UW-Madison Office of Business Engagement

To kick off its centennial year, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) has announced a $159.8 million investment in UW–Madison research and innovation. The support includes a three-year, $15 million grant to help fund infrastructure and human investment focused on artificial intelligence for UW's Research, Innovation and Scholarly Excellence Initiative (RISE), a multifaceted effort to strengthen research, scholarship and educational opportunities. Thank you to WARF for a century of support and generosity!

Over the summer, four undergraduate students in the UW-Madison College of Engineering spent two months during summer 2024 in the port city of Trieste, Italy, working for FINCANTIERI, one of the world’s largest shipbuilding companies. Their work at the company’s headquarters led to meaningful hands-on experience as students, including designed diagrams and performed underlying calculations for ventilation systems — work that’s being implemented by the company.   “I know a lot of internships kind of give interns the ‘side’ projects, but it was super cool to hear that the work we did was actually impactful and meaningful,” says Colby Milligan, a junior from San Francisco.   This first successful student experience with Fincantieri, which operates shipyards in Marinette and Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, will continue next summer, as the company welcomes more interns (students who are interested in interning for Fincantieri in summer 2025 should apply by Nov. 18, 2024!) while also exploring potential research collaborations with UW–Madison engineering faculty members in areas such as human-robot collaboration, cybersecurity and more.   Thanks to Fincantieri, Gabriele Librandi and Russ Johnson for the continued partnership that enhances the student experience, connects industry to Badger talent and opens the door to more and greater opportunities and research.

💚 Would you look at this incredible group of environmental sustainability folks? 🤜 🤛 We just brought together our Business Sustainability Leadership Forum (BSLF) for a working session to dive into some of the key focus areas of sustainability challenges that companies are facing, and share the many different ways that the University of Wisconsin-Madison is leading in this area. 🙏🏻 A huge thanks to our friends at American Family Insurance for hosting the event at the Spark Building -- we really appreciated the time and space, Matthew Mayrl, Emmy Swift and Casey Olson, and loved getting read into the great sustainability initiatives that you all are working on. 👀 If you see your organization's work in this group, or are interested in learning more about what we're doing to bring the research and expertise of campus to tackle with real-world challenges and opportunities of industry, check out the details in the link in the comments or give me a shout! 😎 Grateful for this joint project between the UW-Madison Office of Business Engagement and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Business Sustainability Leadership Forum got back together again last week, bringing an even larger collection of partners together to ignite conversations in the environmental sustainability space. We are so excited by the continued enthusiasm, insight and innovation emerging from this group and look forward to more great work to come!   Special thanks to our coordinating partners Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison and our friends at American Family Insurance for hosting us at "The Spark" office building in downtown Madison, a beautiful space that models sustainable innovation.   Want to know more? Visit the link in the comments!

We were delighted to welcome our colleagues from Thermo Fisher Scientific and PPD last week. We find so much value and inspiration in these visits, providing an opportunity to highlight the amazing work and exciting connections happening on campus — and to learn about the incredible things our partners have in the works.   And of course, who doesn’t love celebrating a great Badger Football victory with great people?! #OnWisconsin

UW–Madison has a long history of entrepreneurial excellence and support. A new strategic vision will help strengthen entrepreneurial pathways, experiences and outcomes to create a thriving entrepreneurial environment, leveraging the university’s existing strengths and capabilities as well as its ongoing commitment to fostering entrepreneurship across campus.

UW–Madison researchers have designed a reactor that sets the stage for large-scale efforts that could help make plant-based plastics and other alternatives to fossil fuels more economically viable, using oxygen to pull chemicals from organic waste. Read more from the Wisconsin Energy Institute ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gBXy92zK

✅ Brilliant, passionate students ✅ Amazing, engaged industry partners ✅ Thoughtful, intentional UW–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) folks ✅ A gorgeous setting Last night’s CALS Biotech Connector was such a great opportunity for students to connect with many of the amazing biotech companies that will help them build their careers and their futures. Huge shoutout to so many of our partners who showed up to connect with our students with intentionality, including: Promega Corporation Catalent Pharma Solutions Exact Sciences Aldevron MilliporeSigma Eurofins Labcorp GEA Group Thank you for partnering with us to continue to making our students and the University of Wisconsin-Madison the best in the world! UW-Madison Office of Business Engagement

University of Wisconsin-Madison innovators! Are you looking to maximize impact for your #research, turn your idea into a product or service or start a new company or organization? Discover inspiring stories and practical tools to advance your idea at #UWInnovateWeek, coordinated by UW Discovery to Product and UW’s Innovate Network, September 23-27. Learn more and register: https://ow.ly/wn9j50TpAzL #WisconsinInnovates UW-Madison CDIS UW-Madison College of Engineering Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship | Wisconsin School of Business Wisconsin School of Business University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Letters & Science University of Wisconsin Department of Medicine Isthmus Project Technology Entrepreneurship Office - UW Madison Center for Technology Commercialization Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Wisconsin Energy Institute UW-Madison Master of Science in Design + Innovation (MD+I) UW–Madison Data Science Institute UW-Madison CoE Makerspace UW-Madison CDIS UW-Madison College of Engineering Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship | Wisconsin School of Business Wisconsin School of Business University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Letters & Science University of Wisconsin Department of Medicine Isthmus Project Technology Entrepreneurship Office - UW Madison Center for Technology Commercialization Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Wisconsin Energy Institute UW-Madison Master of Science in Design + Innovation (MD+I) UW–Madison Data Science Institute UW-Madison CoE Makerspace

Excellent conversations happening on campus as the Office of Biohealth Industry Partnerships, UW SMPH and BioForward, Inc. welcome the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB).