Start-up businesses thrive in UW-Stout’s Technology and Business Incubator

What do a solar thermal collector company and a Jeep center console manufacturer have in common? Both fledgling companies received assistance from the Technology and Business Incubator on the University of Wisconsin-Stout campus.

Bubbling Springs was a part-time business hatched by husband and wife team Luisa Gerasimo and Mike Helfman on their Bubbling Springs farm west of Menomonie. Helfman, a former Stout student, identified a need for locally built collectors while working as a carpenter. After building collectors on their farm for several years, they moved into the Stout incubator and tripled their sales. With Wisconsin offering a federal tax credit for solar thermal equipment for another eight years, they anticipate that their sales will double this year.

Phil Norvold, founder/owner/president of Max-Bilt LLC, is hoping for similar success. Max-Bilt began in 2005 as a Jeep restoration project on a 1985 CH-7 Jeep owned by Norvold’s father and quickly evolved into a business venture. Norvold founded the company three years ago when he was 20, after realizing a need for modern features in a center console like lights, auxiliary switches and a 12-volt power socket. The expansion of Max-Bilt consoles from a 1,000 square foot garage to a 6,000 square foot manufacturing facility combined with the support from UW-Stout will enable this company to explore the off-road aftermarket industry.

UW-Stout’s Technology and Business Incubator fosters technical businesses through close relationships with faculty, students, industry and the UW-Stout community to better enable Wisconsin to compete in the global economy and sustain employment within the region. New businesses receive affordable facilities, services and professional support in areas that include marketing, packaging, product development and plant layout. Some start-up costs are deferred until graduation. The UW-Stout incubator eases the way into the private sector to promote further economic development in west central Wisconsin.

The incubator has created over 100 new jobs in the region with more than 70 percent of the incubator clients now operating successful businesses. Data collected in a survey of (current and former) incubator clients reported 393 employees, more than $73 million in annual sales, and an excess of $15 million in investments.

UW-Stout is currently the most active campus in invention disclosures, according to the WiSys Technology Foundation, with 35 disclosures from June 2000 through June 2009. For more information: stti.uwstout.edu/centers/incubator.asp

MOVERS

>> Shari Radford is the new director of business development for The Florian Gardens in Eau Claire.

>> Bill Milne has joined the law firm of Weld, Riley, Prenn and Ricci S.C. in Eau Claire. He is a member of the firm’s business, real estate and estate planning section, and has experience in business development, planning and succession.

>> Frisbie Architects in River Falls has added Kevin Thode and Jim Muehlbauer to its staff.

>> Rick Nevers has assumed the role of vice president of marketing and planning for Aspirus.

>> Superior-based Lakehead Sign Co. has hired John Matalamaki and John Sorci to head their new management team.

>> Rajat Panwar, PhD has been named the Chapple Family Chair in business ethics and social responsibility at Northland College in Ashland.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

HUDSON: Cities Digital Inc. will receive $250,000 in Technology Zone tax credits. The related project is expected to create 15 jobs and retain 11 positions. “Hudson is a great community to run a business,” says Cities Digital CEO Patrick Welsh. “With all the universities and colleges close by, there is a lot of educated talent fresh out of school. We need this talent for our technology-based business.” Cities Digital Inc., established in 2001, provides services for the conversion of paper documents to digital files. The company provides document imaging services as well as management solutions and services. The company plans to use the funds to purchase an 18,000-sq.-ft. building in Hudson, with a total project cost of $1.87 million.

GRANTSBURG: The Alion-McNally Center for Production Technologies has released its latest in a line of successful engineering efforts in support of the U.S. Army. The center redesigned a drive focus shaft assembly for the TOW 2 weapon system used on Bradley Fighting Vehicles, which solved the part’s procurement problem and resulted in an easier and more cost effective design to manufacture.