UW Business Resource Directory now available online

The UW Business Resource Directory is now available online to help businesses quickly search for resources throughout the University of Wisconsin System.

Compiled by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Office of Corporate Relations, the directory contains descriptions and contact information for business-related services at the 13 four-year UW campuses and the UW-Extension, as well as business contact information for the two-year UW colleges and Wisconsin’s technical colleges.

“Prior to this directory, there was no single place for businesses to find out who to contact at the university to get assistance,” says Charles Hoslet, managing director of the Office of Corporate Relations. Although the university system offers a substantial amount of services, Hoslet says, “The challenge is finding it.”

“We have over 200 research centers and 20 career service offices alone at UW–Madison, and for a business to figure out exactly where to search to have their needs met is difficult,” Hoslet says. The online directory eliminates the need to search each campus’s Web site by condensing them to one downloadable PDF file.

The UW System offers a variety of business resources, such as professional development programs, small-business assistance and student recruiting information. For instance, the Wisconsin Innovation Service Center at UW-Whitewater offers companies market-based research for new products and inventions.

In addition to these programs, Hoslet says that the UW System offers expert faculty and staff in nearly every field, from agriculture to engineering to health care, and that companies can take advantage of these resources to understand the latest changes and technologies to assist them.

Hoslet notes that the online directory is an updated version of the original directory printed three years ago. He says the benefit of having an online resource is that is can be updated at any time so “companies should always have access to the most current information. You cannot do that with a printed piece.”