Reorganization sharpens focus on business outreach
Released: December 1, 2003
Business people who seek out the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater for expertise will now find a central point of contact for a range of services, due to a reorganization being implemented this academic year.
A new office of Business Outreach Services (BOS) has been created at UW-Whitewater to bring together all programs working to promote economic development in the region. Those include the Small Business Development Center (SBDC); the Wisconsin Innovation Service Center (WISC); the Global Business Resource Center (GBRC); Management Computer Systems (MCS) and the Irvin L. Young Entrepreneurship Program.
Collectively, these offices serve more than 1,000 business people and potential entrepreneurs each year, but their resources and expertise have never been harnessed collectively. The new office will be working to add value for the business community and create a whole greater than the sum of its parts, according to new BOS Director Debra Malewicki.
“The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has tremendous brand potential in the business world,” said Malewicki. “Our strong business education and service programs connote integrity and competence, but we need to do a better job of bringing all this expertise together on behalf of our clients to help them grow their businesses.”
Malewicki said the umbrella BOS office will be looking to create synergies between the different units and find ways to be more of a full-service resource for businesses. A company seeking market research support through WISC, for example, could also be directed to global e-commerce workshops run by the GBRC, or matched with a professor who has technical knowledge of their product.
“We’re going to take a fresh look at all of our programs and really make sure they are couched in our mission, which is creating meaningful economic impact through entrepreneurial education,” Malewicki added.
One of the longer-term goals will be to expand the existing faculty and staff experts database, which includes not only university experts, but also experts from throughout the UW System and other state and federal agencies.
Some new projects are already under way that reflect the new integrated approach. They include:
• The GBRC is leading a consortium of small- and mid-sized businesses that will get the companies involved in a full-scale e-commerce transformation. The consortium will share best practices and marketing and technology knowledge.
• The MCS program has launched a project with a not-for-profit organization in Milwaukee called eInnovate, an entrepreneurial network focused on information technology businesses. The project is an interdisciplinary effort to help eInnovate market itself to the region, strengthen member benefits and develop an online community. Research has demonstrated that professional networks are a critical element of an entrepreneurial climate.
• The Innovation Center and the Small Business Development Center are supporting the development of a food processing manufacturing cluster in the Beloit-Janesville area to help spur innovation, spin-offs and growth in that sector. Food processing companies represent almost 10 percent of Wisconsin’s manufacturing base, and are one of the targeted clusters in the Governor’s Grow Wisconsin plan.
• The Innovation Center is sponsoring a survey and research project involving 300 recent UW-Whitewater technology program graduates that will help identify what Wisconsin needs to do to retain technology entrepreneurs. The work is being done by undergraduate students for the core: Coalition, a group working to promote Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee region as a unified economic region.
- Brian Mattmiller,npa@uww.edu
