MKE TECH News

One Year. It’s almost hard to believe that the MKE Tech Hub Coalition is turning 1. None of us could have predicted what 2020 has brought. Our mission is only more relevant today than it was when the MKE Tech Hub Coalition was announced in October, 2019. Due to Covid, digital transformation has accelerated in 2020. What does this mean? It means new solutions and opportunities. It also means a job market which is forever changed up to 40% of jobs lost will never return, according to a Univ. of Chicago study, while tech skills are increasing in relevancy. 

It's critical that we accelerate the region’s transformation as well. This requires everyone’s engagement and voices. That's why we’re pleased to announce the new members this month: Beyond STEM, Brooksource, Collabera, Comcentia, Skills Pipeline, Talimer, Tuatara Consulting, Women’s Entrepreneurship Week, Women in Technology, Yahara Software and zizzl. We're now over the 20 Community members required to add a Board member. Nomination forms were sent to current Community members this week and are due October 16.  If you’d like to become a member and have the opportunity to sit on the Board, you can still sign up as a new member on mketech.org.

It also means that it's time to celebrate. We’ll have a mketech community celebration on November 5 (details below) where we’ll talk through the strategies of the Coalition, including ways that everyone can contribute to the mission – whether it's convincing friends/family working remotely to return to the MKE region, identifying partner tech companies who might be interested in moving to MKE, or volunteering in our K-12, post-secondary, or startup communities. We look forward to interacting with everyone virtually then!

Bold Vision Showcasing Milwaukee as a Tech Hub 

The Coalition turns 1! Join us November 5th starting at 10:00 for a day celebrating our one-year anniversary. Our event will showcase the Coalition’s work and the organizations who have helped elevate our region to the place where tech talent grows and thrives.

We’re approaching the summit with an overarching theme in mind: Collaboration. Over the last year, 48 companies have joined together with a common mission. There’s still much to do, but we want to pause to celebrate our successes and imagine what the next year could bring as we work to build a better, stronger and more diverse tech region.

We hope that you’ll join us for our first fully digital anniversary celebration, community conversations and networking.

K-20  Developing and retaining the next generation of tech talent  

MKE Tech Hub Coalition and The Commons were recently recognized as a “Mother/Father of Invention”. Watch the video created for this award here.

The MKE Tech Hub Coalition invites individuals/organizations to participate in the Greater MKE Hour of Code during Computer Science Week in December (planning is now in full swing). We've already registered an ADDITIONAL 9 companies, 7 nonprofits/higher education institutions and 6 school districts over last year (yes, during a pandemic – way to go MKE). If you’re interested in being matched to a volunteer opportunity or are a school/district in need of support, please make sure that you’re signed up and provide the number of volunteers available/needed to HoC@mketech.org no later than October 16. Have other questions or need help identifying how to participate? Contact HoC@mketech.org.

Many thanks to everyone who participated and/or supported the planning of this workshop for MKE area districts. We’d like to make a special shout out to Tina Boyle-White from Marquette. Without her, this workshop may never have happened! Check out our most recent K-20 blog, Districts Initiate Systems Level Change for Computing Science Education, summarizing the workshop and what actions districts can take right now to advance a more inclusive culture for computer science in their schools.

The MKE Tech Hub Coalition supports a number of initiatives committed to local tech talent development that reflect the community at large. Increasing the number of women in tech is one of those priorities. Please check out our K-20 blog post, Inspiring Womxn In Tech via NCWIT-WI, to hear from NCWIT-WI Director of Alumni Relations, Rachael Wiley, on the role the organization plays in encouraging women to become part of a national network of womxn technologists.

The Coalition is excited to be a member of the Industry Advisory Board for the Higher Education Regional Alliance (HERA) and a stakeholder in the Milwaukee Area College Internship Consortium (MACIC). We’re also interested in talking with people directly responsible for development of academic programs and research contributing to regional assets that support tech talent development and transfer. Please reach out to Laura Schmidt, if you’re not already connected to the Coalition!

To stay up to date on K-20 subcommittee priorities and progress, please check out our web page.

Re/Upskilling Developing new sources of talent that match our employers needs and demonstrate a value for diversity

The Coalition has initiated a pilot with a new provider who has an accelerated training program for recent grads who want to develop data visualization skills in Tableau, Power BI and R. Please contact LauraS@mketech.org for a short discussion if you have entry level positions that require these skills so that we can validate the relevance of this type of programming to MKE employer hiring needs.

Check out our recent blog posts to see the impact of our work and that of our preferred providers on building and expanding our region’s tech talent pipeline.

