WISCONSIN BLUE BOOK 1987-1988


  system into the life of business and industry. The university system had
made
  the switch from helping farmers to helping business.
    Following World War II, extension centers admitted thousands of re-
  turning GIs. From their experience in training employes during World War
  II, the Extension Division went well beyond agriculture to help Wisconsin
  communities improve social and economic conditions and worked with local
  business firms for expansion, management and marketing of their operations.
    Small business development centers were established in 1973 using the
ex-
 tension outreach program to "provide counseling services and linkages
be-
 tween existing agencies and institutions to aid small businesses".
In 1986,
 that program resulted in 597 business outreach programs enrolling 10,205
 people; another 455 programs for 14,929 engineers; and 445 sections for
 10,230 employes in management.
    Meanwhile, the Vocational, Technical and Adult Education (VTAE)
 schools throughout the state started helping local business firms train
their
 employes at plant sites and in the schools. With new technology taking over
 the past years and expected in the future, the VTAE centers, now enrolling
 over 440,000 students, will play a key part in the development of Wisconsin
 business and industry and agriculture. Political, business, and educational
 leaders are working together to coordinate training programs to further
the
 best interests of business firms and to make sure that graduates have the
skills
 to work in the future technological age. By skills we are referring to English,
 math, science, and communication, as well as those in the shop.
   University of Wisconsin Research Division is helping business cope with
 national and international competition. The UW Research Division at Mad-
 ison received in 1986 grants totaling $208.4 million for research. Industry
 provided about $7.2 million of the total.
   Not only is this the largest research effort in Wisconsin, but according
to
 the National Science Foundation, it ranked the University of Wisconsin-
 Madison as the third largest research university in the nation, a ranking
 which it has consistently held for many years.
   With a research staff of over three thousand working in some two hundred
 laboratories, institutes, and special research facilities, between six and
eight
 thousand separate research projects are in progress annually.
   While industry generally thinks of research and development in an applied
sense, involving production of a new product, it is now realizing that the
basic research carried on in the university provides the starting point for
ap-
plications which can be turned into new products and processes. This process
is currently described as "technology transfer".
   Since its establishment in 1963, the University-Industry Research (UIR)
Program has been concerned with such "technology transfer", making
the
results of UW-Madison's research efforts known to Wisconsin's industry and
providing access to the University's extensive research resources in terms
of
faculty expertise, technical information.
  Currently, over 200 companies a year call on UIR for assistance in some
area of technology; another 20,000 industrial requests for technical literature


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