Turning UW Milwaukee Research Into Startups

Jacob Miller: Where do they typically come from? These entrepreneurs that are coming in to take these ideas and bring them, bring 'em to market?

Jessica Silvaggi: Generally it's been the inventor. We don't have enough people reaching out and saying, Hey, do you have any technologies that I can take a look at? Often what happens is then the faculty member is like, yeah, you know what?

I think I'm gonna try.

Jacob Miller: Hey everyone and welcome back to the Startup Wisconsin Podcast, a show where you can learn about Wisconsin's growing tech scene through stories of startups, founders. Investors and the talented people making it all happen. My guest today is Jessica Sji, who leads the UW Milwaukee Research Foundation and their mission is to transform university research into real world impact with a background that spans molecular biology, bacterial genetics.

Even postdoctoral work on Parkinson's disease. Jessica brings a scientist curiosity to the business of innovation and 16 years of experience watching the tech transfer industry evolve. The numbers that she shared with me tell an interesting story. 20 of the 27 startups form through her office received catalyst grants, and those early investments have generated.

$7 and 80 cents for every dollar invested. But Jessica's also honest about the gaps too. The need for more entrepreneurs willing to take university technologies to market. The challenge of matching brilliant researchers with experienced business operators. And Wisconsin's tendency to wait for traction before investing.

We talk about why the inventor usually becomes the entrepreneur by default, what it really takes to build a strong startup team and the value of one day having a Wisconsin database for matching entrepreneurs with business opportunities. Alright, folks. Let's get into it. For those that are new or unaware of uw Milwaukee's Research Foundation, how would you describe its mission at the intersection of, you know, research, innovation and entrepreneurship?

I feel like there's a lot going on there, and obviously it's within the university, so in, in your mind, like how do you describe what's going on in, in the mission that you guys have?

Jessica Silvaggi: Yeah, your question kind of describes it perfectly we're we are right at that intersection, so we solely exist to serve UW Milwaukee and turn their great ideas into real world impact.

So, uh. We are right at the intersection of the that first idea. Um, and then how helping to grow that innovation, figuring out if it is an innovation, firstly, you know, is it new move to the world. And then often you have to use entrepreneurship and encourage them to be entrepreneurs to take it forward.

And we'll talk more about that, but it's kind of the way of, in the time now with tech transfer is. Big school, small school, any size startups are kind of the way it's going to get those technologies moving, uh, until they can get some traction. So we're here for faculty, students, staff, and then partnering them with folks that can help take that product to the market or that idea further into the market.

Uh, so. It starts with, like I said, is it an innovation and then if it needs protection, how do we protect that intellectual property And then find the right partners to connect those innovators with industry or support them and educate them. Also, partnering with the LU Bar Entrepreneurship Center on campus to form a startup.

Try to find funding, um, mentorship and whatever resources we can connect them to in our community. Um. Lots of great other accelerators and programs for them to try. So it's just all about innovation, acceleration, not just for knowledge sake, but to make real products for people in the world and economic growth for our community.

Jacob Miller: Cool. I have a question around, uh, I guess maybe the, uh. Industries that these ideas are coming from. So within the university, uh, for someone that may not be aware, what types of ideas are coming out the, you know, through, through, through the program right now? Um, you know, is it sciences? Is it engineering?

Is it, um, software is. I'm kind of curious, like what's kind of the breadth of ideas that come through?

Jessica Silvaggi: Yeah, that's a common question. I looked at the portfolio, so since we've been around, we've had 827 inventions submitted to us. Um. In the past 10 years or so, it's been 54% from engineering, so definitely a large amount of engineering.

Then the next category would be chemistry, biochemistry, and then freshwater sciences, and then a little bit from everywhere. I mean, we see things from most departments, but as you can see, it's, it's a lot of, it's heavier on the applied. Sciences, but we're open to any idea that can be a product or service.

So we've had folks from architecture, we've had, you know, English. But yeah, you're gonna see a lot more of the STEM sciences thinking about it. So it's all about education too though, because I think sometimes these faculty and students don't realize what is an invention and they don't realize they have one.

So we're always trying to get in there, get in front of them, and, uh, make sure they understand we exist and that we're here to help them.

Jacob Miller: Yeah. That's great. Do you feel like, uh, there's, uh, maybe confusion or barriers within the university itself where, like, like you were saying, some students don't realize they have ideas.

Um, how do you kind of, uh, you know, I guess confront that issue or how do you kind of like, uh, give more people more opportunities to be a part of those conversations and bring their ideas forward?

Jessica Silvaggi: I try to get invites into classes. So I give lectures at, for instance, these capstone classes where students are, are doing particular projects for themselves or with companies.

Try to get into those, those classes where people might be more thinking about entrepreneurship or like one of the Blue Bar School of Business classes on entrepreneurship, getting invitations, uh, like I said, so. It, it is hard to reach everybody. So we're, we're trying hard, like the social media, um, getting into newsletters and just making sure when the LEC touches a lot of students, so they help co-promote our programs as well.

Jacob Miller: That's great. Uh, I'm curious around the, uh, things like within like engineering, so I, I would imagine that's like physical hardware, things like that, or, um, maybe ideas within machines and stuff like that. Uh, are, are those ideas coming from more advanced degrees or is, is it kind of like a across the board, I'm kind of cu curious around where those are coming from.

Jessica Silvaggi: Yeah. The way, what's interesting in Wisconsin, uh, university system, all of our campuses, um, undergrads don't have to tell us about their inventions. They're welcome to, we're happy to help them. So it's really the folks that are doing research and getting paid that have an obligation to share their ideas, but we try to make sure undergrads know that we're here to help.

They don't. Have to share. And we don't automatically own anything by undergrads, but we're trying to make sure they know like we're a free resource. Like, come have us help do a search for you or do a market report for you. We can connect you. Um, so yeah, with engineering it can be anything though. We're, we're, you know, we're seeing a lot of AI topics now.

We're seeing sometimes it's a material, a device. It's really. We are very broad in what we see. It's not just one thing. We're very strong in water, so we see a lot of water sensors as well. Water purification cleanup of PFAS is a really hot topic, you know, those forever chemicals in our water. So, um, it's more than you might think, I guess.

Yeah. And then that's why, you know, you have to kind of check our technology page or, or follow us on LinkedIn and see all the new stories.

Jacob Miller: Yeah. Uh, I see you have initiatives like the Bridge Grant, uh, and Panther partnering. What, what kind of impact has that had on the ecosystem and, you know, why did, maybe, why did those exist?

Like what are they trying to, to help achieve?

Jessica Silvaggi: Yeah, I actually wanted to start first with one that you didn't mention. The Catalyst grant. Oh. Oh, okay. So this one? Yeah. So the Catalyst grant is for the early idea where they need that first data to even attract follow on funding. So no one's probably gonna fund it yet.

So the Catalyst grant has been going on for 18 years. Wow. And we, it's all from donors. So we've had the generous support of the Bradley Foundation here in Milwaukee for 18 years. I just got where they're gonna fund us again for 2026. Um, and then we've also had years of support from Rockwell Automation in the past, GE Healthcare, um, in energy as a company that's been helping us the past couple of years.

So we give out these $50,000 or so. Seed grants. And so we've given out $6.27 million and we track everything that comes from those projects. And those projects have brought in fif, I'm sorry, 49 million additional dollars. So that's like every dollar the donor gives us has brought in $7 and 80 cents more.

Wow. Um, to that project. And that includes. Um, follow on grants from the government, other foundations, uh, investors. So we also track the ones that become startups. And interestingly, we've formed 27 startups just from my office, and 20 of them have gotten a catalyst grant at some point. Wow. So it's really doing the job of the seed funding to attract more money to come into these projects.

Um, so really excited about that one's. Our premier way to really connect with, with the researchers and encourage disclosures. And then you mentioned the bridge grant. That one's younger. That just came out in 2021. And so we've only given out so far 550,000 and that spread around 14 startups so far. But even with that, tracking them this summer, um, the stats are saying that.

The first 12 companies we supported have brought in about $18 million further to their startups. So it's not, I can't say it's all from our funding, but they're doing well and it's caused and led to 33 jobs reported, both full and part-time jobs reported amongst just these. 14 startups, so, um, that's great.

And then you mentioned Panther partnering. So that Panther partnering is for companies, industry partners. So that one is what I like to call our easy button. So sometimes when you work with companies. It can take a long time. You know, legal, they have to pass on to legal and there's redlining of documents and it just takes too long, and we just wanna get to the research, right?

But they can sometimes get hung up on the intellectual property, which is, which is our forte, right? So. We don't want them to worry that we're gonna charge them a trillion dollars for, uh, some invention that may or may not arise from that partnership. So Panther partnering is a menu of upfront terms. If they're worried about cost down the line on ip, we just say, fine.

Then just pay this upfront and you get. An exclusive license. So you pay this and you get a non-exclusive license. So, like I said, it's an easy button. A lot of schools are doing this now and we're hoping it'll save time and just grease the wheels so that uh, companies are less worried and will do more research with us.

Jacob Miller: That's awesome. And then,

Jessica Silvaggi: oh no, I, I'll add one more. So we also have one more easy button called express licensing. So this is more common now where. Again, if the way of the day is startups and it's really hard, being a startup is really hard and confusing. We create these express licensed terms that are very fair.

For our own startups and that way they're not having to spend a bunch of money on legal fees and attorneys to help them negotiate a license with us. It's just, these are common, easy, low terms, just get it going. Uh, we don't want you wasting too much time and money on attorneys. Um, so that's been really helpful to just quickly get startups up and running and see how it goes.

Jacob Miller: Yeah. I love that there's kind of multiple angles happening there as far as, uh, making all of the resources, information, and the people more useful to different groups of people. I think it's, I think that's really cool. Is there something that you wish that maybe there would, like another grant or a different type of program that's, would maybe fill a gap that you feel like isn't being fulfilled yet?

Jessica Silvaggi: Uh, well, yes, there is another one I'm working on. Um. It's called the Panther Leap Fund Right now. It's not like. Fully publicly out yet it's in the, um, fundraising mode. Sure. Uh, but we, it's a philanthropic venture fund. So, uh, what we're finding is that, as you may know, Wisconsin investors can be a little more conservative, uh, than other parts of the country sometimes, and even angel investors who are the earliest investors often.

It seems like they often still want traction. They still want more before they invest, and it's so hard to get going. So what we are tuning in on is that less than a hundred thousand dollars investment that precede, uh, that's our goal. Um. And so we're working to, uh, reach out to donors now and build up that fund so we can, we can launch it.

Um, so it's approved and, and and underway, but working on the fundraising for that. So I think we wanna get more shots on goal. We need to fund the startups better, and if no one else is stepping up to do it, um. So this will be focused on UWM linked startups, and that could be like, you graduated 20 years ago and you formed a startup.

There just has to be someone on the team that's somehow linked to uwm. Mm-hmm.

Jacob Miller: Okay, great. Yeah. Uh, and I totally understand like why you would do something like that. It kind of makes sense. Uh, it was based on just the organization and the work that you're doing. Um, I, I kind of wanna go into your personal journey, kind of where you kind of got to.

How you've got here today. Um, so again, just based on my research, you began, uh, as a technology licensing associate in like around 2009. And then you became president, uh, in 2023 for your role today. Um, you know, what was that journey like for you? How did the previous roles prepare you for where you are or previous experiences?

Just kind of give us, um, the medium length, I guess, story there. You don't have to be deep in the weeds, but, uh, whatever you would like to share.

Jessica Silvaggi: Yeah, so we, our office formed in 2009. So I really came in early, I'm sorry, 2006. I came in 2009, so I came in year three. So it was very new. Um, only a couple of employees and.

What was great for me is that, uh, I gotta take part in all those early decisions of choosing what is our CRM, you know, uh, what is our game plan? How are we gonna market technologies to companies in a more consistent fashion? Uh, so I really had to learn every aspect of tech commercialization on the job.

There's really no degree in this job. Um, people come from different backgrounds, so I think this helps me support my team because. I kind of have done all of their jobs Yeah. As I went through the organization. And so, you know, sometimes when a, a new leader comes in, they may not have, they don't know, they haven't done all the things.

So I've kind of seen, we've tried things, we've. Stopped doing certain things, a lot of trial and error. So I think I can avoid maybe reinventing the wheel or repeating something that didn't quite work that well in the past, just from being here. This September will be 16 years. Wow. Um, and then I also feel like.

I've seen the progression of tech transfer. I talk to other leaders. We're all a really good community, both locally and, you know, worldwide, even nationwide. So, um, we share best practices all the time in our field, which is great. And so we can try each other's programs out and uh, and also see the gaps as you mentioned earlier, like where are the gaps?

Where do we need to plug in and maybe help out a little bit more.

Jacob Miller: Looks like you have a background in neuroscience. Maybe you wanna. Talk about that a little bit.

Jessica Silvaggi: Yeah, it's a kind of a winding path. So, uh, I actually grew up in Connecticut and I went to the University of Connecticut for molecular and cell biology, and then.

I had done some, you know, internships and research there and I was like, I wanna work with industry. I think so. Mm-hmm. Decided to get my PhD. I went to Harvard University and there I studied bacteria, so it was like bacterial genetics. And after five years and graduating, thinking of, I did not wanna be a professor, I wanted to work in industry.

Um, there weren't a lot of opportunities like, it, it wasn't like antibiotics or bacteria. Work was a hot topic, right? So I said, what else can I do to broaden my horizon? I, I have to keep doing some research. So a common thing after a patient is called a postdoc, a postdoctoral fellowship. So I ended up doing another one of those in Boston, and I was like, I'm just gonna switch completely.

I need some experience in the, the health, the disease space, the human space. So the, so the lab I moved into was working on metabolism, all different things, cancer, fat, like all different things. So I somehow got on a project though in our lab on brain, as you mentioned. So I was focusing more on neurodegeneration and Parkinson's disease related work and, um.

Yeah, so I completely switched and was playing with mice, mating mice, and uh, yeah, doing a total going from a single celled organism under a microscope to, you know, e mammals. So, um, I. I think that really has helped me in tech transfer to be confident that I can learn anything that I have. You have to be in a small office.

You can't specialize, you know, a larger office, you might say. I only work on biology techs. I, I have engineering as we mentioned, like. 54%, right? So I need to ask you questions, learn quickly. And we have to be kind of a jack of all trades here and I think that really helped that I had that experience kind of getting into two totally different topics, though they, both biology it's still, you know, it teaches you a lot about asking good questions and collaboration.

Jacob Miller: Yeah, absolutely. Um, is there something like memorable or significant through like. I guess the entire process, the past, you know, uh, even before your, you started the current organization, uh, that maybe has always kind of stuck with you, you know, as far as like the, the type of work you're doing.

Jessica Silvaggi: Yeah, as we were just saying, I think.

From that experience, I really learned that how the importance of collaboration and not being afraid to ask questions and no one in my laboratories were working on my particular topics, unfortunately at that time, which taught me to be very independent and. Go out and seek help. And so I think I'm always open to other people's expertise and suggestions and advice.

And I think secondly, just being a lifelong learner, I'm always, I'm never done learning. We always need to learn, grow like a podcast addict, right? Just always learning about health topics or one of my hot topics and, uh, biohacking and then just like personal development. Just all different topics. And so yeah, anyone that knows me knows I'm into lifelong learning, for sure.

Jacob Miller: Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Um, I'm curious, uh, if there's anything exciting going on within, uh. The emerging technologies that are happening, uh, at the research foundation. Anything that's kind of like got your attention lately that you're excited about?

