"A Sheltered Environment for Emerging Enterprises."
New businesses receive affordable facilities, services, professional support, and some start up costs are deferred until graduation. The UW-Stout Incubator [PDF] eases the way into the private sector to promote further economic development in west central Wisconsin.
UW-Stout’s STTI Technology and Business Incubator received an award at the Synergy 2007 Conference, which was held October 24 and 25 in Eau Claire, WI. The Incubator received the award in the Knowledge and Idea Research and Development category. The nomination criteria for this award category specified organizations and institutions that continuously generate new ideas—ideas that can form the basis for new products, processes and services, which are vital for sustaining both economies and communities.
L to R: Chancellor Charles Sorensen, Incubator Director Randy Hulke, and
STTI Director Robert Meyer.
The Technology and Business Incubator, one of the Stout Technology Transfer Institute (STTI) centers, provides a sheltered environment for emerging enterprises. The incubator fosters technical businesses through close relationships with faculty, students, industry, and the UW-Stout community to better enable Wisconsin to compete in the global economy and sustain employment within the region. New businesses receive affordable facilities, services, and professional support in areas that include marketing, packaging, product development, and plant layout. Some start-up costs are deferred until graduation. The UW-Stout incubator eases the way into the private sector to promote further economic development in west central Wisconsin.
IMPACTS:
The incubator has created over 100 new jobs in the region with over 70% of the incubator clients operating successful businesses today. Data from a survey of (current and former) incubator clients reports 393 employees, over $73 million in annual sales, and an excess of $15 million in investments.
This unusually high success rate for start-up businesses is due in part to the quality of services provided by the incubator staff and the numerous resources provided by UW-Stout students and faculty. Criteria for acceptance into the incubator also helps ensure the success of new businesses. Incubator staff members work closely with students, faculty, and the Center for Innovation and Development (CID) -- another Stout Technology Transfer Institute. UW-Stout is currently the most active campus in invention disclosures, according to the WiSys Technology Foundation, with 37 disclosures from June 2000 through April 2007.