized by the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences as well as UW-Cooperative Extension.
Although its office is in the Animal Science Building on the UW-Madison campus, its funding comes mainly from the USDA.
Its mission is a lofty one: to link the dairy industries of Wisconsin and the U.S. with dairy industries around the world to improve the quality of life and foster market development. And to transform emerging dairy industries and strengthen the U.S. dairy industry through international partnership, training and research.
Its name — the Babcock Institute for International Dairy Research and Development — might suggest dozens (maybe hundreds) of Ph.D.s, floors of research laboratories, huge auditoriums and vast libraries of technical papers and even a communications department, with dozens of computers manned by communication experts. Wrong! You can count the number of employees on one hand and have a finger or two left over.
A study by a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher and the Department of Revenue concludes that property tax increases force few elderly people to move out of their homes.
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.
The University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s patenting arm won an appeal Tuesday in federal court against Canadian drug company Xenon.The lawsuit brought by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation dealt with how Xenon handled patent rights to an enzyme that can lower cholesterol levels in the human body.
The University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s patenting arm won an appeal Tuesday in federal court against Canadian drug company Xenon.
The lawsuit brought by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation dealt with how Xenon handled patent rights to an enzyme that can lower cholesterol levels in the human body.
Researchers at the university discovered the enzyme in 1999 and two years later the research foundation licensed the technology to Xenon, which partially sponsored the work. The foundation gave Xenon an exclusive license to commercialize the discovery and market any resulting products in exchange for a share of the profits.
A partnership between the stateâ??s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the meat-processing industry makes Wisconsin the first state to have a nonprofit resource center for artisanal sausage and meat makers. A key initiative of the center is the creation of a two-year Master Meat Crafter Training Program, the first of its kind in the country. The program, affiliated with UW-Madison, is in development and will begin in spring.
UW-Madison School of Business Dean Michael Knetter will be among those offering projections for the coming year at the 2010 Wisconsin Economic Forecast luncheon Jan. 14 at Monona Terrace.
A team of hop enthusiasts is reaching out to Wisconsin landowners, offering the chance to become part of what they hope will become the stateâ??s hop-growing revival.
All you need to jump on the hop crop bandwagon â?? the product that provides the characteristic bitter taste to beer as well as its flowery aroma â?? is an acre of suitable farmland anywhere in Wisconsin or upper Midwest and about $10,000.
When business people think of Wisconsin, they usually conjure up images of manufacturing, agriculture and a strong Midwestern work ethic.
Some may not realize, however, that a growing part of this stateâ??s economic engine is the biotechnology, medical research and biopharmaceutical industries. Despite 2009â??s down economy, this sector has found Wisconsin to be a welcoming environment for business opportunity and growth.
Passing along a couple UW-Madison and higher education-related items that caught my eye over the past week …
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel continued its “occasional series” taking a hard and fascinating look at conflicts of interest between doctors and drug and medical device companies. And like many of the previous articles, this most recent one gives the UW a black eye.
Neil Lerner, director of UW-Madisonâ??s Small Business Development Center, offers these tips for people who want to start their own business.
As Madison rang in 2009, still giddy from the election of President Barack Obama, there was optimism the city could somehow avoid the economic fallout from the great recession.
After all, the government town had survived previous downturns virtually unscathed thanks to the twin pillars of the University of Wisconsin and state of Wisconsin.
….The Center on Wisconsin Strategy, a liberal-leaning UW-Madison think tank, kept a running tally of the stateâ??s job scene with monthly updates. Its final report for 2009 showed the state had lost 163,000 jobs since the recession officially began in December 2007 â?? or 5.7 percent of the total jobs in the state.
â??The current downturn has now far surpassed the recession of the early 1980s with respect to percent of jobs lost,â? the report says.
The stateâ??s unemployment rate, however, peaked at 9 percent, failing to reach double digits as some had predicted. The jobless rate has since fallen back to 8.2 percent.
