University of Wisconsin Stout | Wisconsin's Polytechnic University

"A Sheltered Environment for Emerging Enterprises."

New businesses receive affordable facilities, services, professional support, and some start up costs are deferred until graduation. The UW-Stout Incubator [PDF] eases the way into the private sector to promote further economic development in west central Wisconsin.

UW-Stout’s STTI Technology and Business Incubator received the Synergy 2007 award in the Knowledge and Idea Research and Development category. The nomination criteria for this award category specified organizations and institutions that continuously generate new ideas—ideas that can form the basis for new products, processes and services, which are vital for sustaining both economies and communities.

The Technology and Business Incubator: 

• Provides a sheltered environment for emerging enterprises
• Fosters technical businesses through close relationships with faculty, students, industry, and the UW-Stout community
• Enables Wisconsin to compete in the global economy and sustain employment within the region
• Assists new businesses through affordable facilities, services, and professional support in areas that include marketing, packaging, product development, and plant layout (some start-up costs are deferred until graduation) 
• Eases the way into the private sector to promote further economic development in west central Wisconsin

The unusually high success rate for start-up businesses is due in part to the quality of services provided by the incubator staff and the numerous resources provided by UW-Stout students and faculty. Criteria for acceptance into the incubator also helps ensure the success of new businesses. Incubator staff members work closely with students, faculty, and the Center for Innovation and Development (CID) -- another Stout Technology Transfer Institute. UW-Stout is currently the most active campus in invention disclosures, according to the WiSys Technology Foundation, with 35 disclosures from June 2000 through June 2009.