Get insights on technology, the economy and politics through "Inside Wisconsin," a weekly column by Tom Still.
Still is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council and the Wisconsin Innovation Network. He is the former associate editor of the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison. Still serves on the board of directors for the Wisconsin Security Research Consortium and “We the People/Wisconsin,’ the UW-Extension Board of Visitors, the UW-Madison College of Engineering Industrial Advisory Board, and the WiSys Technology Foundation Advisory Board, among other civic and business groups. He moderated the Wisconsin Economic Summits (2000-2003) and "Inside Wisconsin" appears regularly in 24 publications. He is a lecturer in the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Still is the co-author of “Hands-On Environmentalism,” published by Encounter Books, New York.
September 1, 2010
No matter who is elected in November as Wisconsin’s next chief executive, the call to action should be the same: Embrace innovation, expand the economy, add jobs and create wealth.
September 1, 2010
Uncertainty has returned to the field of human embryonic stem-cell research, which has lived most of its short history in a stop-and-start environment uncharacteristic of almost anything else in science.
August 24, 2010
The feds are placing a big bet and spreading it across the table. From advanced batteries to next-generation biofuels, the federal government has become one of the largest investors in a sector that many traditional private-sector investors find too futuristic and more than a bit risky.
August 16, 2010
It’s an enduring complaint about human embryonic stem cell research, often but not exclusively voiced by people opposed on moral grounds: If this research is so promising, why is it taking so long to produce treatments? The long-term answer may emerge in a human clinical trial of a stem-cell therapy for spinal cord injuries – a therapy developed from a line of cells first cultured in Wisconsin.
August 16, 2010
If black crepe came in DNA double-helix swirls, some pessimistic analysts would hang it over the still-breathing body of the nation’s biotechnology industry.
August 8, 2010
So, which is it? Is Wisconsin a model for other states to follow – or an example of how not to grow a state economy? It may be a little of both.
July 17, 2010
By Tom Still
CHIPPEWA FALLS – Until now, if you heard the words “petaflop,” “teraflop” and “exaflop,” you might have thought they described something your dog left on the neighbor’s lawn, your personal life and your career… in that order.
July 12, 2010
By Tom Still
MADISON – Wisconsin’s economy has been made and remade over time. Nineteenth century wheat fields gave way to modern dairy farms and cranberry bogs; territorial lead mines and turn-of-the-century logging camps eventually bowed to world-class manufacturing.
July 8, 2010
The inaugural Sustainability Rankings by Site Selection magazine is a sign the term has become more than a squishy-green buzzword. And Wisconsin’s ranking among the magazine’s top 10 states for sustainability may pay dividends to the state over time.
June 28, 2010
If Marinette Marine wins the Navy contract to build 10 "littoral combat ships," it would continue a decade-long streak of expanded defense spending in Wisconsin.
June 21, 2010
Luring the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els to Wisconsin for a golf tournament may seem like a transitory, made-for-TV event, given the putt-and-run nature of professional golf. But the dollars left behind by the pros, their fans and sponsors can be an economic hole-in-one for states where tournaments are staged.
June 15, 2010
MILWAUKEE – Ask the average person to describe an “entrepreneur” and it may sound a bit like a white-coated scientist emerging from a laboratory with the promise of a life-saving drug, albeit 10 years and hundreds of millions of dollars away from reality.
June 7, 2010
The original Wisconsin Economic Summit series in 2000-2003 accomplished more than a few goals before fading away, and the 2010 version hopes to breath new life into the process at a crucial time for the state.
June 4, 2010
For many of those jobless or under-employed Americans, the answer is not waiting for that old job to reappear – but creating their own jobs by becoming entrepreneurs.
May 25, 2010
MADISON – Here’s a partial list of federal agencies and academic groups that regulate if, how and when animals are used in research settings:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care and the UW-Madison All-Campus Animal Care and Use Committee.
May 17, 2010
Scientists for years have shown they can produce liquid fuels from grass, leaves, wood and much more. But the question dogging the renewable fuels industry has always been “scale.’’
May 12, 2010
Has the much-anticipated “BioCentury” ended after only a decade?
April 29, 2010
The immense market forces at work will continue to transform Wisconsin’s energy economy, even without more legislation right now to prod things along.
April 26, 2010
Now that the 40th anniversary of Earth Day has passed, perhaps it’s once again safe to talk about who’s actually working every day to save the environment.
Reader warning: Some of the enviropols who believe Earth Day was created to empower government should proceed with caution.
April 21, 2010
In the rush to punish Wall Street for sins real and imagined, Capitol Hill may also precipitate a fall from grace for a class of Main Street financiers essential to America’s innovation economy: angel investors.
April 12, 2010
Wisconsin’s bid for federal “race to the top” education grants got a mediocre C-minus from the reviewers at the U.S. Department of Education, who said the state’s application fell short in some crucial ways. Most notably, the feds said, Wisconsin needed more robust plans for improving student achievement as well as the effectiveness of teachers.
March 25, 2010
Wisconsin has a chance to build a high-speed rail line, with hard-to-get federal money, that will change the economic destiny of its largest cities and many of its smallest communities.
March 22, 2010
The passage of the health-care bill in Congress marked the end of one political debate and the start of a different struggle that will play out in the fall elections, in court challenges, in state legislatures and through continuing clashes between the nation’s largest interest groups.
March 18, 2010
It’s good to set ambitious goals for job growth in Wisconsin, and history shows the numbers can turn around quickly. The real question is how Wisconsin will create the kinds of 21st century jobs it needs. The answer lies within the private sector and its potential for innovation.
March 8, 2010
Rethinking regulatory barriers tied to the landline era are part of Wisconsin’s overall effort to ensure that its telecom systems are world-class and that all regions of Wisconsin, from its major cities to its rural areas, have a chance to compete in the 21st century marketplace.
March 1, 2010
If you want to know where entrepreneurs smell opportunities, take a look at this year’s list of semi-finalists in the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest. The 52 semi-finalists in this year’s contest, who were selected from a competitive field of 284 entries, are a microcosm of innovation trends reshaping the economy.
February 23, 2010
Steve Pintar grew up in Milwaukee and earned an engineering degree from the UW-Madison. He also led the design teams for the 2008 Ford Focus and, most recently, the 2011 Ford Fiesta, another “global” vehicle due for release this spring.
February 14, 2010
If you were surprised to learn President Obama supports building the first nuclear power plant in the United States in nearly three decades, you may not have been listening closely during his run for the White House.
“Nuclear power represents more than 70 percent of our non-carbon generated electricity,” Obama said during his 2008 campaign. “It is unlikely that we can meet our aggressive climate goals if we eliminate nuclear power as an option…”
January 29, 2010
MADISON – Since the 1960s, Wisconsin has largely stood by while other states aggressively competed for their fair share of federal grants and aid. That bottom-quartile performance among the 50 states is why Wisconsin has long been known as a “tax donor” state, meaning its taxpayers contribute far more to the feds than they get in return.
January 25, 2010
In ways large and small, technology is taking some of the disaster out of disaster relief.
January 19, 2010
Wisconsin entrepreneurs and researchers do a world-class job of coming up with ideas that will transform health care, energy, manufacturing and other industries. Finding the investors who can move those ideas forward is too often the problem.
January 11, 2010
MADISON – Suffering from a post-holiday case of cabin fever? Still stewing over how the officials overlooked back-to-back personal fouls on Aaron Rodgers in the Green Bay Packers’ playoff loss? Well, it’s time to relax with a few good books and read away your winter blues.
January 5, 2010
LA CROSSE – Logistics Health Inc. needed to cash out a major early investor. Gundersen Lutheran wanted to diversify its portfolio and open doors to new markets, preferably by investing close to home. The resulting match will strengthen the La Crosse area economy and provide an innovative example for other investment-minded health-care systems in Wisconsin. At a time when many emerging companies are scouring for investors, homegrown sources of capital are welcome news.
December 28, 2009
MADISON – Good riddance to 2009, a bruising year for the Wisconsin and national economies; welcome to 2010, which can hardly be more punishing – and which may even bring renewed vigor to the innovation economy. Here are 10 trends to watch in 2010:
December 21, 2009
MADISON – A source close to the toy industry has once again leaked a copy of Santa’s perks list for Wisconsin politicians and newsmakers. Here’s what the good boys and girls in Madison and Washington will reportedly find in their stockings this Christmas week. But they better not pout and they better not cry if an alert district attorney asks why gifts were delivered down chimneys after midnight.
December 16, 2009
MADISON – Some days, it seems the only certainty about the U.S. economy is uncertainty.
Three of the economy’s largest sectors – health care, finance and energy – are in varying degrees of flux, in part because Washington seems bent on keeping it that way. President Obama and Congress can’t seem to bring closure to the health-care reform debate, the financial industry is under pressure from the Loan Officer in Chief to make more small business loans, and the Copenhagen climate change talks have raised more doubts than confidence.
December 7, 2009
MENOMONIE – In parts of western Wisconsin, the ties to Minnesota seem almost as strong as those to the Badger state. Many people in Wisconsin’s border counties read Twin Cities newspapers, watch Twin Cities television stations, follow Twin Cities sports teams and, most likely of all, see their economic destinies as linked to Minnesota’s metropolitan powerhouse.
November 30, 2009
MADISON – To say small business owners in Wisconsin are nervous about the outcome of the debate over health-care reform is like saying a football quarterback is jittery just before a 300-pound defensive end grinds him into the turf. Both know what’s coming – and both can only hope to get back on their feet once it’s over.
November 17, 2009
MADISON – A record 500-plus people attended Wisconsin’s largest early stage investing conference this month and another 250 rubbed shoulders in the same convention hall at the Midwest’s largest forum on health care investing. What better time to shatter myths surrounding the investors who crowded both events?
November 8, 2009
Wisconsin may have kept Mercury Marine in the state at a “cost-per-job” that falls somewhere on the lower end of the national incentives scale.
October 28, 2009
MADISON – When Gov. Jim Doyle flew around the state last week to announce the expansion or relocation of 10 tech-based companies, the news raised a question that is harder to answer than one might imagine: How many technology companies and tech jobs does Wisconsin have?
October 26, 2009
LA CROSSE – Don Weber doesn’t fit the profile of a typical CEO. He grew up on a dairy farm east of La Crosse, was wounded while serving as a Marine in Vietnam and once lost his home to foreclosure when an early business venture went bankrupt.
October 7, 2009
MADISON – For reasons that would require an actuary and a congressional historian to explain, Wisconsin gets the short end of the stick when it comes to Medicare. It always has, since the dawn of Medicare in the 1960s, and perhaps always will.
October 1, 2009
MADISON – Forget Saturday’s football showdown between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Ignore the Monday night football game between the Green Bay Packers and Brett Favre’s Minnesota Vikings. The real cross-border game these days is all about biotechnology.
September 21, 2009
MADISON – Author Michael Pollan says we shouldn’t eat anything our great-grandmothers wouldn’t recognize as food. I don’t know about your great-grandmothers, but much of what mine would have recognized as food was deep-fried in grease or boiled into mush in hopes it might still be safe to eat after sitting around all day in an unrefrigerated cupboard.
