Innovating with Wisconsin Universities: Feb. 19 Presentation in Appleton

"Tapping into Statewide (Wisconsin) Academic R&D Assets" is the topic of a presentation to be held Feb. 19 in Appleton, Wisconsin at the Bordini Center of the Fox Valley Technical College. Here is the announcement I just received for this meeting:

An overview of Wisconsin’s competitive but threatened “edge” in academic research and development will be the topic of the Feb. 19 meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network Northeast Chapter.

The event will be held at the D J Bordini Center, 5 Systems Drive, near the Fox Valley Technical College campus in Appleton. Registration and networking begin at 4:45 p.m. The cost is $5 for WIN members, $10 for non-members and included with WIN corporate memberships. To register, go to www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com.

Linda Freed, director of the UW-Oshkosh Office of Grants and Faculty Development, will join Wisconsin Technology Council President Tom Still in a discussion of “The Wisconsin Edge: Academic R&D” and how businesses can tap into Wisconsin’s research assets. Other speakers to be announced soon.

In today’s “knowledge economy,” university-based research is a key component of entrepreneurial activity. In the nation’s most vibrant technology hubs, research universities emerge as important drivers of technology creation and transfer.

Wisconsin’s largest academic research hub is the UW-Madison, but the state is also home to other R&D centers such as UW-Oshkosh that tend to be underutilized tech transfer assets. Without a broader and more regional foundation in academic R&D, Wisconsin will find it difficult to pursue a robust, high-tech “knowledge-based” economy for the 21st century.

“Thanks to decades of investment in people and facilities, Wisconsin has developed a strong base for academic R&D, but it’s time to broaden that base,” Still said. “An upcoming Tech Council report will conclude that a decade-long slide in state support for the UW System could hamper the state’s ability to attract merit-based R&D grants and to promote technology transfer, which creates high-wage, private-sector jobs.”

WIN is the membership affiliate of the Tech Council, with six chapters statewide. To learn more or to join, contact Liz Schrum at 608-442-7557 or at lschrum@wisconsintechnologycouncil.com.