Midwest Energy Research Consortium: Announces year two of WERCBench Labs

Contact: Joshua Morby, 414-791-9120 jmorby@m-werc.org

Immersive program for technology innovators seeks teams

[Milwaukee, Wis.] – The Midwest Energy Research Consortium (M-WERC) is excited to announce the start of year two of WERCBench Labs, a mentor-driven, immersive technology program for entrepreneurs. Supported by a roster of over 80 world-class mentors, M-WERC is seeking up to 10 start-up teams for this year’s class. The teams will participate in a program similar to 2015’s initial offering which graduated nine teams, two of which were acquired by other companies.

M-WERC will once again run this program using the lean start-up curriculum and put the teams on an aggressive customer discovery and business model canvas exploration during a rigorous 12-week curriculum. New this year, M-WERC is partnering with The Center for Technology Commercialization, The Commons, the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and Marquette University to jointly offer the program.

“We’re excited that this year we’re able to add an incredible list of partners here in Southeastern Wisconsin that also have experience nurturing start-ups and running entrepreneurial programs similar to ours,” said Jeffrey E. Anthony, Managing Director of WERCBench Labs for the Midwest Energy Research Consortium. “Working together our collective ability will strengthen the overall eco-system in our region.”

Participants will have access to high performance computing and small scale scale production equipment. Program participants will also have unparalleled opportunities and access to the leading companies in the world on energy, power and controls technology enabled by the M-WERC regional cluster of business and academic institutions.

The application window is now open. A link to the application form can be found at wercbenchlabs.com.

Included in this application package is information on M-WERC Strategic Roadmaps that have been completed in the past few years covering these technologies:

1. Distributed Energy / Distributed Generation and Microgrids

2. Industrial Energy Efficiency

3. Energy Storage Systems

4. Energy-Water Nexus Technologies

“These four technology areas are key drivers for growth in the Energy, Power, and Control industries,” said Alan Perlstein, M-WERC CEO and Executive Director. “Award criteria in the evaluation process for this years program will provide added incentives for start-up companies working in the Energy Power and Control Space and or supporting technologies highlighted in the four industry roadmaps that M-WERC members have produced over the past few years.” All applications are due to M-WERC by midnight on Friday, September 16th, 2016.