PRESS RELEASE: December 22, 2015

Two video games created in Madison appear on Apple Inc.’s recently announced “Game of the Year 2015” list. The game Prune, made by local developer Joel McDonald, received top billing as Game of the Year for the iPad, while the game Lost Within, made by local company Human Head Studios, appears 22^nd on the list for iPads. With thousands of games released in the past year, boasting two spots in the top 25 from Madison illustrates the region’s immense talent and capability in this industry.

“I’m honestly still in shock,” says Joel McDonald regarding his top ranking. “These types of accomplishments aren’t supposed to happen with your first game release. I feel so privileged to have landed in Madison where I’ve met and learned so much from a bunch of amazing game developers. It’s definitely an exciting time for video games and I count myself lucky to be a part of it!”

“Madison is ripe for attracting and growing top-notch video game talent, as evidenced by this recent ranking,” notes Paul Jadin, president of Madison Region Economic Partnership. “We congratulate Joel McDonald and Human Head Studios, two game developers that reflect the vibrancy and growth potential of this industry cluster. We look forward to continuing efforts that catalyze this growth as Madison makes its mark on the global video game scene.”

The newly-formed Madison Game Alliance (MGA) is a group of creative minds that aims to build on the local industry assets already in place to establish Madison as a premier location for video games. MadREP—the economic development agency for the eight-county Madison Region—played a lead role along with UW-Madison’s Games+Learning+Society in forming the MGA, convening industry leaders, and spearheading the initiatives this group undertakes. The MGA is developing, branding and leading the local video game industry cluster through regular meet-ups, strategic planning sessions, and collaborative technical assistance.

“The Madison Game Alliance was formed at a critical and exciting moment for Madison’s video game industry,” says Tim Gerritsen, director of business development at Human Head Studios. “This group is committed to making Madison a continued competitor to gaming hotspots worldwide, and I’m confident that our critical mass of talent, companies and resources will ensure this status. Human Head Studios is thankful to Amazon Game Studios, our publisher, for giving us the chance to show a new depth of play on the iPad with our horror survival game, Lost Within.”

The region’s gaming industry has been gaining momentum over recent years, with a handful of anchor companies like Raven Software, Filament Games, PerBlue, and Human Head Studios growing steadily in the Madison area and at least 15 additional start-up companies taking root. Training and education in the gaming industry is available locally through programs at UW-Madison, UW-Whitewater, UW-Stout, Madison College, Madison Media Institute, and Herzing University. The industry is further buoyed by UW-Madison’s Games+Learning+Society, a research program housed in the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, and the Higher Education Video Game Alliance.

Apple Inc.’s yearly ranking assesses the best iOS Apps and Games released within the App Store during the previous 12 months. It is based on Apple’s weekly Editor’s Choice rankings.

In addition to winning Apple’s Game of the Year accolade, Prune was also named TIME Magazine’s best video game of 2015.

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Excerpted from Wisconsin State Journal
By Judy Newman

Madison and the Janesville-Beloit area are among the most dynamic metropolitan areas in the country, according to a report by the Milken Institute.

Madison ranked 20th on the list of the Top 25 Best-Performing Large Cities released by the nonprofit, nonpartisan economic think tank, up from No. 30 last year.

Janesville-Beloit leaped to fourth place this year among the Top 10 Best-Performing Small Cities from 41st in 2014.

“The top rankings in high-tech GDP (gross domestic product) growth for both Madison and Janesville illustrate the region’s position as a leading location for technology and innovation,”said Paul Jadin, president of MadREP, the Madison Region Economic Partnership.

Fueling the city’s improved showing, Madison ranked ninth in the U.S. for one-year wage growth from 2012 to 2013, and was No. 11 for high-tech growth between 2009 and 2014, the report said.

Technology played a big role in determining this year’s most vibrant economies, the Milken study said.

“Metros involved in designing and creating these products and services are growing most rapidly. Specifically, the composition of growth has shifted toward software and social media, and away from information and communication technology equipment,” the report said.

The Janesville-Beloit area scored first among small cities for its high-tech growth between 2009 and 2014 and third for wage growth from 2012 to 2013.

Data-processing services and machinery manufacturing showed some of the biggest job growth in the Janesville-Beloit area.

MadREP’s Jadin cautioned that tech jobs are not the only need in the region.

“The high-tech GDP rankings coupled with the equally exceptional rankings for wage growth suggest that this region is creating proportionately more high-paying, professional jobs,” Jadin said.

“While we certainly welcome and encourage this kind of job growth, we are also attuned to the need to create jobs at all levels of workforce,” Jadin added.

Read the full article..

 

PRESS RELEASE: December 8, 2015

The Mid-America Economic Development Council presented its annual Economic Development awards at the 2015 Mid-America Competitiveness Conference & Site Selector Forum, held December 6-8 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago.

MadREP received the first place award in the Annual Report: Large Division category for its electronic newsletters, including both our bi-weekly MadREP Report featuring regional economic news, events and opportunities and our bi-monthly site selection newsletter aimed specifically at a site relocation professionals. MadREP was also a finalist in the same division for its 2015 State of the Madison Region Report.

The Mid-America Economic Development Council is a multi-state association dedicated to being the leading resource for education, making connections, and sharing best practices for economic development professionals.

For many years, The Mid-America Economic Development Council has sponsored the annual Economic Development Awards competition to recognize and stimulate the creative use of quality marketing by economic development organizations throughout the ten-state Mid-America region in promoting their respective communities. The Mid-America Economic Development Council’s awards partner is Site Selection magazine, and all first place winners will be highlighted in an ad in the January issue of Site Selection magazine.

Award entries were accepted in two markets per category – large market (annual marketing budget over $100,000) and small market (annual marketing budget under $100,000).

Annual Report

Small Division:
• 1st Place – Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce– 2014 Annual Report – Flint, MI
• Finalist – Watertown Development Company – 2014 Annual Report – Watertown, SD

Large Division:
• 1st Place – Madison Region Economic Partnership – MadREP Electronic Newsletters – Madison, WI
• Finalist – Madison Region Economic Partnership – 2015 State of the Madison Region Report – Madison, WI
• Finalist – Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation – WEDC Annual Report – Madison, WI

Business Retention & Expansion

Small Division:
• 1st Place – Greater Burlington Partnership – Iowa’s Next Big Thing, Youth Entrepreneurship Event – Burlington, IA

Large Division:
• 1st Place – Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber – OH-PA Stateline Export Initiative –
Youngstown, OH

Marketing Program

Small Division:
• First Place – Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce – Quad Cities First Industry Ad Campaign – Davenport, IA
• Finalist – Economic Development Corp Michigan City – Community Profile – Michigan City, IN
• Finalist – Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development – Custom Economic Development Website – Findlay, OH

Large Division:
• 1st place – Columbus 2020 – Columbus Region Website – Columbus, OH
• Finalist – Indiana Michigan Power – ROI Selection Tool – Fort Wayne, IN
• Finalist – Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation – Wisconsin Food and Beverage Video -Madison, WI

Workforce Development

Small Division:
• 1st Place – The Enterprise Group of Jackson, Inc. – Jackson Area College and Career Connection Early Middle College Program – Jackson, MI
• Finalist – Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) – Stem Careers & Skilled Trades Initiative – Detroit, MI

Large Division:
• 1st Place – Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development – Find Your Future – Madison, WI

For more information about The Mid-America Economic Development Council, please visit www.midamericaedc.org.

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From UW-Madison News
By Tim McGlone

The University of Wisconsin-Madison held its fourth place ranking in research expenditures among U.S. universities, despite a continuing erosion of federal and state funding, according to a new survey by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

For more than 25 years, UW-Madison has consistently ranked among the top five universities for research expenditures — money secured from all sources, federal, private and state.

In 2014, UW-Madison spent slightly more than $1.1 billion on all research, down 1.3 percent from $1.12 billion the previous year, according to NSF’s Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey.

Three of the top five research universities saw a decline in funding. Johns Hopkins University, a longtime classified defense research powerhouse, remained at the top of the list by a wide margin and increased its research spending by 3.4 percent to $2.24 billion. After Johns Hopkins, UW-Madison follows the University of Michigan and the University of Washington in the rankings.

The ranking reflects the UW-Madison’s status as a top-tier research university and its ability to attract some of the best and brightest minds — whether students, faculty or staff — from around the country and the world.

