One of the challenges businesses face when seeking business development assistance is that they often don't know what resources...

It probably won’t surprise you that Wisconsin trails most other states across the nation in business
startup activity. According to the Kauffman Foundation, which studies and promotes entrepreneurship, Wisconsin ranked #40 in 2011.

Fusion Integrated Solutions Draws Upon State REsources to Expand Services
Fusion Integrated Solutions, LLC, based in Milwaukee, is an engineering consulting and design firm that designs automation components and production processes for manufacturing operations, energy generation plants, airports, correction facilities, universities and water treatment plants. CEO Seaphes Miller started the company in 2004 in Ohio and moved it to Wisconsin in 2006 when merging it with a family member's information technology firm because of the open business environment here. Today, the firm has 75 employees in four offices: two in Wisconsin
and one each in Illinois and Ohio.

American fashion, music and culture may be all the rage among young people in Shanghai, Mumbai and countless cities across the globe, but when it comes to population growth, we're far from number one.

Thousands of people fly in and out of Milwaukee every day. Passengers lucky enough to have a window seat are afforded a beautiful view of the Hoan Bridge, Miller Park, the "Calatrava" wings of the Milwaukee Art Museum and the city skyline. The one thing that is impossible to escape even the more passive window gazers is that big body of water that spreads across the horizon. The rolling expanse of Lake Michigan appears like more of an inland sea than a mere lake; it dominates the geography below. With two Great Lakes, 84,000 miles of rivers, and 15,000 lakes in the state, Wisconsin's freshwater resources are second to none. What isn't immediately visible from 12,000 feet is that from the lakefront spreading westward are over 200 companies with ties to Wisconsin's water technology industry employing nearly 250,000 people and generating $56 billion in annual sales (Dun and Bradstreet). Water has always played prominently in our state's economic engines—agriculture, food processing, pulp and paper production, manufacturing, and brewing. In fact, the state's name literally translates from Native American roots to mean "river running through a red place."

Associated Bank is proud to sponsor the Economic Development Regions section of WisconsinBiz. Born in 1970 as an association of strong community banks, we have maintained a strong regional character throughout our history. We recognize and understand the differences in the business and financial needs of companies and communities in the various regions of our state. These needs are also reflected in the priorities of regional economic development organizations. For example, Grow North is focused on improving the fundamental economic drivers of growth, such as enhancements to transportation infrastructure and broadband access. Milwaukee 7 – among many other projects – is targeting national and international prospects to bring additional business into the state.

Sometimes called the “Silicon Valley of Water,” Southeastern Wisconsin’s water cluster strength is not only its technology companies but its unique academic research and talent development programs. Just as Stanford University took innovative ideas and research and nurtured them into global technology leadership, Wisconsin’s colleges and universities are helping to reshape our water technology cluster.

In 2007, a group of water industry, academic, and civic leaders convened to discuss the breadth and strength of the water cluster centered in Milwaukee. From these meetings, The Water Council emerged to leverage our resources and transform the region into a World Water hub. The Water Council is transforming a region by harnessing the power of an existing international industry cluster, linking a rapidly expanding academic research community and convening some of the nation’s brightest and most energetic professionals.

Spurred by the close research and business development work between the Milwaukee region’s water technology businesses and academia, The Water Council is renovating a downtown Milwaukee warehouse into an unparalleled water research and business accelerator building. The center, scheduled to open in the summer of 2013, will be housed in a 98,000 square foot, seven-story building at 223 West Pittsburgh Avenue (recently renamed Freshwater Way) in the Reed Street Yards area of Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood. The $22 million project will be a complete refurbishment of a century-old brick and timber warehouse into first class office and research space. The building will become the workplace for approximately 200 people and a catalytic project for the redevelopment of the Reed Street Yards and Walker’s Point neighborhood.

by Tom Bray, MSOE Dean of Applied Research

by Sheku Kamara, Rapid Prototyping Center Director

Advanced manufacturing is a mainstream concept that represents some of the latest and most innovative technologies that are available. MSOE is no stranger to this concept. In fact, the university was an early adopter of these technologies and helped advanced manufacturing techniques become the new normal in a variety of fields.