Top 25 in Business Plan Contest offer ideas that reflect Wisconsin roots

Since the first statewide contest in 2004, some 2,100 people from 235 different communities in Wisconsin have entered the competition in one of four categories: Advanced manufacturing, business services, information technology and life sciences. About three-quarters of past finalists are still in business, according to a 2012 survey, and nearly six in 10 finalists have raised angel or venture capital to help grow their companies.

You know it’s a real, honest-to-goodness Wisconsin business plan contest when two finalists have come up with better ways to catch fish.

Others have figured out innovations in producing micro-tools, electromagnets for motors and more energy-efficient glass for windows – all next-generation versions of historic state products.

Still others have developed ways to improve your health, manage your information, pick your college dorm room and even buy your clothes.

Those are some of the finalists in the 2012 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest, which wraps up June 5-6 at the Wisconsin Entrepreneur’s Conference in Milwaukee. Narrowed from nearly 250 entries, the top 25 plans represent a cross-section of innovation in a state with an increasingly diverse portfolio of startup companies.

Tom Still

Full Story: http://wtnnews.com/articles/9684/