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Robinson, who spent 12 years in San Francisco’s venture capital world before coming to Wisconsin, was recently named the managing director of 4490, a fund established by the State of Wisconsin Investment Board and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.  The fund is primarily focused on backing promising software startups in Wisconsin.

The luncheon will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 10499 Innovation Drive, Wauwatosa.  Registration and networking begins at 11:30 a.m., lunch at 12 p.m. and the presentation at 12:15 p.m. Register and learn more here.

Influenza virus research focus of Aug. 26 WIN-Madison event

UW-Madison researcher Yoshihiro Kawaoka will discuss his work surrounding a potentially deadly avian flu virus at the Tuesday, Aug. 26 luncheon of the Wisconsin Innovation Network in Madison.

Kawaoka has engineered an avian virus that is nearly, but not precisely, identical to one that killed 40 million people in 1918 to show that it is possible for pathogens already present in nature to repeat some dreadful history. His research group used the engineered strain in animal models to determine how many mutations might be needed for such a virus to leap from animals to humans.

The 2014 Lake Superior Business & Technology Conference will be held Friday, Aug. 8, in Ashland. The event, which runs from 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College, is $30 for general admission and $10 for students.

The event will feature presentations from Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch; Bob Davies, UW-Stout professor and national business consultant; Doug Moquin, retired vice president of Phillips Plastics Corp.; Morna Foy, president of Wisconsin Technical College System; Jim Hagstrom, entrepreneur and developer with Blue Wave on the Bay; and Randy Hulke, director of UW-Stout Discovery Center.

Register here. For more information on the conference, call the Ashland County UW-Extension office at (715) 682-7017 or the Bayfield County UW-Extension office at (715) 373-6104. The event is produced by the Lake Superior chapter of the Wisconsin Innovation Network.

WHEFA is a member of the Wisconsin Innovation Network, the Tech Council's membership arm.

“Case Studies in Science and Technology Communications” is a capstone course in the UW-Madison Department of Life Sciences Communications, available to seniors and graduate students. Students are available for an average of about five hours per week beginning in mid-September. Past interns have built web sites, written news releases, helped to  manage marketing campaigns and more. A number have been hired by tech-based companies or news publications that cover technology. Learn more here.

On the latest episode of "WisBusiness: The Show," Liz Schrum speaks with Arjun Sanga of WiSys Technology Foundation about innovation on UW System campuses; Tom Still outlines scientific breakthroughs happening in Wisconsin; and the WisBusiness.com Stock Report covers hiring optimism and the state jobs picture.

Click here view the biweekly show, produced by Tweedee Productions for the Wisconsin Technology Council and WisBusiness.com, as well as archives of past shows. The show is sponsored by Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C., Madison Gas & Electric and UW-Milwaukee.

Two research engines helping state’s manufacturing base remain strong
Innovation in manufacturing across a mix of sectors is essential for Wisconsin to retain its manufacturing “market share.” Two recent announcements demonstrate that commitment.

Technology becoming fifth “T” in North Woods economic portfolio
The Lake Superior region’s economy will likely always rest on some traditional pillars – timber, transportation, tourism and taconite ore – but technology is becoming a fifth “T” in the jobs creation lineup. At the Aug. 8 Lake Superior Business and Technology Conference, a collection of communities, educational institutions and business leaders will drill down into the economic bedrock of Ashland, a city of about 10,000 people on the shores of Lake Superior.

'Inversion,' outsourcing worth studying
While President Obama and others are right to worry about the long-term implications of American companies effectively renouncing their citizenship, the larger issue facing the White House and Congress is American competitiveness in a global economy. Tax reform that lowers rates and closes loopholes such as inversion should be the answer.

Why ‘outsourcing’ is a permanent (and necessary) part of the modern economy
The increasingly curious exchange between incumbent Gov. Scott Walker and challenger Mary Burke over the “outsourcing” of jobs illustrates how political campaigns and economic realities seldom mesh.

The hidden immigration crisis -- keeping foreign-born talent here
America graduates about 40,000 foreign-born students each year who have earned master’s and doctoral degrees in science, engineering and technology – and promptly kicks many of them out of the country to return home and compete against us. It’s a largely unseen side of the immigration debate that affects Wisconsin’s ability to compete in the global economy, as much or more than border-hopping.

Wisconsin sees influx of tech jobs and startups
The City of Milwaukee's latest economic development plan identifies five industry clusters primed for growth: water technology and research; food and beverage processing; headquarters and business services; finance and insurance; and industrial controls, automation, power and energy. If the city wants to embrace one more candidate for growth, however, it should consider adding information technology and software to the short list. The Milwaukee area arguably has precisely what the IT and software sector needs.

With talent and vision, tech companies can grow in mid-size cities
Speaking recently to the board of directors for the Wisconsin Technology Council in Eau Claire, Zach Halmstad of JAMF Software described a company that has grown sharply since 2010 by focusing on customer service and employee retention through pay and benefit packages that attract and grow talent.

Inc.: Great Lakes Region home to most active angel investors in the U.S.
Together, the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio accounted for 17 percent of angel deals. That compares to about 18 percent in California but just 13 percent in New England and 12 percent in New York.

Xconomy: Stealthy device startup Invisible Connect gets $2.5M from WI investor
Invisible Connect, a stealthy hardware startup based in Eau Claire, WI, has raised $2.5 million in seed money from an unnamed Wisconsin investor, according to the founder and an SEC document.

