Wisconsin sees product at the end of the pipeline

The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UWM) is to partner with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) on a major project focused on bringing scientific innovation to the marketplace.

The commercialisation project, Discovery to Product (D2P), will see the two organisations collaborate on cultivating a culture of entrepreneurship within UWM’s faculty and student body, whilst also aiming to better support the formation of new companies and expand the number of inventions which see the light of day.

D2P will be funded by $3.2m from the two, which both committed $1.6m towards the project. The cash will be used to attract new talent, pay for more resources, and boost capabilities to leverage resources already available, such as the university’s Weinert Centre for Entrepreneurship and

Rebecca Blank, chancellor at UWM, said: “D2P is a big step forward in our support of entrepreneurship among both faculty and students. I want to make sure that UW-Madison is on the cutting edge of entrepreneurship and technology commercialisation.”

Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director at WARF, said: “WARF enthusiastically supports D2P and Chancellor Blank’s strong commitment to ensuring UW-Madison builds a lasting foundation for entrepreneurship. We are delighted to support this effort with WARF funding and staff expertise and look forward to working with the university to make D2P a widely used and highly valued resource across campus.”