To stay up to date on Re/Upskilling subcommittee priorities and progress, please check out our web page.

Attraction & Retention Attracting mid-level tech talent to the region, including freelancers, virtual workers and employees

Across the United States, city-to-city migration patterns have been redefined in recent months. Fresh data from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph team shows that smaller metro areas are gaining, some famous big cities are slipping and hints of de-urbanization can be found across the country. Milwaukee is one of the cities benefitting from this new trend coming in at #4 overall for biggest gain in net arrivals. Learn more. This provides evidence that MKE’s ranking as #2 city for remote employees is more than just a headline.

We have an unique opportunity to build on the success of attracting talent based on individual flexibility to choose a location while many continue to work from home. We’d like to attract these remote workers to MKE and help them quickly get engaged to become part of our long term talent pool. The Attraction and Retention committee commissioned primary research on what attracts individuals to MKE. Our lifestyle, lower cost of living and cultural opportunities are recognized! We need build on this to show all of our career and development opportunities. We’d like to validate past work on ecosystem opportunities for ongoing career development (Meetups, etc). If anyone is interested in helping, please send a note to contact@mketech.org. We’re hoping to start the work in the next month.

Startup Leveraging cross-industry partnerships to accelerate local start up growth and drive innovation

Our Fall cycle is underway with over 55 founders working client discovery, MVP prototyping, financial models, etc. Mentors are always welcome for our founders. You can sign up for the two remaining mentor nights here. Two other ways you can help are:

Most businesses are started to solve a problem known to the founder, who then needs to find customers to purchase the solution. What if the problem came directly from the customer? That’s the approach of Reverse Pitch MKE. Local organizations open their doors to entrepreneurs, startups and other creatives looking for an opportunity to solve challenges and potentially launch a product. Winners have the potential to get up to $90,000 in funding plus space, mentoring, and legal services. Learn more.

In addition to presenting the challenges, we'll start the event with a panel of innovation leaders from Froedtert/Inception Health, Molson Coors, Northwestern Mutual and the U.S. Army. These leaders will discuss their innovation programs and how startups can engage with them as a source of external innovation.

GE Healthcare announced a $50 million investment in its existing West Milwaukee facility as part of its intention to concentrate teams and resources in key facilities across Wisconsin. The investment in its Electric Avenue facility in West Milwaukee will create a world class, industry-leading product development and manufacturing campus for medical imaging. Read more.

Only nine percent of Milwaukee students will earn both a high school diploma and college degree. To boost students' long-term success to achieve their full educational and career potential, Northwestern Mutual today announced a commitment of $2.5 million to schools, nonprofits and programming in the city of Milwaukee. These funds will support the company's newly evolved philanthropic strategy of investing in educational pathways to close the achievement gap among talented, yet underrepresented students and drive sustainable change in its hometown. Read more.

Milwaukee startup and FOR-M alumnus Talimer recently launched a digital marketplace that connects freelance tech professionals to employers and access to health care benefits. The platform reduces hiring bias and intentionally increases inclusivity, diversity and access to underrepresented freelancers. Co-founder Erica Conway said Milwaukee is an ideal place for Talimer, given the support behind the Milwaukee Tech Hub Coalition and efforts at making Milwaukee a tech hub. Read more. 

Rockwell and Microsoft Extend Strategic Relationship The two companies, which already collaborate under a strategic alliance to solve manufacturing operations challenges, have expanded that partnership to help industrial customers improve digital agility through edge-to-cloud technology. Read more.

Volunteers also are needed for our Aspirations Program to help with activities/events for middle school, high school and college women interested in Computing Technologies. Please contact us for details on our website or by emailing us at ncwit.wi@gmail.com.

Today’s unprecedented tidal wave of data has been called the 4th Industrial Revolution by industry experts making the skills to bring data to life more invaluable than ever. Carroll University is proud to unveil its Data Analytics Bootcamp badge, focused on data analytics and data visualization, for leaders and teams across industry lines. Beginning January 19, 2021, expect a Netflix-like visual experience; real-world case studies from tech leaders, such as Spotify, Google, Airbnb, and more; project-based collaboration; and receipt of an Excel and Tableau Specialist credential upon program completion. Learn more here.

Whether you’re already familiar with it or just dipping your toe in the water, this guide – from the DevOps experts at leading software consulting firm, nvisia – is here to help you make the most of DevOps, and why it’s important to reach your full DevOps potential. You can download the guide here – and make sure to subscribe to the latest in IT trends while you’re there! Questions? Reach out to Dana Moyano or Josh Cherry.

