Conference touts innovation as manufacturing’s future
Released: August 25, 2003
Despite losing more than 2.5 million jobs nationwide since 2001, innovation can help the manufacturing sector rebound from its current woes.
That will be the guiding theme of a Oct. 3-4 conference of the Wisconsin Innovation Service Center (WISC) called “Ideas to Profits: Making Critical Connections.” WISC has a long track record of helping entrepreneurs and inventors capitalize on intellectual property, but this year’s conference also features a special track on opportunities for established manufacturers to harness innovation.
Debra Malewicki, director of WISC at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, said the current recession has pounded the manufacturing sector, especially in Wisconsin where it accounts for about one-fifth of the economy. Much of the attention to this problem has focused on how to stem the flow of jobs to cheaper-labor foreign markets, but a better long-term focus might be on the products themselves.
“One of the things separating the successful companies from the unsuccessful ones is the ability to innovate — to develop new products and to add value,” she said. “In general, we don’t take advantage of the possibilities for new product development as much as we might (in Wisconsin).”
Even though Wisconsin ranks 14th nationally in total patents generated per capita, many of those are from scientific innovations through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and relatively few from manufacturers, she said. Those in the manufacturing industry often hold the misconception that patents lack value because they are too easily circumvented or their product lines are too “traditional” to apply.
Malewicki said the conference will offer numerous examples of companies that used intellectual property to tweak or retool existing products. Some seemingly low-tech products, such as automobile tires, benefited from patent protections on new types of slip-resistant treads, she said. “What we’re also trying to get across to manufacturers is that if they want to be innovative, they might want to look outside their companies for different sources,” she said. “The ideas might come from other inventors, or entrepreneurs, or the university.” Innovation will ultimately keep more jobs in the United States by requiring higher-skill employees, more specialized technology and higher profit margins, she said. The conference, at the Hamilton Center of the UW-Whitewater University Center, will feature more than 20 workshops from patent lawyers, company CEOs, venture capital leaders and marketing experts. Keynote speakers will be Michael Collins, president and CEO of Harvard’s Big Idea Group, an invention development agency; and David Zach, a popular and insightful “futurist.” A conference agenda can be found online at: http://academics.uww.edu/business/innovate/index.htm.
Conference sponsors include: Boyle, Fredrickson, Newholm, Stein & Gratz of Milwaukee; Dewitt, Ross & Stevens of Madison; Von Briesen and Roper of Milwaukee; the Wisconsin Technology Council; Telaric Alliance; and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Several other organizations have made contributions that will go toward scholarships for student participation in the conference.
WISC, founded at UW-Whitewater in 1980, is a national service that performs new product expert analysis and market assessments for entrepreneurs and businesses. It has performed evaluations for more than 6,300 companies in its 23-year history.
- Brian Mattmiller,npa@uww.edu
