Wisconsin Technology Council

Event (10/3 at The Edgewater in #Madison): 'The Capital Times Power Hour featuring Craig Culver of Culver's Restaurants' The Cap Times Power Hour, a quarterly executive breakfast series, features one-on-one future-focused conversations with Wisconsin’s top CEOs discussing #business in our state. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gXapF-ph #Wisconsin #leadership

Serial #entrepreneur Toni Sikes is, by her own definition, a #data geek. Her father was a certified public accountant, she holds one college degree in mathematics and a second in market research. Combined with years of launching and investing in businesses, she’s no stranger to numbers. What makes Sikes and her #Madison-based company, CODAworx, different is the powerful blend of #business-driven data and public #art. Short for Collaboration of Design + Art, CODAworx has operated under that name for more than 10 years in a space not filled by many others: It serves as a #tech-based platform for introducing artists from scores of primarily visual disciplines to entities that might want to commission their art … all while trying to find a match that works for all. Article: 'Inside #Wisconsin: Madison’s CODAworx using data, market principles to redefine public art world' https://lnkd.in/gXsrHkdF via Tom Still

Applications are now open for a new opportunity for small #business owners in the city of #Madison looking to receive #training, #mentoring, and #networking opportunities to help their businesses innovate and thrive. The city is partnering with the Madison Region Economic Partnership and AFF Research to launch the BizReady program — a suite of resources and activities specifically designed to meet the needs of Madison’s aspiring entrepreneurs and business professionals. Article: 'BizReady applications open to Madison small business owners' https://lnkd.in/d6dGy9Wq via In Business magazine #startup #entrepreneur

Applications are now welcome from companies looking to tell their stories to investors at the annual Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium. This year’s event will be held in-person on Nov. 13-14 at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in #Madison. The 2024 format includes two pitch opportunities – the Tech Council Investor Networks track (five-minute presentations) and the 90-second Elevator Pitch Olympics – as well as “Investor Intros,” which will allow pre-selected companies brief, one-on-one meetings with targeted angel and venture investors. Learn more and apply by 10/4: https://lnkd.in/gRYhqKEj #Wisconsin #startup #entrepreneur #innovation #venturecapital

Epic’s User Group Meeting annually offers a themed surprise for thousands of visitors, so it was no shock when founder Judy Faulkner appeared on stage Aug. 20 in the company’s Deep Space Auditorium dressed as “Lady Swan,” a variation on Mother Goose and in keeping with a larger story-telling motif. What may have surprised the Deep Space crowd and thousands more watching around the world is that while #artificialintelligence has already transformed many Epic services, there is much more to unfold in the fairy tale “story” of Epic’s pioneering of #healthcare #software. Article: 'Inside #Wisconsin: At Epic, #AI isn’t just the next big thing: It’s already improving care' https://lnkd.in/ga2ei5ut via Tom Still #innovation #technology

The advent of fall means football, a nip in the air...and a busier events schedule here at the Tech Council. Our Sept. 12 luncheon in Wauwatosa will take a deeper look at the Microsoft #data center project in Racine County; our Oct. 3 #Wisconsin W.O.M.E.N. reception will feature #business executive Joanna G. Burish, MBA; and expect to hear more soon about new alliances that will add to the luster of the Nov. 13-14 Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium in #Madison. Tech Council members are also invited to attend a Sept. 26 luncheon produced by WisPolitics.com on the topic of #artificialintelligence regulation. See more in our newsletter, linked below, for details on each and how to sign up! My latest “Inside Wisconsin” column focuses on Epic’s annual User Group Meeting and the latest developments in that Verona-based #health #software company. - Tom Still Learn more in our latest newsletter: https://lnkd.in/g9QNzqa6 #technology #leadership #innovation

The winner of this year’s 'Pressure Chamber' pitch competition, #Madison-based SixLine Semiconductor, is raising funds to establish a lab facility as it continues developing its advanced materials #technology. SixLine Semiconductor is developing materials for next-generation #electronic devices, which have increasing performance requirements that can’t be met by conventional technologies. Article: 'SixLine Semiconductor wins 11th annual Pressure Chamber competition' https://lnkd.in/gMjzhdGQ via WisBusiness.com #Wisconsin #startup #entrepreneur

Microsoft’s ‘footprint’ in southeast #Wisconsin will be the topic of our luncheon on 9/12 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee #Innovation Accelerator in Wauwatosa. Panelists will include Balamurugan Balakreshnan, chief artificial intelligence officer/architect for Microsoft and Joe Hamann, executive director of UW-Milwaukee’s Connected Systems Institute. Learn more and register: https://lnkd.in/g_56KDJ5 #technology #AI

This year’s #investment activity so far includes 36 deals, compared to 25 deals at this point last year totaling $147.1 million. Many of the top deals for the first half of 2024 were for #healthcare-related companies, including: Elephas Biosciences, $55 million; Leo Cancer Care, $40 million; Moxe Health, $25 million; and Sift Healthcare, $20 million. About 60% of the funds raised so far this year were in this sector. Article: '#Wisconsin early-stage investment had a relatively strong start to the year with about $248.4 million raised through June 30, exceeding the total for the same period of 2023 by more than $100 million' https://lnkd.in/gCttVEJh #startup #entrepreneur #technology #innovation #funding

You know you’ve made it as a #healthcare diagnostic company when Woody Harrelson spoofs your signature product on “Saturday Night Live, which happened during a somewhat bizarre skit in early 2023. It’s even better when you have 10 years of data to demonstrate your product works. Both are the case with #Madison-based Exact Sciences and its at-home Cologuard test, which has been used 16 million times since its 2014 approval by the FDA to screen for colorectal #cancer in middle-aged and older adults at average risk for the disease. The SNL skit, which featured Harrelson being swarmed by a host of talking cardboard Cologuard boxes, was funny – but colorectal cancer is not. It’s the number two cancer-killer, with up to 53,000 Americans projected to die from it this year alone, yet also one of the most preventable and treatable cancers. In a 10-year span, Cologuard has detected 525,000 people with advanced precancerous lesions – growths or “polyps” that can be removed to prevent cancer. About 42,000 people who used Cologuard were found to have Stage 1 cancer, meaning it was detected early enough for treatments to prevent a dangerous spread. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other sources show that Cologuard is a major reason why significantly more Americans 45 and older are getting tested, a regimen formerly confined to invasive colonoscopies. Projections also show Cologuard screening is helping to reduce health-care costs by reducing scheduling, nursing and other provider hours, leaving #medical professionals more time to focus on people with serious symptoms. Article: 'Inside Wisconsin: A decade later, Exact Sciences Cologuard test remains cancer detection standard' https://lnkd.in/gNBV2R2u via Tom Still #Wisconsin #innovation