BizJournal: Aero-Stream among those in next round of ABC's 'Shark Tank'
While Karl Holt's idea may not be the sexiest of inventions, he pitched his Hartland-based business to ABC's television show "Shark Tank" and received a phone call to go the next round, which includes sending in an application and a video for the show. Aero-Stream was the first place advanced manufacturing winner in the 2010 Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest.

Xconomy: Startups still abandon Wis., but growing cluster keeping more here
There’s no doubt losing those companies hurts Wisconsin’s efforts to wean its economy off a dependence on agriculture and old-school manufacturing by building a high-tech cluster. Although the state continues to rank poorly in entrepreneurship rates and venture capital investments, it’s starting to build some momentum with new micro-VC funds, groups striving to nurture the nascent startup community, and a small-but-promising crop of growing young companies.

Biz Journal: Milwaukee fashion startup Wantable lands $1.5M Series A financing
Fast-growing Milwaukee fashion startup Wantable Inc. has secured $1.5 million in Series A funding, the company announced. The e-commerce startup, from Buyseasons Inc. founder Jalem Getz, closed the round with support from unnamed Wisconsin and California-based investors.

ABODO raises $1.25M in Series A funding to deliver hyperlocal apartment search
The hyperlocal online rental marketplace ABODO announced it has closed $1.25 million in Series A financing, led by American Family Ventures. Also joining the round are 4490 Ventures and Lakewest Venture Partners.

Xconomy: Ability Network exit a win for WI investors outside metro hubs
The Ability Network exit, which was among the largest healthtech transactions nationwide in the first half of 2014, brought a big payoff for a group of Wisconsin investors. One of Ability’s early investors was the Chippewa Valley Angel Investors Network (CVAIN), based in Eau Claire, WI, 93 miles east of Minneapolis.

NIH awards Imbed Bio $1.5M grant to develop wound healing nanofilm
Imbed Biosciences Inc. announced July 28 that it has been awarded a $1.5 million competitive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant from National Institute for Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, a division of National Institutes of Health. Imbed is a past finalist in the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest.

JSOnline: Protein Foundry first startup in MCW's incubator program
Protein Foundry LLC, a start-up formed by four Medical College of Wisconsin scientists, may be the first in a string of spinoffs to be incubated at the school under a new program aimed at helping move more companies out the door.

PostCrescent: Aviation firm moving to Oshkosh
Minneapolis-based D’Shannon Aviation plans to relocate its aircraft engine overhauling business to Wittman Regional Airport following AirVenture.

Xconomy: Badger Fund of Funds to pump $90M-plus into WI startup scene
The plan for Wisconsin’s new fund-of-funds program is starting to come into focus. The headline: The Badger Fund of Funds could ultimately result in at least five new funds investing a minimum of $90 million in more than 100 Wisconsin startups over the next several years. That’s the biggest takeaway from a presentation Tuesday by two of the three managers of the fund-of-funds at an event hosted by the Wisconsin Technology Council’s Wisconsin Innovation Network in Madison.

WisBusiness: NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes breaks ground for Beloit facility
NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes LLC broke ground today for a new 50,000-square-foot facility at 1800 Gateway Blvd. in Beloit, Wis. When completed in late 2014, the facility will house the company’s headquarters and activities related to the production of the medical radioisotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99). The facility is being constructed by Corporate Contractors Inc. of Beloit.

Olver to lead University Research Park
Aaron Olver, a former secretary of the state Department of Commerce and head of Madison’s economic development division, has been hired as managing director of University Research Park.

JSOnline: Chicago investors flock to Madison start-ups
Riding high on big paydays from companies such as Braintree, Groupon and GrubHub, Chicago investors are looking outside the Midwest's biggest city for some of their next investments. One increasingly popular option: Madison's digital start-ups.

Continued growth of Epic Systems has attracted the attention of the media
The continued growth of Epic Systems in Verona, a national leader in electronic health records, has attracted the attention of the news media. Here are stories from the Wisconsin State Journal and WKOW-TV in Madison.

WisBusiness: Professor’s science kit among top 100 tech products
A science kit to help students learn about nanotechnology has been selected as one of the top 100 technology products added to the market place for 2013. NanoFab Lab…in a Box!™ was developed by Mike Zach, associate professor of chemistry at UW-Stevens Point, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.

JSOnline: Dedicated Computing continues to grow, expand
Wisconsin native Don Schlidt, 46, came back to the state in 2008 to run Waukesha-based Dedicated Computing Inc. Schlidt had previously run four other businesses, most recently in Denver, where he led the electronic component design and distribution business of Arrow Electronics. Schlidt will join the Wisconsin Technology Council board of directors this fall.

State Journal: Idle Free Systems purchased by Minn. manufacturer
Madison's Idle Free Systems, a maker of auxiliary power units for over-the-road and work trucks, has been acquired for an undisclosed sum by Phillips & Temro Industries in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

BizJournal: Runzheimer buys Chicago travel technology firm ProcureApp
Runzheimer International, a Waterford provider of workforce travel programs, services and technology, said Thursday that it purchased Chicago travel technology firm ProcureApp Inc. Runzheimer International is a Wisconsin Angel Network member and was a participant in the 2014 Wisconsin Tech Summit.

Cray Inc. wins $174M contract with National Nuclear Safety Administration
Cray Inc., which has its manufacturing plant in Chippewa Falls, has been awarded one of its largest contracts ever. The supercomputer manufacturer -- founded by Seymour Cray in Chippewa Falls -- has won a contract with the National Nuclear Security Administration for the next-generation Cray XC supercomputer and a related storage system.

Promega continues its expansion with $30 million assembly plant
Promega, the granddaddy of Wisconsin's biotechnology industry, is still growing. Read about its latest expansion.

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