Jessica Silvaggi: We, you know, I was telling you as earlier, we just shot three new technologies today.

I, it's so hard to pick, to be honest 'cause there's so many, I guess I do wanna shout out some of the, the startups because. So to get to that point is so much work to form a company and move them forward. And so I would shout out, um, firstly Ovate, uh, they are, they had come out of physics early on and um, they are a battery material company, so they have this carbon material called.

Or e cofi actually now because they, uh, create this material for lithium ion batteries and has special, unique properties for long lasting and, and, and safer, um, for us to use. But also they're figuring out they can make it domestically with bio sourced materials from plants. So we wouldn't have to depend on other countries to get this battery material, which really cool.

The second one would be. A startup demo therapeutics, uh, that came out of our chemistry department and they formed with the, formed in Canada actually is where our collaborators formed it.

Speaker 3: Hmm. And they

Jessica Silvaggi: got into FDA phase one. So this is our first ever drug, uh, that made it into. The FDA phase one, and that's for diseases in cognitive impairment.

So in the brain. And then, uh, otherwise, I mean, I can't, I would just keep going, but like I said, we're shooting these videos, you know, check us. I would just tell people, please follow us. Please follow me, follow the research foundation on LinkedIn because. We're always spreading the word on the latest technology and who's gotten a new grant and who's gotten new funding.

We we're showcasing our startups there as well.

Jacob Miller: Yeah, yeah. I do my best to repost the, your video and thank you for that so much. It's like, it's crazy 'cause sometimes I'll just be scrolling before bed. I'm like, oh, there's another one. And I just, you know, the timing of it isn't always like, is immediate. So, but yeah, I encourage everyone listening to, to follow Jessica and the things she's sharing.

Um, super insightful, whether you're interested in getting involved, uh, as an entrepreneur or researcher or whatever, or just curious. It's just, it's great to see like what's going on and the ideas that are coming out of, out of, uh, Milwaukee, uh, which is great. Um. The one thing I do want to ask about is, because you mentioned, you know, especially one of the, one of the newer grants will be focused on, um, you know, someone on the team has to be a graduate of UW Milwaukee, but I'm curious around how.

Entrepreneurs, investors or talent outside academia can, could get involved with any of this stuff going on, um, through, whether it's through mentorship, partnership, commercialization. I'm kind of curious, what if someone's listening, like, how could you know? It, can they get involved and what does that look like?

Jessica Silvaggi: Uh, yes, please. It's critical. I mean, even just sharing the videos like you do is just so helpful. I mean, how do we get in front of people? There's so much noise out there. People only, I don't know what the latest is. Pay attention for seven seconds. Right. So, uh, they can reach out to us anytime. Being a small office, we're very concierge.

Um, we're very. Very quick to respond, um, because we need these connections. So one thing I'm trying to fine tune now is the Engage Mentor Program. We have this mentor group, uh, that we formed around 2020. Uh, we're hovering around 20, 23 mentors right now, but I'm, I'm currently looking to revamp. Stat, there's, see if there's any new folks that wanna join and maybe others have been cycling off.

I'm really looking for more women. I think at the time we formed it, we grabbed a lot of people we knew, um, from who were mentoring, maybe in some other capacities. And so I'd really like to expand, get some more diverse. Backgrounds and um, expertise for the Engage Mentor Program. And they're there to support these startups however they need, whether it's meeting monthly.

We have speed mentoring events. We have a monthly mentor swarm, we call it. So the mentoring, yes. If anyone's interested, reach out to me. Um. Also for those who are alums, we have the Panthers Connect platform online, which is a great way for people to connect. And I formed a subgroup called the Pounce Network, and that's focused on people interested in entrepreneurship.

So I'm trying to build that, recruit people to join that group so that we can share messages, events, feedback, questions for entrepreneurs. Um, also. We need entrepreneurs to join our startups. Right? So my pie in the sky idea is how may I'm, I'm part of the tech council, Wisconsin Tech Council, and so, you know, thinking about our future leader Maggie, and like mm-hmm.

We are from the tech council and others connect. To, uh, have a database. You know, I'd love to see a database of Wisconsin people, or even if they're not in Wisconsin, but people interested to help Wisconsin startups either join them, mentor them, like whatever it is, like we've got the people, but. Not the, the organization we wanna match.

I wish we could match, make people better. So that was something I would love. Like we just, we love have that factory that's stable. A farm of entrepreneurial people. You want to step up and help out because it's so important. And so, and of course investors, yes. Happy to chat anytime. Uh, we're, we are hoping to do more small investor events, just inviting like one firm.

To come to campus and just hear a few, uh, presentations. Uh, we've done this in the past, it's just been a while. So instead of a big pitch event, just have some more often, uh, visits with our investors in the area and the newsletter. If you wanna sign up, you've got a newsletter. And it, it goes out every other month, and you can see all the latest hot topics and technologies and stories.

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If you don't think we're working out within the first 45 days, ready to see how we can help you and your team, just head over to headway.io and book a free consultation today. That's great. You know, it's funny you mentioned the database and all that, and I know there's like data sets in multiple places in multiple organizations and stuff, but it is something that we're actually thinking about through startup Wisconsin, uh, uh, taking, you know, whether it's.

Trying our own version of it or taking ownership of that in some way. Um, because it is hard. Yeah. It's hard to boil the ocean and everyone's already got their own initiatives going on and we're still kind of like understanding like where do we fit in other than awareness of what's, you know, 'cause we already know that awareness is a problem around the events.

The um. Just the resources that are available in Wisconsin. But then when it comes to like the people and their availability and what they're interested in doing and helping with and stuff like that, or this, the distribution for, Hey, we're gonna make some introductions for you to these folks at these, at these, uh, different businesses.

They want, they're interested in doing a pilot program with you. That'd be great. So like, there's a lot of just nuance to that, like you said. Um, but I think that's the dream, right? Like, that's like, hey. Who, who in Wisconsin or who within our network can we start talking to? And something else I think about too, when you talked about, um, getting, we need more entrepreneurs involved getting these ideas and products off the ground.

You know, there, I I, I do see a trend lately of like a lot of like part-time, um, officers basically where whether it's marketing or technology or finance, like they just kind of come in and like help you set, set the foundation and the strategy until you can find that right fit to like actually be there full-time and lead the way.

Um,

Jessica Silvaggi: oh, agreed. I've been talking about that nonstop. The, the concept of the fractional. The fractional, yeah, fractional. That's what I was trying

Jacob Miller: to think of. Yeah. Yeah,

Jessica Silvaggi: yeah. Um, that's a huge topic. Um, I work very closely with the other tech transfer offices in Milwaukee and, you know, in, in Wisconsin and yeah, fractional is.

Thing now because the startups can't afford a full-time person. Mm-hmm. Or maybe they don't even need a full-time person. So how do we get more funding to support fractionals? Um, to get the ball rolling is huge. So yeah, if you're interested in a database, I say, go for it, or let's talk further with, you know, if the tech council can help with that.

Because we've had so many people do the governor's business plan competition. There's a wealth of folks who have. Entrepreneurial interests in these various databases, let's pull 'em together. Right.

Jacob Miller: Yeah. And it in a way, in a way too, it, it's like a multi-sided marketplace. 'cause it's like, okay, you have these entrepreneurs, you also have talent, you know, and you could have talent that is Mo just moved to Wisconsin recently.

Maybe they grew up here, or maybe they are, uh, you know, they just decided to move here to, whether it's Milwaukee or Madison or Green Bay, um, because of their spouse or whatever. It's like. How do we know, you know, how do we find these people and like, how do we, you know, and it takes a dedicated person or a group of people to really do the work and find these people and get them connected and let them know that there's other opportunities and they're a desired individual, like to do more and great things, you know, here, right.

In Wisconsin. So, uh, yeah, definitely lots of ideas floating around, but, uh, I think in the future we can definitely talk more about it. Um, I, I did wanna ask about in, uh. Current slash past data around entrepreneurs that do get involved with the ideas that you're offering up, um, through the program. Um, where do they typically come from?

Like what have been the trends right now of where the, these entrepreneurs that are coming in to take these ideas and bring 'em, bring 'em to market? Where do they come from?

Jessica Silvaggi: Generally it's been the inventor. It's, that's what I'm saying is we don't have enough folks sniffing around. Like we don't have enough people reaching out and saying, Hey, do you have any technologies that I can take a look at?

Like, so I don't have the exact number for you, but the majority is really we'll take in a technology, we'll, we'll try to market it, but like. I said it's, it's rare that a larger company will be interested. Maybe you can find a smaller, uh, company that it's a good fit with. Mm-hmm. But I'm sure they're getting, you know, barrage with hundreds of emails as well.

Sure. So you, you, you reach out and you email companies and you put stuff on your website and you do all the things. But if it's not happening quick enough. Often what happens is then the faculty member is like, yeah, you know what? I think I'm gonna try. And so it kind of is a progression. Or sometimes we'll do both where we'll reach out to companies, but at the same time they're exploring the startup.

We always encourage 'em to do the icorp program here at Milwaukee and do some customer discovery and make sure that there's an interest. Yeah. Um, there's, uh, but, so yeah, it's kind of a, a, a slow progression and it often ends up being a student, a postdoc, or the faculty member, or a combination of those together who takes it forward here and there.

We have other startups or other entrepreneurial people, like we're in the middle of, uh, working on an agreement right now with an external, um. Entrepreneur to take forward a pharmaceutical technology. We have, I wish we had more of those and we need more of those people.

Jacob Miller: Yeah. What are, what is the current kind of like, um, pattern of innovation teams at like, you know, for example, at or at a Rockwell or at, um, a Shreiber or whatever like that have.

Said, Hey, actually our team's interested in that technology or that, that idea, we would love to bring it under our wing, through our innovation team here at this company to bring it to life. Is that a thing that you'd be open to, or is that

Jessica Silvaggi: Oh, yeah, a hundred percent. I'm sure you're having those conversations.

I just wasn't

Jacob Miller: sure. I just was like. Trying to interpret all this stuff, so, yeah.

Jessica Silvaggi: Yeah. I mean, you reach out to those companies and we have a really good relationship at UWM with Rockwell Automation through our Connected Systems Institute. So Rockwell is already highly engaged, for instance. Sure. Um, actually the chairperson of my.