The market case for emerging and diverse investment fund managers will be discussed during a webinar on October 13. The hour-long event focuses on how emerging managers – generally defined as smaller funds with a market cap on assets under management – and diverse managers, which are minority- or women-owned firms, may offer a strong return on investment while serving entrepreneurs who can otherwise be overlooked. Panelists include Jason Fields, founder of Dark Knight Capital in Milwaukee and Milwaukee Tech Hub Coalition Board member. Register here. Registration also open for the 2020 Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium.

17^th Annual sySTEMnow Conference

Don’t miss this virtual event on October 29 that brings together business leaders, community members, educators and government officials to share best practices and lessons learned on STEM-related topics. This year's conference is sure to be engaging as we discuss "Equity in STEM." Hear from keynote speaker, Dr. Calvin Mackie, and choose from multiple breakout sessions to keep discussions going. Pricing is $25 for educators, $50 for the general public and students are free! Learn more and register.

Startup Milwaukee Week returns November 11 – 18 virtually! Over two dozen free events that highlight the organizations working to support high-growth tech entrepreneurs in the Milwaukee region. More info here.

The P5 Project is partnering with American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact to host quarterly virtual pitch competitions for female founders with a $5,000 cash prize each. The first competition will kick off during Startup Wisconsin Week on November 17. Winners will have the opportunity to pitch live to a celebrity panel of judges at the 2021 P5 Women's Summit in Madison for over $20,000 in cash and prizes! To learn more or submit a business for the pitch competition, visit the website.

Tara Wyborny, National Practice Director for Dev10, will moderate a panel discussion focused on actionable solutions for Diversity and Inclusion in tech. Join us on Tuesday, November 17 to hear from local leaders as they share tactical steps you can take to improve hiring outcomes within diverse groups and inclusion strategies for employees after they join. The panel will feature Irissol Arce, Senior Director of Diversity & Inclusion at Northwestern Mutual, Li Jacobsen, Vice President of Information Technology at Kohl’s and Deepti Suri, Director Cloud Infrastructure at Foot Locker. Learn more here.

On November 19, StarBash will bring together i.c.stars board members, alumni, staff and supporters who have empowered us to code the future (reimagine the future); creating jobs, leaders and social justice in Milwaukee. You’ll be entertained by our “Superhero” CIO/Alum presentations, meet new people with speed networking sessions via breakout rooms and honor the "CIO of the Year." What better way to finish out 2020 than by recognizing all the superheroes around us! Register here.

Nvisia is sponsoring a virtual Tech Showcase Week in December. If you're interested in presenting, please go to www.2020techshowcase.com.

The next Southeast Region Virtual Happy Hour will be on October 21 from 4:30-6:30 pm. Register here. A zoom link will be sent the day prior and breakout rooms will be used to allow smaller group networking.

Newaukee and Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) are partnering to create a gap year career exploration program for Milwaukee students undecided about attending college. Coming in 2021, the new program will recruit a diverse group of students to participate in hands-on career exploration, career exposure at local companies, network development and civic engagement related to the region’s equity gap. Parents, students and businesses interested in providing input to design the program and ensure it meets the needs of the community should sign-up for a virtual design session on October 13 or October 15.

Milky Way Tech Hub and Marquette University have formed a partnership to launch a product development program that will support diverse startup founders in Milwaukee. The program’s goal is to provide women and minority startup founders access to resources like software development while Marquette computer science students will receive experience in the software development and startup space. Participating startups will also have a chance to submit their businesses to the Milky Way Tech Hub Annual Pitch Competition in November for a chance to win $15,000. Click here for more information or to sign up for the pilot program.

Generac Acquires Enbala Power Networks, An Energy Software Company. This is considered a major step towards putting its market-leading backup generator business and its battery-solar fleet to work as a power grid resource. Read More.

R+D Custom Automation, a privately owned manufacturer of customized automation systems, has announced the relocation of its Illinois plant operations to Salem Business Park in western Kenosha county. The move, scheduled for the second quarter of 2021, consolidates operations under one roof, strengthening the firm's operational efficiencies. The project represents an investment of approximately $6 million and will bring nearly 60 jobs. R+D is the third Illinois manufacturer to move into the Salem Business Park over the last several years. Read more.

