MADISON – The executive committee for the independent Wisconsin Technology Council has endorsed the latest plans for the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, a $375-million interdisciplinary research facility to be built on the UW-Madison campus.
The Tech Council is the non-profit, non-partisan science and technology adviser to the Governor and the Legislature. Its members include technologists, researchers, educators, venture capitalists and other professionals tied to Wisconsin’s high-growth, high-tech economy.
In its “Vision 2020” report, first issued in 2002, the Tech Council expressed strong support for interdisciplinary research efforts involving academic institutions and industry in Wisconsin. The Tech Council’s 2004 study on “The Economic Value of Academic Research and Development in Wisconsin” underscored the benefits of such research for Wisconsin, and included specific recommendations for an interdisciplinary center at the UW-Madison.
“Gov. Jim Doyle’s proposal for the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery reflects a collaborative state, academic and industry interdisciplinary approach to solving problems and creating jobs,” Tech Council President Tom Still said. “Our executive committee believes the mix of private and public support for this project, as well as its carefully staged construction, deserves support by legislators and other policy members.”
To be constructed in phases over 10 years, the Institute for Discovery will add about 450,000 square feet of research space on the west end of the UW-Madison campus. It will allow cooperative work by engineers, chemists, biologists, medical researchers, computer scientists, geneticists and others in the search for solutions and new company opportunities. Scientists from other UW System campuses will conduct collaborative work there, as well as industry scientists and researchers.
Contact: Tom Still (608) 442-7557
