MadREP, the economic development partnership for the eight-county Madison Region, publishes the Advance Now Competitive Assessment, a detailed look at the Madison Region’s demographic, socioeconomic, and economic trends in recent years. This report marks the completion of the first development phase of Advance Now: Madison Region’s Strategy for Economic Growth, a comprehensive, action-oriented regional economic development strategy that will systematically move the Madison Region’s economy forward.

Researched and written by consultants from Atlanta-based Market Street Services, the Competitive Assessment details the region’s competitive position as compared to the metro areas of Austin, Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; and Lincoln, Nebraska, as well as the state of Wisconsin and the nation. The realities of the regional economy, well-being of residents, and growth and development of the community are examined. These quantitative findings are paired with qualitative research consisting of 1,537 responses to a community-wide survey, 12 focus groups, and 12 one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders from throughout the Madison Region. 

The report will be shared with attendees at MadREP’s 2011 State of the Madison Region: Advance Now Community Leadership Summit on Thursday, November 10, 3:30-5pm at the Monona Terrace in downtown Madison. Attendees will be asked to respond to the Competitive Assessment findings, sharing their perspective and priorities to help guide the Advance Now strategic planning process.

Download the Competitive Assessment Executive Summary.

Excerpted from Wisconsin State Journal
by Judy Newman

Epic Systems Corp. is moving ahead with plans for another set of office buildings on its rural Verona campus.

The third office cluster, nicknamed the Farm Campus, will add 900 offices and will be built at the south end of the campus. It will sit in fields between Epic Lane, the road that guides motorists to the company’s headquarters from Highway 18/151, and Milky Way, the stretch that curls up a hill to the Epic galaxy.

Two buildings would occupy part of a cornfield, nestled in front of a grove of hardwood trees. A third building, connected by an overhead walkway, would sit beside an orchard of apple, pear, plum and cherry trees that Epic has planted.

The exteriors will look more like farm buildings than regular office buildings, and may have barn siding instead of brick, said Stephen Dickmann, Epic’s chief administrative officer. “We might even have a silo, for all I know,” he added.

At least 700 stalls of underground parking will be built next to the two buildings at a site that is currently a soccer field. When the parking is in, the soccer field would be rebuilt above it, said Dickmann.

Epic has 5,200 employees — up from 4,300 in May — with no end to the hiring in sight. “We’ll probably be in the neighborhood of 6,000 by the end of 2012,” he said.

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Excerpted from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
by Kathleen Gallagher

A single company raised all of the state’s venture capital in the third quarter, according to a report released Wednesday morning.

Madison-based Networked Insights, which mines social networks to help big companies learn what their customers value, pulled in $20 million from a group of national venture capital investors.

The deal was led by funds affiliated with Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and was among the top three in Wisconsin history for non-biotech firms and the top 10 overall.

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Excerpted from Wisconsin State Journal
by Judy Newman

Lucigen, a Middleton biotechnology company, has received two Small Business Innovation Research grants totaling $350,000 from the National Institutes of Health.

The funds will help Lucigen develop better tools to identify which genes are being turned on in a cell at a particular moment, and that is expected to influence future drug development and personalized medicine.

They also will be used to develop a way to quickly screen for new enzymes that can multiply long strands of DNA. Lucigen will be working with Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., on that project.

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Excerpted from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
by Kathleen Gallagher

A Lodi contract manufacturer for the pharmaceutical industry said Monday it is breaking ground on a $3.5 million addition that is the first phase of a plan to increase revenue and add jobs.

Anteco Pharma is building the 25,000-square-foot addition to bolster its pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing capacity, the company said. It expects to be operating by June.

The addition is the first phase of a five-year plan to increase Anteco Pharma’s revenue tenfold and raise its total number of jobs to 80 from 20 by 2016.

The expansion is being driven by a “significant increase” in outsourced manufacturing by the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, and by growing demand for clinical manufacturing support from start-up companies in Madison and other areas, said Howard Teeter, the company’s president.

Anteco Pharma also provides services to the biotech and nutritional ingredient industries.

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