Board of directors is from Rockwell Automation, so we've got those company connections, but still, the big companies tend to have their own research and innovation teams and mm-hmm. It's harder to get them to want something external, I would say. Mm, right. Because it, it, you almost have to. Look for the companies that need your help that they, they don't have as much research capability in house.

And so it's a nice win-win because we've got all this equipment and these experts on a certain, so if you find the right match, um. It's, it's small businesses could be the better route. And the large companies, as I mentioned, tend to wait and see a little bit more. Yeah. Um, so yes, we do reach out to larger companies.

We try everyone we can.

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

Jessica Silvaggi: But I would say small is probably more likely and unfortunately

Jacob Miller: Yeah, and it's interesting too, 'cause obviously like if, um. If they're kind of taking ownership of it, they already have the distribution model within their company. Yeah. You know, they have customer, a customer base, or maybe with, uh, any partners that they have.

There's a customer base beyond there. So it's really interesting. I, I wonder if it would take a, if some kind of programming where we could offer up education around to those small, medium sized companies to say, Hey. Are you curious about innovating, but you just don't have internal capacity? Like, let's talk about that and see what that can look Yeah.

Actually look like here's what it actually would like financial investments would look like. Here's what time investments would look like, you know, talent from your team. Um, just really make it really clear and easy to understand and say, oh, that's a thing. We can do that. You know, I, I think half the battle is they're so busy just trying to, uh, maintain and grow their current business model that they, you know, they may not have.

A second to slow down and be like, Hey, we should think about investing in some new, new things. Um, or maybe they are, but they just don't know where to start, you know, kind of thing.

Jessica Silvaggi: Yeah, and I think like talking to some other folks in the state who are, are doing things like generator and others, um, there has been some success in.

Talking to companies and figuring out what are, what are your technologies sitting on the shelf Hmm. That you haven't had a ability to move forward. Um, so yeah, like in how can maybe we be more helpful with those or vice versa. So, you know, our goal at the research foundation is we're. We don't want technologies to sit on the shelf here and not get utilized and Mm.

But we need more people to bring them forward and test them out. So we're open to any sort of collaboration. Honestly, it, it doesn't matter what size company, it's just Sure.

Jacob Miller: Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just was thinking through, 'cause you said, you know, the smaller businesses seem to be a better fit.

Um, 'cause they don't have their own research. Already happening or innovation, you know, teams already happening. Um, yep. I, I actually have a question around, uh, you mentioned you're currently working on like a new grant program, but I still want to ask you, you know, if capital and resources were like, you know, not a barrier or not a problem, you know, what would you do next year in 2026 to make a bigger impact for the research foundation?

Jessica Silvaggi: It really does seem to boil down to those translational funds like the Catalyst Grant and the Bridge Grant. You know that stepping stone, um. I guess, you know, some schools are able to pull together actual, uh, investment funds. So I spoke to you about philanthropic venture fund. That would be a gift. Um, o other schools have both a philanthropic route and an investment route.

Um, we have not ex. Explored that. Uh, but for instance, you know, there's, um, CU Ventures with Concordia, so, you know, and you know, a first step could be an angel group, um, that supports potentially more technologies in Milwaukee or Wisconsin. Um, but yeah, we don't have a ven, an actual venture fund yet. So that would be a dream, I guess, for the future.

Um, in addition to the philanthropic fund and then. But yeah, it's, it's really about the money for them to, it's so expensive to develop a technology and move it forward. So, um, you know, you need the money to, to grow all of these technologies and the statistics vary. Um, but when you look at technology transfer and this.

We, all of the schools, not every single one, but most tech TAL offices, they submit their data and so we can see trends. And for 2024, for schools like us who are less than 100 million in research expenditures, it looks like it's about. Let's say two to 3 million. We'll just say $2 million to make one invention disclosure, like one invention.

Wow. So if we're at, we're at 66 million in 2024, you would expect either that by two, you might see. 33 inventions, or if I'm doing my math right, um, from the research foundation. And indeed like the past two years, we've been seeing about 35 invention disclosures per year. Now we've had higher, higher years.

Um, I think there's more inventions actually out there. Like I mentioned earlier, people just don't realize they have one, and so we need them to disclose it. But yeah, so. And, and then the schools where they're at a higher level, you know, we're at the one under 100 million. I was looking at their numbers.

It's even higher. They were more like $4 million for one invention disclosure. So it, it is just an indicator, but it takes a lot of money just to come up with a research project idea and support it at all.

Jacob Miller: Yeah. Yeah. Incredible.

Jessica Silvaggi: So I'd like to see, I'd like to double. I'd like to see UWM double how much research they're doing with industry.

I think we're a little low there. Um, I'd like to boost that, at least double that by further promoting Panther partnering that we spoke of the easy button, and just make it easier for companies to do work with UWM.

Jacob Miller: Yeah. And when you say industry, you mean like someone like a Rockwell or something like that?

Yeah.

Jessica Silvaggi: Any outside business, any, okay. Any outside business that wants to do research, partnering, and it's called sponsored research. So the company will. C work with a faculty member, come up with a game plan of what research is to be done, and then they pay for the research to be done.

Jacob Miller: Okay. Okay. Got it.

Understood. Um, I wanna move into talking about Milwaukee, uh, as an ecosystem. Um, you know, what do you, what do you like about being in Milwaukee right now? Um, what have you seen across the startup scene and kind of the opportunities that the university kind of brings there?

