By Brian E. Clark
RISING
WARF
California-based Invitrogen has inked a licensing deal for stem-cell
technologies with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. No price
was announced, but similar licenses from WARF have cost up $2 million,
with requirements that 1 percent to 5 percent of royalties go to WARF.
Invitrogen — which has 4,700 employees and reported sales of $1.3
billion last year — makes tools for drug-discovery research. Company
leaders had expressed irritation with WARF last year, but Invitrogen
officials said in published reports that they were “able to work out
our differences” and that WARF has “brought a new business attitude” to
the bargaining table. Shares of Invitrogen closed Monday at $93.52,
down from a 52-week high of $99.15.
WARF also has signed an agreement with FluGen, a Madison start-up
company founded last year and based on the research led by UW-Madison
avian flu expert Yoshihiro Kawaoka. FluGen hopes to make a faster, more
effective and cheaper influenza vaccine.
MIXED
State travel
Spending by travelers was essentially flat in Wisconsin last year at
$12.78 billion – down 0.04 percent from the $12.83 billion spent in
2006.
According to Wisconsin Tourism Department officials, leisure travel was
down slightly in the state last year while business travel went up a
little and convention spending rose about 6 percent.
The study conducted for the agency by Davidson-Peterson Associates, a
Maine-based marketing research firm, said business travel spending was
$2.43 billion, up 0.4 percent from $2.42 billion. Travel expenses
related to meetings and conventions totaled $1.36 billion, up 6.3
percent from $1.28 billion.
On the downside, the study said spending by vacationers, who account
for 70 percent of Wisconsin travel expenditures, fell by 1.4 percent
from $9.12 billion to $8.99 billion.
FALLING
Envirotest
Envirotest will close its Waukesha facility, resulting in permanent
layoffs of as many as 105 employees there and at 11 other locations
starting July 1.
Envirotest runs the Wisconsin Vehicle Inspection Program, but its state
contract is expiring. The inspection program’s Web site lists
Envirotest Wisconsin as a subsidiary of Environmental Systems Products
Inc., based in East Granby, Conn.
The company said all affected employees are being offered two weeks
separation pay. In addition to Waukesha, other communities affected by
the shutdown include Milwaukee, West Bend, Sheboygan, Burlington,
Kenosha, Racine and West Allis.
