As we close the door on 2019 and an eventful year for the Wisconsin Technology Council and its partners, here’s a reminder of the depth and breadth of programming we offered through our Tech Council Innovation Network.

More than twenty luncheons were held across Wisconsin with the help of our major sponsors: Old National Bank, UW-Milwaukee, the UWM Research Foundation, UW-Eau Claire, Fox Valley Technical College, the UW-Green Bay and the UW-Madison Office of Business Engagement. Topics included:

  • Economic ‘Opportunity Zone’ incentives
  • The launch of the Wisconsin Healthcare Business Forum
  • Industrial hemp in Wisconsin
  • ‘Smart cities’ in Wisconsin
  • The role of the chief innovation officer at UW Health
  • The Green New Deal: Idealism or inevitable?
  • Development of drugs to offset the effects of menopause
  • Views on venture investing in Wisconsin from two major funds
  • Bats and ticks and feral critters … oh my!
  • The ‘eyes’ have it! The future of ocular research
  • Innovation in machine learning and AI at Epic
  • Corporate venture capital: What’s driving the surge?
  • Ebola, pandemics and avian flu: Worried yet?
  • Growth of the statewide Badger Fund of Funds
  • Innovation at the Microsoft Gray Systems Lab in Madison
  • Cross-border investing: Views from Minnesota, Wisconsin investors
  • How to access the patent portfolios at WARF and WiSys
  • The future of Foxconn’s tech centers in Wisconsin
  • Pulp, paper and packaging: How a legacy Wisconsin industry is evolving
  • How to enter the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest
  • Anatomy of a project: Exact Sciences, Findorff Construction and Potter Lawson Architects

Our Tech Council Innovation Network events were in addition to three major conferences – the Tech Summit, the Entrepreneurs Conference and the Early Stage Symposium – and often were held in partnership with affiliated groups such as the Wisconsin Healthcare Business Forum.

Special events such as the annual summer conference of the Tech Councils of North America, of which the Tech Council is a member, came with the support of Epic Systems, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., UBS Burish Group, Wipfli, Promega, Exact Sciences, Alliant Energy, AT&T, Industrious, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and others. This late July conference in the Madison area attracted tech council and associations from across the United States and Canada.

Stay tuned for our lineup of events for 2020, which will include the March 16 Tech Summit at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field, the June 4 Entrepreneurs’ Conference at Northwestern Mutual in Milwaukee, and the Early Stage Symposium at Monona Terrace in Madison.