WiSys Technology Foundation

Intellectual property & licensing:the Wisys Technology Foundation was established in march 2000 to provide Technology transfer services for the universities of Wisconsin (uw) campuses excluding the university of wisconsin-madison and uw-milwaukee.during fiscal 2023-24, Wisys reviewed 60 new invention disclosures received from uw-system faculty and students and accepted 14 of the disclosures for further study and patenting. During fiscal 2023-24, Wisys applied for 18 u.s. Patents and derivatives. Wisys also applied for 5 new foreign applications and derivatives. In addition, Wisys received 9 u.s. Issued patents. Wisys completed 0 new license and options agreements and 0 new material transfer agreements.wisys operates its offices located at 614 walnut street, 13th floor, madison, Wisconsin with 14 professional staff. In addition, at june 30, 2024, Wisys had 5 ambassadors working through the various uw campuses along with 6 student interns.wisys acts as a designated Technology transfer office providing services to 11 regional uw institutions.

Research development:the Wisys research development program aims to provide grant preparation and writing support to universities of Wisconsin regional campuses (uw regional campuses).through regular virtual and in-person visits, the research development manager and associates provide information and expertise about grant application and proposal preparation for faculty to enrich uw regional campuses research and scholarship and, ultimately, the undergraduate student experience. Wisys research development is designed to be inclusive, engaging faculty from any discipline, helping to bridge gaps in knowledge and skills in order to support uw regional campuses as they sustain and grow their research enterprise.

Innovation programs:the innovation programs are events and competitions geared towards honing innovation, entrepreneurship, and research skills. This includes four key programs: 1)the Wisys big idea tournament helps extend the Wisconsin entrepreneurial ecosystem to uw students, with a goal to improve the overall quality of business startup performance. 2) innovation on-ramp, a 5-week hybrid course, helps uw students develop an innovative thinking mindset and learn how to evaluate the market potential of an idea. 3) Wisys quick pitch is a research-focused student pitch competition that inspires uw students to consider the impact of their research and learn how to effectively communicate it to a general audience in three minutes. 4) the annual Wisys spark symposium (spark) was jointly hosted by Wisys and uw-oshkosh in 2023 to bring together innovative researchers and students from the universities of Wisconsin and other public and private organizations. Spark allows uw institutions to showcase their research and Technology development as well as engage in discussions for development of collaborative partnerships with other uw campus researchers, students and industry professionals from around the state. This year's in-person engagement included 213 registrations and approximately 179 attendees.

Innovative ventures:wisys venturehome is an important component of the innovative venture's division that is a network of startup hubs across six cities in the state of Wisconsin that connects statewide resources with local initiatives to provide entrepreneurs access to a full menu of startup resources in their local communities. Some of the centralized services that venturehome offers are a concierge access to the larger state-wide ecosystem, entrepreneur toolkits, access to research and technologies coming out of the universities of Wisconsin, intellectual property and legal strategy assistance, and seed funding. In addition, venturehome connect is a digital community to provide online support for entrepreneurs, including connections to mentors state-wide.

Wisconsin forward agriculture:this regional innovation engines development award is focused on building a connected ecosystem to support sustainable and resilient agriculture innovation across Wisconsin using Wisys venturehome as the platform for regional, collaborative, innovative activity. The agricultural sector in Wisconsin is a source of strength, contributing $104.8 billion annually to Wisconsin's economy and 11.8 percent of the workforce. An innovation engine dedicated to sustainable agriculture across Wisconsin will address global and regional challenges of feeding 10 billion by 2050 while nurturing healthy ecosystems and supporting sustainable land, water, and energy management. This engine development award builds on a partnership between the innovation and Technology management offices of the university of Wisconsin (uw) system - Wisys, Wisconsin alumni research Foundation (warf), and uw-milwaukee research Foundation (uwmrf). The award will leverage the Wisys venturehome network to provide Wisconsin's physical and digital infrastructure to accomplish these goals and facilitate collaboration among new and existing collaborators across academia, industry, government, nonprofits, investors, and farmers.