New WARF campaign targets Wisconsin businesses

Getting Wisconsin technologies into the hands of Wisconsin businesses is the goal behind an initiative being launched by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), a private, non-profit organization that manages the intellectual property of UW–Madison.

WARF’s “What’s IN It For Wisconsin Business” campaign is designed to make the Madison-based foundation more accessible to companies throughout the state, as well as to educate them about the wealth of homegrown product potential – in the form of patented UW discoveries – that the foundation has available for licensing.

“This effort is part of WARF’s overall shift in recent years to a much more customer-focused approach,” says Carl Gulbrandsen, WARF’s managing director. “But more importantly, in these tough economic times when we’re all trying to find ways to grow the state’s economy, we believe technologies developed at Wisconsin’s universities can be an important source of innovation for Wisconsin’s businesses and help them to be more successful.”

Founded in 1925, WARF serves the UW–Madison by patenting inventions made by campus researchers, licensing the technologies to companies for commercial development and returning the licensing proceeds to the university to fund further scientific research. During its history, WARF has processed over 4,000 UW–Madison inventions and secured approximately 1,500 U.S. patents.

The foundation has also excelled at moving these innovations into the marketplace: Last year, more than $1 billion in products were sold under license from WARF. Of the foundation’s 600 license agreements, approximately 20 percent are with Wisconsin businesses – a number WARF would like to see grow.

“Traditionally, we’ve had very successful relationships with Wisconsin companies in the medical device industry, the high-tech start-up sector, and the agricultural sector,” says Bryan Renk, WARF’s director of patents and licensing. “Through this campaign, we hope to forge stronger ties to the state’s other industrial sectors, as well.”

A key feature of the initiative – which includes advertising and direct-mail campaigns, development of a comprehensive database of Wisconsin companies involved in research and development, and launch of a new Web site – is the hiring of a Wisconsin licensing representative. The primary role of the Wisconsin representative will be to meet with companies around the state and learn about their needs, as well as introduce them to WARF and its extensive portfolio of UW technologies.

“Everything we’re doing with this initiative,” says Gulbrandsen, “is designed to make the incredible depth and breadth of UW inventions available to any Wisconsin business interested in exploring new ideas, products and methods for improving its bottom line.”

For more information on the campaign or how to connect with WARF, call Emily Bauer at (608) 262-8638 or visit www.warfwisconsin.org.