WisBusiness.com

A recent episode of “ WisBusiness.com: the 🎙Podcast” is with Abbey Crocker founder of #TailoredRemedy. Crocker, a biomedical sciences student at Marquette University in Milwaukee, created the startup company this year to “democratize” #medicalinformation using an #artificialintelligence platform. The #AI software aims to present complex medical information in an #accessible way, drawing from a number of #data sources. Her #entrepreneurship journey started while Crocker was working as a certified nursing assistant in long-term care during the #COVID19 #pandemic, before later transitioning to home health care. “In my time working, I saw an overwhelming problem with medications interacting, or just in general people being #overmedicated … I’m trying to figure out ways to solve this problem,” she said. ✨️ Listen to full episode, sponsored by University of Wisconsin-Madison at https://lnkd.in/gMkWYMfD

Permitting reform and interagency #communication at all levels are keys for state #governments to accommodate rising #energy needs, panelists told a collection of lawmakers in Ohio this week. Rising load due to #datacenters and other energy-intensive users coming online was front and center during a recent panel of The Council of State Governments’ Midwestern Legislative Conference in Columbus. The discussion over the region’s #energy future centered on the balance state #policymakers face in maintaining reliability in a complex area of policy that moderator Tony Clark acknowledged “can get weedy fast.” Clark is a senior adviser at D.C. communications firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP and a former member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He attributed the rising demand in part to the ongoing “explosion” of data centers alongside resource retirements in part due to policies favoring #carbon reduction. Microsoft, Maria Haberman - AEP Ohio, J. Arnold Quinn - Vistra Corp., Todd Snitchler - Electric Power Supply Association, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Chris Ziegler - API - American Petroleum Institute - API (Ohio), North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 🔌 Read more by Mikel Livingston at https://lnkd.in/g63wEjYN

The Governor’s Task Force on #Workforce and #ArtificialIntelligence has issued its final action plan, covering a wide array of policy proposals across #education, #government, workforce and #economicdevelopment. The task force held its final meeting at Madison Area Technical College this week, wrapping up efforts that began with its first meeting in October 2023. Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Secretary Amy Pechacek said its recommendations will be used in preparing the next biennial state #budget. “In addition to Governor Tony Evers’ budget, ideas for specific #investments and #policy proposals may move forward via requests from individual agencies as well,” she said. Within the education section of the report, the task force is recommending: new investments in #AI research at the Universities of Wisconsin; integrating AI into #curriculum development; supporting #faculty recruitment and retention in AI fields at UW schools and in the Wisconsin Technical College System; offering new “stackable” #credentials in AI that build on prior learning, and more. Read more at https://lnkd.in/gkCdvjfT

💰 Last year’s lower total for early-stage #investment isn’t a surprise as the state returns to a more typical level of #venturecapital activity, #Wisconsin #investors say. The Wisconsin Technology Council reports early-stage businesses in the state last year raised about $490 million through 107 deals, well below the two previous years. In 2021 — recognized as a standout year for investment — the state had a total of $869 million raised across 140 deals. By 2022, that had fallen to $640 million and 107 deals. While last year’s number of deals was unchanged over the year, total investment was about $150 million lower. Speaking yesterday at a Tech Council luncheon in Madison, Venture Investors Health Fund Managing Director David Arnstein said he’s “not surprised” by the group’s findings for 2023, which are captured in this year’s edition of the #WisconsinPortfolio. Read on: https://lnkd.in/gbAvqX8F

A state #biohealth #workforce project aims to drive interest in the field, provide specialized training, fill job openings with skilled workers and more. That’s according to Mark Thomas, EdD, chief strategy officer for Madison Area Technical College and leader of the Actualizing Biohealth Career Pathways project, one of several key initiatives getting funding through the state #TechHub effort. He spoke yesterday during a press conference at Milwaukee Area Technical College celebrating the state’s Tech Hub designation recently landing $49 million in federal funding. The #ABCPathways effort is getting $12.5 million in federal dollars and $1.5 million in state matching funds, and aims to train and place 2,000 workers in biohealth jobs within five years. Read more: https://lnkd.in/dcSXzTq3

