Category: Business/Technology

Madison, Wis. – The greening of business is considered one of the more sustainable trends in entrepreneurship, and new ventures don’t come any greener than Sky Vegetables.

The company, which plans to build and operate commercial greenhouses on the rooftops of supermarkets in the United States, took the top prize in the 2008 G. Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition.

The annual competition evaluates the business plans of students in the business school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The mayor got one thing right.

After learning of the Famous Footwear decision, he said, “Today’s news reminds us that if we want our economy to remain strong, we need to aggressively implement our new economic development plan and other initiatives.”

To do that, the city should stop relying on outside “consultants” who produce ridiculous reports like the vapid $75,000 “plan” prepared by Chicago-based Ticknor & Associates. The Ticknor report was packed with nuggets like “Good jobs matter” and “Economic development is competitive.”

The city needs to start working with the University of Wisconsin’s Center on Wisconsin Strategy, an internationally respected think tank that is on the cutting edge when it comes to innovative thinking about job growth.

Spending money on Chicago consultants who produce warmed-over pablum is one sign that Madison is not as serious as it must be when it comes to economic development.

As employees had feared, Famous Footwear is moving its corporate headquarters out of Madison.

“I’m a little overwhelmed right now,” said Meghan Hurley, a recent UW-Madison graduate who has been with the company for just six months and works on a media team in the marketing department. “I need to let it sink in. I loved it here, so it’s sad.”

The Wisconsin State Journal was named Monday as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, journalism ‘s highest honor, for an opinion page campaign to curtail the Wisconsin governor ‘s veto power.
Also Monday, UW-Madison alumnus David Umhoefer of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel won a local reporting Pulitzer for stories on how county employees ‘ pensions were padded.

Taxi!

Downtown bar patrons will be able to get a cab at a moment’s notice starting tonight, with the city’s first taxi stand being set up in the 600 block of University Avenue on the north side of the street, picking up fares from midnight to 3 a.m.

Users will queue up at the stand, with a starter directing passengers into the next cab in line. The stand will have large sandwich boards noting it’s location, right in front of the restaurant A 8 China at 608 University Ave.

….The project is a cooperative venture of the city, the police, UW-Madison, business owners downtown and the cab companies.

Genesis Development Corp. has hit a rough patch just as it celebrates its 10th anniversary. Its cash reserves are low, and its three-story building on Madison ‘s South Side — called a business incubator — is only half full of tenants.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine plans next year to install the first TomoTherapy machine designated for veterinary use.

With the U.S. economy in shaky territory, two University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate students say there’s one examination every stock should undergo: the stress test.

The subprime mortgage mess and subsequent paralysis in U.S. credit markets have made banks hesitant to lend and investors skittish about stocks. It’s unclear how much longer the situation will last, and how much blood will be left on Wall Street when it ends.

That’s why John Poehling Jr. and Jason Schultz say stress testing your stocks is so important.

If they flop on Wall Street, Hollywood may save them.

University of Wisconsin-Madison business students created a mind-numbingly dull video about their Applied Security Analysis Program – until 1:47 into the 6-minute video.

Spending in Ohio was more than three times greater than in Wisconsin, according to a report released Wednesday by University of Wisconsin Advertising Project.

A longtime minority construction company in Madison is going out of business. But the result is likely to be more projects, and bigger ones, for the owner and his crews.

Brian A. Mitchell Construction, 403 Troy Drive, is selling its ironworking tools and will close this summer when the company’s last job is completed. Mitchell is a UW-Madison graduate of civil engineering.

Madison’s new economic development plan should be required reading for city officials.
It provides good recommendations and strategies for improving Madison ‘s economy, most of which are already underway but need follow-through.

The plan promotes job creation and growth. It emphasizes strong public-private partnerships. It seeks skilled, business-savvy leaders and employees to be effective champions for the city and region.

The company ‘s Wisconsin projects include the $12 million Institute for Influenza Viral Research under construction on the UW-Madison campus and a Kettle Foods manufacturing plant, completed last August in Beloit.

The list of who’s who in the movement for social justice continues at the YWCA of Madison, which announced today the five honorees of its 2008 Women of Distinction awards.

….The YWCA will honor the award recipients at its 34th annual Women of Distinction luncheon May 29 at the Concourse Hotel, 1 W. Dayton St.

Among the honorees is Cheryl Rosen Weston, CEO of Douglas Stewart Co. and a University of Wisconsin Law School professor. She’s also an attorney with Cullen, Weston, Pines & Bach and is a longtime board member and former president of Jewish Social Services of Madison. She is an alumna of the Law School.