Excerpted from the Sun Prairie Star
by Tyler Lamb

“As whispers of a double-dip recession grow louder, the need for a coordinated economic development strategy throughout Dane County is more vital now than ever before.
 
That strategy has recently begun taking root across Southern Wisconsin, and it’s called Advance Now: Madison Region’s Strategy for Economic Growth.

MadREP, the economic development partnership for the eight-county Madison region, launched Advance Now in June to unify the region’s economic initiatives into one comprehensive, action-oriented, economic development strategy.

Jennifer Post Tyler, interim executive vice president of MadREP, said the genesis of the Advance Now initiative hailed from a 2010 report which stated the Madison region’s assets were not being translated into economic prosperity.”

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MadREP is pleased to share in sponsorship of the Wisconsin Pavilion at the 2011 BIO International Convention, June 27-30, 2011, in Washington, DC. 

The BIO International Convention is the largest global event for the biotechnology industry and attracts the biggest names in biotech, offers key networking and partnering opportunities, and provides insights and inspiration on the major trends affecting the industry.

Addtional sponsors of the Wisconsin Pavilion include:

Aberdean Consulting
Aldevron
Anteco Pharma
BioForward
BloodCenter of Wisconsin
City of Middleton
Columbia County Economic Development Corporation
DNASTAR, Inc.
Exact Sciences
Fitchburg Technology Neighborhood
Forward Wisconsin
Greater Madison Convention & Visitors Bureau
Madison Gas & Electric
Makin’ Hey Communications
Marshfield Chamber of Commerce
Marshfield Clinic
Morgridge Institute for Research
Mortenson Construction
Promega
Quarles & Brady LLP
Ratio Drug Delivery
Scarab Genomics
Scientific Protein Laboratories
MadREP
University of Wisconsin – Madison
University Research Park
UW-Madison College of Engineering
UW-Madison College of Agricultural & Life Sciences
UW-Madison Office of Corporate Relations
UW-Madison Physical Sciences Laboratory
UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health
UW-Madison Zeeh School of Pharmacy
Waisman Center
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
WiCell
Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
Wisconsin Technology Council

MadREP also partnered with BioForward, Centergy, and Marshfield Clinic to provide scholarships to four small Wisconsin biotech companies — CaP Biomaterials/Cytophil (East Troy), Mithridion (Madison), Stratatech (Madison), and Ratio (Monona) —  to attend the BIO International Convention.

MadREP, the economic development partnership for the eight-county Madison Region, was named “Best Economic Development Agency” in the state of Wisconsin at Corporate Report Wisconsin’s 2011 Best of Wisconsin Business Awards. 

MadREP was named the winner among fellow category nominees Advance: Green Bay Area Economic Development and Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation. Nearly 2,000 Corporate Report Wisconsin readers cast their votes online to determine the winners in this 7th annual awards event.

Businesses in 28 categories were honored at the awards luncheon on Friday, June 10 at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells. The ceremony was emceed by Wisconsin Public Radio personalities Terry Bell and Stephanie Elkins.

A full feature on the 2011 “Best of” award winners will follow in the August 2011 edition of Corporate Report Wisconsin.

MadREP is launching the process of creating a comprehensive, action-oriented regional economic development strategy for the eight-county Madison Region. The strategy will be tied to tangible performance metrics that systematically move the region’s economy forward.

MadREP embarks on this process with support from the Economic Development Administration, having received a $97,500 grant award in April to create a comprehensive economic development strategy.

To complete this project, MadREP will engage the participation of numerous public- and private-sector leaders throughout the Madison Region. In addition, MadREP will partner with an experienced consultant to provide project direction and strategic analysis. An RFP is now issued in search of project proposals from qualified firms.

The RFP is available online. Submissions are due on June 17, 2011.

Clean Edge’s second annual U.S. Clean Energy Leadership Index, released May 18, 2011, provides the industry’s most comprehensive and objective analysis and ranking of how all 50 states, and the individuals, businesses, and organizations that operate there, compare across the clean-energy spectrum. According to Clean Edge’s assessment and ranking of more than 70 different indicators in technology, policy, and capital, Wisconsin ranks #15 among all 50 states.

Key market indicators tracked by Clean Edge include total electricity produced by clean-energy sources, hybrid and electric vehicles on the road, clean-energy venture and patent activity, and policy regulations and incentives. The 2011 Leadership Index paints an important and insightful picture of the U.S. clean-energy landscape.

A summary of the index is available at http://www.cleanedge.com/leadership.