University of Wisconsin-Madison has achieved a “major milestone” in an ongoing #energy research project, announcing its #fusion device has generated #plasma for the first time. Plasma is superheated material that’s often referred to as the “fourth state of matter,” distinct from solid, liquid and gas, according to an overview from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Much like heating a liquid will change it into a gas once it’s hot enough, heating a gas will lead to the formation of plasma. Importantly for the field of #fusionenergy research, matter heated to the temperatures required for this goal takes the form of plasma, the overview notes. The UW-Madison research team has spent the last four years building and testing a fusion energy device known as the Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror, or #WHAM. Last week marked its transition to official operations mode, and UW-Madison Prof. and project leader Cary Forest said generating plasma is “a crucial first step” toward the goal of #decarbonizing the energy sector. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Realta Fusion Read more at https://lnkd.in/gwjXrPMf

When Tania Burke was growing up in #Pewaukee, she often hiked with her family at Devil's Lake State Park near #Baraboo. “I loved it,” said Burke, president of Madison-based Trek Travel, which has been leading 🚴♀️ #bicycle tours around the globe for more than two decades. Starting this fall, though, Trek Travel will embrace 🚶♂️#hiking and #walking by offering weeklong trips in #Scotland, #Ireland, #Portugal and #Italy. Come 2025, Trek Travel’s jaunts will expand to more challenging terrain in the Italian Dolomites and French Alps, Burke said. In high school, she traveled with her contractor father to Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park and California’s 🏜 Joshua Tree National Park, rambling on trails while he did projects for the National Park Service. Later, while guiding bike tours for Backroads, she also led walking trips. And when she lived for a time in Aspen, Colo., she hiked to the top of five of the state’s “Fourteeners,” peaks that tower above 14,000 feet. She also trekked to the top of several 🌋 volcanoes in Chile. Read more: https://lnkd.in/g-m93Zgy

On Tap at the Brewhouse Inn & Suites is hosting multiple private parties this week for state delegations to the 2024 Republican National Convention, featuring custom 🧀 #cheese carvings of Donald J. Trump as well as the party’s elephant mascot. Located in the original Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewery building near Fiserv Forum in downtown #Milwaukee, the Brewhouse Inn & Suites calls itself the only “historic brewery hotel” in the city. Both the hotel and the in-house bar, called On Tap, are owned and operated by Gorman & Company of Oregon, Wis. While the hotel isn’t hosting any of the delegations overnight, it is at full capacity for the four-day convention this week, which has drawn tens of thousands of visitors from across the country to #Wisconsin’s largest city. Read more at https://lnkd.in/gtZdd7Ed

Software startup Renaissant will use a recently completed $5 million 💰 #investment round to fund further development of its logistics platform, the #Milwaukee-based company announced. The Series A funding round was led by Green Bay’s TitletownTech — a #venturecapital firm created by the Green Bay #Packers and Microsoft — and also included New York’s Interlock Partners, #Venture53 in Georgia, NFI Ventures, LLC of New Jersey and Texas-based Perot Jain. Since launching in 2018, #Renaissant has been developing a #data analytics and #workflow platform for its customers’ #logistics operations. It’s meant to reduce inefficiency by “integrating and optimizing” warehousing, 🚚 #transportation management, driver coordination and more. Read more at https://lnkd.in/g9ctAPVp

#GOP U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil says it’s “absolutely essential” to seize the opportunity presented by the overturning of the #Chevrondoctrine to reduce regulations on businesses. Speaking yesterday during an Association of Equipment Manufacturers panel hosted in Milwaukee on the first day of the @ Republican National Convention, the Janesville lawmaker slammed the “burden that the regulatory state continues to place” on industry. “We as legislators, in particular in the Senate and the House, have a huge opportunity to rightsize this,” he said. “We’ve seen, for example, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) really run roughshod over congressional intent. The Supreme Court is finally shifting that back to elected officials.” 🔎 Read more at https://lnkd.in/dXgi_paf #ChevronDeference