Technology Leadership

Wisconsin's vibrant and growing technology base bolsters both its traditional and knowledge-based industries. For more than 80 years, Wisconsin entrepreneurs have built successful businesses using leading-edge research--from the Vitamin D milk irradiation discoveries in the 1920s, to the world’s first commercially available computer in the 1960s, to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) innovations in the 1980s.

• Today, Wisconsin is in the international spotlight through the isolation of human embryonic stem cells--a discovery now paving the way toward treatments for incurable diseases.
• Strong technology transfer programs underpin the state's fastest-rising industries, including biotechnology and medical imaging.
• Public-private partnerships--including the $317 million dollar BioStar Initiative for construction of University of Wisconsin research facilities--are another way Wisconsin is investing in its technology infrastructure.

Read how Forbes magazine depicted Wisconsin’s technology leadership in the May 2004 article "Miracle in the Midwest: How Madison, Wis. Became a Hotbed of Biocapitalism."