Tech sector targets new opportunities as economy rebounds
Telaric, Compsim plan to add value to existing companies, products
Two suburban businesses are hoping that the down economy of the past three years will force stagnant industries to innovate by adding new features and functionality to their products.
"Potentially, the economic conditions may be a help to us," said Tom Keeley, president of Compsim LLC, Brookfield, said.
Keeley’s company offers artificial intelligence that can be embedded in products.
"In branded product markets, specifically if there is a weakness in the economy, companies are probably looking harder for a specific differentiator," Keeley said. "One thing we think our technology can do is give them a significant edge."
Compsim, operated by Keeley and his wife Helena, is the developer of KEEL (Knowledge Enhanced Electronic Logic).
While licensing deals for KEEL technology are in the works, the Keeleys are planning a trip in mid-July that could land them work with the Department of Defense.
The Keeleys will meet with an Army command in Orlando, Fla., focused on military simulation training and instrumentation.
According to Tom Keeley, the group matches up technology companies such as Compsim with defense contractors in need of specific functionality.
Finding partner firms will be important because KEEL technology cannot stand by itself, Helena Keeley said.
"We just know in the end that we can’t go for total applications that are solicited for because in many cases we are an engine – we don’t have an application," Helena Keeley said. "So when we find people that can do the application, we incorporate KEEL."
"The government is indicating they want to put a lot of stress on cognitive technology," Tom Keeley said. "It is a large opportunity for us in pa
rtnership with major defense suppliers. It is one of the opportunities, but even defense is cutting back."
The Keeleys hope a more budget-conscious Pentagon might see value in technology that actually cuts costs.
"Perhaps the biggest emphasis is on manpower reduction," Tom Keeley said. "If the government can operate a ship with 30% fewer people, that saves them money. Specifically, diagnostics and maintenance, where you have an awful lot of people on a ship trained to solve specific problems with specific equipment, the equipment itself could assist the sailors in troubleshooting the ship’s systems. In some cases, the equipment might be able to operate itself more readily. You could do with less sailors there, as well."
But operating from a home base in Wisconsin will not make it easy to partner with federal defense suppliers, according to the Keeleys.
"The businesses we would be in partnership with – a very high percentage comes out of the Washington, D.C., area," Helena Keeley said. "They are collectively called the beltway bandits."
While many companies reaping government projects and grants certainly are within a stone’s throw of the nation’s capital, several southeastern Wisconsin innovation gurus are hoping to help local companies become less risk-averse and more open to adopting new methods and technologies.
Telaric Ideas, an offshoot of Mequon-based Telaric Alliance, was founded in June to help businesses find the leading edge.
The team of technical and business innovators first got together to plan a panel discussion for the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Milwaukee June 4.
"Is there some role for us to get together and be a resource for the region to help drive innovation? We were getting together to brainstorm what this would look like," Telaric partner Al Oelschlaeger said.
To date, Telaric Alliance had been involved in standard business consultancy areas, including marketing.
"We decided to plan for a business – what if anything we are going to go do together. And we would up thinking we could help other businesses with outsourced innovation, helping people infuse more innovation into their company. And we would also help with strategic patenting."
In addition to Oelschlaeger and fellow Marquette Electronics veterans Carlos de la Huerga and Scott Kroeger, the Telaric Ideas team includes former Johnson Controls vice president Steven Bomba and Paul Sheldon, chairman and chief executive officer of Sheldon/Van Someren Inc., a technology brokerage.
"What are some of the things you can do as a manager to allow and stimulate innovation?" Oelschlaeger said. "And what are some of the things that managers do to just kill innovation before it gets started? Innovation is critical. It is the only way we are going to grow this economy."
Unlike a public-private partnership such as Tech-Star, which is a technology transfer entity associated with area colleges and universities, Telaric Ideas will work on a fee-for-service basis, rather than seeking ownership rights over the technology the company develops.
"The simplest business model is fee for service, but the challenge of doing something other than that is interesting," Oelschlaeger said. "That is like being a venture capitalist and means a fair amount of due diligence before you get involved."
So, what new directions will innovation take as local manufacturers seek to set their products apart from competitors? In some cases, according to Kroeger, it might be a simple matter of applying existing resources to new markets.
"It could be looking at a company that has products and a market and figure out where there is a gap where they could use their internal capabilities to gain new revenue," Kroeger said. "But the most important thing to really growing the market is to make the products easier to use."
July 11, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