Jessica Silvaggi: I think it's changed a lot since I started here.

I feel like, you know, people used to complain we were more separated, maybe siloed. I think we're all have come together in amazing ways and it's been really energizing and you know, even, you know, you and, and and what you're doing and you know, even just having, um. The new events for entrepreneurship, um, you know, summer Fest Tech, um, you know, the NVNG event.

Like, there's a lot of new great events and everyone's really coming together and more just really passionate about it. So that's been exciting that, like I said, I work closely with all of my colleagues. Both in Milwaukee and in the rest of Wisconsin and we're doing projects together and just trying not to reinvent the wheel.

So I just love this community. Um, and, and in my field too, like I said, nationwide, I mean, there's so much crosstalk and support, um, from our colleagues. So we just wanna, you know, make sure we are filling gaps and not just. Doing the same thing as another group, like you were saying about the database. Like, let's make sure we're all filling in a gap that's needed and not, you know, not repeating something that already exists.

Jacob Miller: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Is there any gaps that you feel like need attention or anything that, um, that you've kind of seen? Obviously there's been a lot of change and lots of improvements, uh, but are there, are there any gaps, kind of like worth fixing still?

Jessica Silvaggi: Yeah, I think still, like I said, startups are really the future.

Um, we'll do our best to try to engage. Companies, but they have the ability to wait and see and kind of acquire the startups once they're doing well, some of the larger companies. So, um, I think again, just building the strength of our teams, uh, locally in southeast Wisconsin, we're working on an idea. To create, uh, a new sort of accelerator pathway with various verticals.

Um, not reinventing the wheel. So we're doing our customer discovery as well, talking to other groups about where they can fit in, and I think that will be really great if we can put together a grant proposal to get this sort of project funded. Um, but I think it's all about a strong team. Whenever you hear investors talk, they're always like it.

Strength of the team is most important. We just trust the tech is probably gonna be good. But first and foremost, that team has to be strong. So again, you know, matchmaking, getting more teams or just, uh, we're thinking more, we're hearing a lot about, uh, how founders need a little more training to get them to be stronger in the meantime until they can attract maybe other more experienced.

Uh, folks to their team, like how do we strengthen the founder and teach them a little bit more about, uh, how to get that startup going?

Jacob Miller: Yeah. Within that, like what kind of like, I guess, uh, parts of the business are you referring to? Is it just, um, you know, go to market strategy? Is it, um. Managing their finances, I guess what, within that year?

Yes.

Jessica Silvaggi: And yes. Like, well, I mean like, well this goes back to your question, who are entrepreneurs? And often our entrepreneurs are first timers, right? Yeah, yeah,

Speaker 3: yeah. So

Jessica Silvaggi: it's like the inventor, it's a facul. A, we don't want our faculty members to leave, do we? Right. We want them to day here teaching. So we, you know, a lot of the faculty members are probably.

Suited to be the CSO or the CTO, right? They've never been a CEO, but they're forced to do it all. Um, and so how, how do we get like the business person maybe, or someone who has raised money before to help them out? Uh, yeah. The go to market, I mean, a scientist. Is not often a marketing person. Right. So we have different strengths.

And so pulling in folks that have, and also the financial, like you said, like the fundraising, but even just the accounting, the, the, yeah. Like unit pricing, whatever. Yeah. Like, yeah, yeah. How do we price this and how do we deal with competitors or what's our market penetration like these questions. Mm-hmm.

I mean, I don't. A lot of times nobody even knows what that means yet, right? Mm-hmm. So yeah, filling in the the complimentary strengths would be great amongst the, our, our technologist and finding them the business people that they need.

Jacob Miller: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's fascinating 'cause I do feel like there are. Um, especially now you see a lot of younger entrepreneurs, there's this trend of, of acquiring like, uh, you know, these, these boomer companies where people that are retiring, yeah.

Um, hey, I'm gonna acquire this business for a few million dollars, but I'm gonna like completely go through it and update how they do things. Obviously there sometimes there can be tension with employees and stuff through that whole process, but the idea is that they can come in and they can kind of like double.

You know, the revenue of the business sometimes. Um, so I think if you can find those people that are just like, you know, very business-minded, they understand the numbers and what they need to be focused on. Um, 'cause I feel like it could be so easy to get distracted, especially with something new to just come in like you said, and just like know how to.

Kind of run, run the show, so to speak. Um, 'cause it is, it can feel like a circus at times, you know? Sure. Um, so yeah, I don't know how you find those people. I, it's definitely something I would love to know the answer to. Um, and I don't know if it's like one of those things, where is it? Do we try to build a network of, you know, of these serial entrepreneurs that maybe.

Maybe they just sold a business that they built up over 10 years and they was looking for the next thing because that those people exist. But like, how do we say, Hey, how do we

Jessica Silvaggi: find them? Here's a

Jacob Miller: list. Like take your pick. Like, oh, that, yeah. Yeah. That sounds interesting to me. I'm super interested in that right now.

You know, 10 years ago I wasn't, but now I am. Um, so yeah, that's who we

Jessica Silvaggi: need. A hundred percent. I think another avenue we are exploring or, or schools have explored is their alumni, um, because. You also have to attract someone to be interested in Wisconsin. Um, and I think we've made great strides where I don't think we're flyover territory anymore, but who knows?