“Despite the shrinking revenue streams from federal and state sources, UW-Madison remains extremely competitive and that is a reflection of our dedicated faculty, staff and student researchers,” says Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education Marsha Mailick.

“Our position as the research university with the fourth highest research expenditures in the country is a point of pride that keeps us attractive to eager researchers out there looking for the right university to advance their important ideas,” she says.

UW-Madison receives about half of its $1.1 billion in research funding from federal grants, mostly from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In addition to federal funding from other agencies, the bulk of the remaining funds comes from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the university and donor support through the UW Foundation.

The university devotes more than half of its research dollars to the life sciences, including medical research, followed by engineering, physical sciences, social sciences, environmental sciences, and math and computer sciences.

The university’s research enterprise is a powerful economic engine as well as a knowledge and innovation creator. The benefits are felt throughout the state with such examples as:

• Research successes led to the formation of 311 startup companies in Wisconsin, supporting nearly 25,000 jobs and contributing $2.3 billion to the state’s economy.
• More than four dozen sites of the UW Hospitals and Clinics around the state offer the latest advances in treatments developed by medical school researchers.
• The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center supports the development of advanced, cleaner-energy biofuels that benefit the farm and agriculture industries.
• UW-Madison’s 12 agricultural research stations support new knowledge in food systems and healthy ecosystems.
• A number of research projects currently underway seek to improve the water quality for all Wisconsin residents.
  The Wisconsin Center for Education Research reaches across the state to improve the educational outcomes of Wisconsin’s K-12 population.
• For every state tax dollar spent on UW-Madison, the university generates $24 for the state’s economy.

Mailick says the report should assure others of the school’s intense commitment to research and its application to improve the lives of Wisconsin residents and increase human knowledge.

Overall federal support for R&D across the country dropped to $37.9 billion from $39.4 billion and is just about at 2010 levels. That mirrors UW-Madison’s federal financial support, which, at $548 million, is at its lowest level since that year.

The survey results aren’t surprising and had been predicted in years past to reflect reductions in federal research dollars, the effects of sequestration, one-time funds distributed through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the increasingly competitive environment for grants.

The business world recognizes UW-Madison’s role as an economic catalyst.

“The importance of UW-Madison research and development rests not only in the size of the research dollars that come into campus, but the diversity of the fields involved,” says Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, a nonprofit, bipartisan group of business leaders that advises the governor and state legislature on science and technology issues.

“We see the results in biotechnology and medical devices, agriculture, engineering, manufacturing, software and many other disciplines that apply no matter where you’re at in Wisconsin,” Still says.

“It’s truly hard to think of a sector that isn’t touched by R&D on campus. We recognize how very fortunate we are to have an institution the size and scope of UW-Madison,” he says.

NSF surveyed 895 public and private institutions.

Read the full article.

Excerpted from The Janesville Gazette
By Elliott Hughes

A private jet company will get a $100,000 assist from the city of Janesville as it doubles its business.

Monroe-based SC Aviation, whose parent company is Colony Brands, will use the money to build a new 36,720-square-foot hangar at the Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport. The city council unanimously approved the tax increment financing deal Monday.

The company plans to double the size of its fleet to 24 jets, hire 31 additional employees and use its current 12,000-square-foot hangar as a maintenance facility.

SC Aviation will invest $37 million in the project and pay 21 of those employees more than $31 an hour. The property will be worth $1.1 million.

Economic Development Director Gale Price said the TIF deal came about after the project’s construction bids came in too high and unexpected costs associated with building and fire codes arose.

The TIF deal is apparently a necessity for the company’s expansion, according to city documents. SC Aviation officials were not available for comment Monday and declined comment last week.

Price said Janesville’s fire and building codes are uniform with the rest of the state and are not unreasonable. He said the $100,000 would help the company “bridge the gap” of what it expected to pay for its new hangar.

Council member Richard Gruber said the company’s expansion was another sign of an improving local economy and called the deal “exceptionally reasonable.”

SC Aviation charters jets to connect with Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis, Chicago and other Midwestern locations. It opened in 2000, morphing out of the in-house fleet of Colony Brands, then known as Swiss Colony.

Price said business should pick up for SC Aviation with the presence of SHINE Medical Technologies and the incoming Dollar General. He said Colony Brands has 1,000 employees across Wisconsin who can also use the planes.

Read the full article.