Foxconn “Tops Off” 100-Foot-High Performance Computing Data Center Globe

The structural steel framework for Foxconn's 100-foot-tall High Performance Computing Data Center globe, located in Mount Pleasant, was recently completed during a special "topping off" ceremony. The state-of-the-art Computing Data Center will be home to the Wisconn Valley Park's Network Operations Center. Within this center, Foxconn employees will be able to control the computing power that supports the unique ecosystem of Foxconn technologies, including Industrial 5G networks, cloud computing and industrial artificial intelligence. Read more

WUWM’s Becca Schimmel spoke with UWM’s Purush Papatla and Marquette’s Amber Wichowsky about how more screen time and less face time could impact this year’s election in this segment from the show, “Lake Effect.” The discussion includes information collected during the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute’s research project, “Elecurator.” Read More.

Earlier this year, Jordan Tian and his team made the tough decision to close the computer gaming and console gaming lounge he founded and co-owned, but it wasn’t the end of the story for this FOR-M graduate. With consumers turning more to online ordering platforms amid the pandemic, he noticed his parents' restaurant business wasn't designed for digital order intake. To help his parents and other small business owners who aren't as tech savvy, Jordan launched SmallNeighborhood, a technology service company that provides website design, search optimization and online ordering systems for free. Read more. 

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation has launched a statewide competition that would fund new business models and innovations that solve financial and operational problems caused by the pandemic. The We're All Innovating Contest can provide up to 195 companies with $3 million in total funding. The competition is open to all new and established for-profit small businesses in Wisconsin with 50 or less employees. It will be judged by a review committee of business and industry experts administered in partnership with the Wisconsin Technology Council. Apply here by October 18.

Acquire the skills to succeed in technology leadership with an online Master of Science in IT Management. Whether you’re a tech expert looking to become a successful manager or a business professional who wants to lead an IT team—the UW master’s in IT Management is built for your goals. You’ll learn from esteemed faculty across five campuses, who bring real-world expertise to the program’s curriculum. As a graduate, your established knowledge and strengthened confidence will allow you to influence business strategy through a technical lens. Apply now and start January 26, 2021. More details here.

The Coalition is represented on the National Advisory Board for the AI4K12 initiative. New resources, professional development opportunities, webinars and courses are added to the website every week. College students also can benefit from these resources.

Information and registration here.

Water Council Tech Challenge

Sponsored by A. O. Smith, Badger Meter and Zurn, the November 1 application deadline for The Water Council’s Tech Challenge is quickly approaching. Innovators with novel water quality sensing and/or remediating solutions are invited to apply for an opportunity to win money, gain exposure to sponsor companies’ R&D teams and other potential engagement pathways. Since the program’s launch in 2018, participating sponsors have identified 38 companies from 13 different countries as having novel solutions to address their technology needs. See complete Challenge and application details here.

You're invited to participate in this virtual event on October 14-15 that brings together key stakeholders committed to K-12 computer science education. The program features a panel discussion on why "Computer Science is More Important Than Ever" led by state education chiefs from around the country with the launch of the 2020 State of Computer Science Education Report to follow. Be sure to attend the “state of your state” session to learn about and discuss the state of computer science in Wisconsin. Register for both sessions here.

The Inno on Fire Awards is an annual celebration of innovators, big and small, people and organizations across the state of Wisconsin. Join us November 19, to celebrate Wisconsin's tech and innovation ecosystem, our Inno on Fire honorees and announce the Inno Blazer winners! Register here.

Islands of Brilliance and Foresight Studios are Looking for Tech Community Members to Help Play Test "Gratitude Island" An innovative approach to virtual events, Gratitude Island will be the virtual environment of Islands of Brilliance's annual art and music event, Colors & Chords. Play testers are needed on October 20 from 5:15-6:15 pm to experience the game, provide feedback and discover any bugs that need to be fixed prior to premiere night on November 21st. Watch the premier video. Sign up for Play testing here. Download to PC or Mac required.

Data Day is a city-wide gathering of neighborhood leaders, data scientists, government leaders, researchers, funders and community development advocates to share innovative and effective practices in using data to understand, build alignment, and take action on issues facing our communities.  Data Day is designed for all levels –from dataphyles to dataphobic!  Register here for this event on October 21 from 10 am-12 pm.

Monthly Evening Computer Science Get-togethers

Join Zoom Meeting, Meeting ID: 918 3513 8697, Passcode: 223963

Contacts: co-Presidents Amy Fetherston or Linnea Logan.

UW-Madison’s Andy Kuemmel offers an open session for ANY teacher who wants to talk about Java and APCS-A, whether you have years of experience or are a beginner. Please contact Andy to sign up.