Others might, might still say that, but I think investors are starting to see that there's a lot of great work ethic and strength in Wisconsin businesses. And so, um. We might consider our alumni as experienced alumni. A lot of times people come back to Wisconsin too. I mean, I'm not even from here, but I'm not planning to leave.

Like I really,

Jacob Miller: I'm not from here either. I'm not, not too far, but yeah.

Jessica Silvaggi: Yeah. So. It's just a great place to live. And so once we can snag those people, maybe they realize they wanna come back, start a family. They've been gone for a while. So, um, but yeah, it could be alumni. They know they have a, they have strong feelings toward the school they went to in Wisconsin.

Can we make this huge alumni database? But, you know, people are protective of their alumni lists as well. And I

Jacob Miller: get that. And I, and I respect that. And so I think, you know, that's where. You know, if we can start not from zero, that's great. Right? Uh, but if we have to do our own work and build up that database ourselves, like we got, we should do it.

We should be adventurous and do it, you know? Yeah. It's, uh, that's how I feel at least about Wisconsin, I think. And for us, the barrier right now is like, okay, you know, we need to just kind of put like this, you know, business plan together basically of like how we would make this thing go, what we, we need to make it happen.

And then, um. We're trying to figure out, like if it's grant driven, sponsor driven, is it, you know, is it sponsored by corporations? Is it sponsored, um, by WDC? Like, we don't know the answer to that yet, but that's something we're trying to figure out too. Um, but uh, uh, at this point, our capacity is a little limited, but we would love to find the opportunity to make it, make that thing real.

So, um, but yeah,

Jessica Silvaggi: agreed.

Jacob Miller: Um. Any closing thoughts? Uh, let's see. I wanna ask what's, what's next for you? What's next for the foundation? Um. Uh, any upcoming programs or milestones? Kind of curious what, what's, uh, what's in the near future for you and the foundation?

Jessica Silvaggi: Yeah, I would probably just shout out a few other startups that maybe people haven't heard about, but it's pretty great.

So, uh, one, uh, is from biological sciences, T three Bioscience. They have a safe bio pesticide, so I like to describe it as a. Fellow bacteriologist, um, a good bacteria that's fighting bad bacteria that infect our crops. And our citrus trees are in peril. They are dying, and right now they're allowing. You know, farmers to inject our citrus trees with antibiotics just to keep them alive, like literally stabbing their trunks just to keep them from getting this bacterial disease.

And our startup T three bioscience, they have the answer. I mean, they're, they're non-antibiotic. It works. The field studies in real trees is working just as well. As antibiotics, and it's not antibiotics like I don't want orange juice with antibiotics, so that we're hoping they'll get some approval to use that in emergency space in Florida to save our trees.

And secondly, they're, you know, gearing up to submit the approval for EPA. So you need to go through the EPA to get approval to use, you know, the. The compound in, in plants. Um, but they, they, they also are, you know, this, this compound also has been good in apple, um, trees as well and a number of other crops they're looking at.

So super excited for them. Um, then estrogens, therapeutics, pharmaceutical, non-hormonal treatments. For hot flashes for menopausal women, and it also shows effectiveness, helping with memory loss so far in normal studies. So yeah, quick tidbit. Apparently women who get hot flashes are more likely to have dementia later on.

Jacob Miller: Interesting. Do

Jessica Silvaggi: that for later. So yeah, really exciting what they're doing. And that's a collaboration amongst three universities in our area, not just UWM and then Roddy Medical, they're already on the market. So Rod Lindsey, Roddy was a student here at UWM that we supported and um, who did a lot of work through the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center.

So they have the secure move, TLC, and it's. This device that organizes the IV tubing in patients in the hospital and it's very secure, like lines don't get pulled out of the patient. So they're on the market and they're just looking to expand now and, um, into more and more hospitals. Uh, so excited about them.

And, but there's so many others I, I don't have time to mention, like I said. So hopefully we can, you know, continue to connect with people who support UWM and donors who understand the importance of startups and wanna learn more about that philanthropic venture fund.

Jacob Miller: Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Uh, how can people follow up, um, with the research foundation at you, do Milwaukee or reach out to you?

What is the best way to do that?

Jessica Silvaggi: Uh, email call message on LinkedIn. Like I said, we're, we're checking everything. We're super responsive and I really think we need to network, like, and I thank you so much for sharing our videos and our stories. Yeah, because I think. Then that reaches a new audience. And so if we need to do it step by step, fine.

You know, I mean, you do everything you can to spread the great word. And so I just appreciate you and, and other folks who have been commenting and sharing our things. Um, we'll just keep trying step by step to attract, like you said, the entrepreneurs and the companies. And I'd love to see a success story.

Like I said, we've got some products on the market, but, um. It can take many years. And so fingers crossed.

Jacob Miller: Awesome. Well, thanks again. I really appreciate your time and, uh, and good luck with everything.

Jessica Silvaggi: Thank you.

Jacob Miller: Thanks for joining us on the Startup Wisconsin Podcast. Wanna support the show. Don't forget to subscribe and get updates.

If you're feeling generous, you can share, rate and review our podcast to help others find us. Alright folks, until next time, let's keep moving Wisconsin forward.