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Tag Spinoffs

Software piggybacks on electronic medical records, saves clinician time

September 24, 2015

Many people assume that electronic medical records would simplify doctoring, helping medical staff retrieve symptoms, diagnoses and prescriptions at computer speed. But Jonathan Baran, a Madison entrepreneur who began developing medical automation software while a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, says providers often don't see the promised efficiencies. Read More

Heavy-duty neutron accelerators paint promising future for UW–Madison spinoff

September 23, 2015

A Madison manufacturer of the world's most powerful commercial neutron generators is awaiting final regulatory approval for its first sale outside the research market. The device will be used to calibrate safety detectors at nuclear reactors in the United Kingdom. Read More

Weather-tech jobs remain in Madison even after company is sold

September 14, 2015

His demo tape as a TV weatherman was adjudged "pretty awful," yet it got University of Wisconsin–Madison grad Terry Kelly started "doing the weather" on WKOW Channel 27 in Madison in 1974. To improve on the paper drawings he was using to show storms and fronts, Kelly started Weather Central and built it into America's premier computer weather graphics and weather modeling business. Read More

Innovative cancer treatment machine: Still made in Wisconsin

September 4, 2015

Innovator-entrepreneur Thomas “Rock” Mackie’s TomoTherapy, launched in 1997, remains one of the universities’ most successful spinoff companies. Read More

One hot idea: Thermal spray makes metal better

June 24, 2015

A company spawned by an experiment on lawn mower blades has mushroomed into a national leader in high-temperature coatings that alter the surface properties of metal. Read More

Family affair: Milwaukee electronics manufacturer is flying high

May 28, 2015

From a distance of practically eight decades, Nathaniel Zelazo can smile about the failure of his first entrepreneurial venture. A Polish Jew who landed in New York in 1928 at age 10, he earned money for his schoolbooks peddling ice cream on the streets of Manhattan. "Needless to say, I had no license and got arrested," he recalls. "The guys in the same cell were killers and my liquid assets were melting." Read More

Made-in-Madison software helping fuel apps revolution

May 22, 2015

About 15 months after it went live, software called Ionic is fueling the hottest trend in information technology: mobile apps. Read More

Expert in computer science drives computer-security spinoff

May 18, 2015

One illustrious career in computer science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison can be traced to an anxious mother, a cocktail party conversation, and a "dead boring" job - plus a fascination with low-level machine code, a subject that many computer scientists disdain. Read More

Survey finds UW–Madison alumni starting companies across the state

May 14, 2015

A survey just completed by the Wisconsin Alumni Association shows a substantial level of business startups among graduates of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Read More

Music-inspired startup helps public libraries share creative work

May 6, 2015

For most doctoral students, finishing the dissertation is an all-consuming task. But even as Kelly Hiser was wrapping up her thesis on early electronic musical instruments this past year, she was co-founding a company: Rabble, a digital platform where third-party music libraries can collect, license and exchange creative work within their communities. Read More

UW honors noted entrepreneurs with achievement awards

May 4, 2015

The University of Wisconsin–Madison Entrepreneurial Achievement Awards this year honor a graduate of the Department of Computer Sciences who co-founded the company that’s now WebMD, and a Department of Animal Sciences professor who has turned his patented technologies into startup companies. Read More

UW-Madison spinoff is big-time producer of specialty maps

April 27, 2015

If paper maps are dead, nobody has read the obituary to David Knipfer, owner and operator of Mapping Specialists, a 15-person business in Fitchburg that runs the gamut from paper to digital. Read More

UW-Madison startup marries digital, physical worlds

April 24, 2015

A startup business that wants to link the realm of physical objects to the digital world of the Internet is basing its future on low-cost, highly engineered, one-of-a-kind plastic stamps. Read More

Business will implement new phosphorus recycling process in Midwest

April 24, 2015

A University of Wisconsin–Madison startup is helping Midwest cities remove pollutants from wastewater through a new process that will benefit local farmers, too. Read More

Faster, smaller, cheaper: Technique could speed biologic drugs

April 20, 2015

Antibodies are specific molecules that can lock onto a particular cellular structure to start, stop or otherwise temper a biological process. Because they are so specific, antibodies are at the forefront of drug discovery. So drug companies want a faster route to step one: identifying which of the millions of possible antibodies will work against molecules that cause disease. Read More

Patent office director offers views on intellectual property, diversity

April 16, 2015

The director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office spent Wednesday conversing with the UW–Madison community about the opportunities and challenges of intellectual property protection. Read More

Simple sample: Federal grant advances pain-free blood tests from UW startup

April 14, 2015

A company with deep roots at UW–Madison wants to make blood sampling less painful and more convenient. Tasso Inc. is perfecting a device the size of a pingpong ball that extracts a small sample while held against the skin for two minutes. Read More

High-power laser spinoff proves versatility is strength

April 13, 2015

Since lasers were invented in 1960, they have penetrated countless scientific, industrial and recreational fields: from eye surgery to DVD players, from cutting steel to triggering ignition in missile stages. Read More