FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with Jessica Martin Eckerly, Forward BIOLABS; State unemployment at 3.2% in January

March 8, 2024

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Jessica Martin Eckerly, CEO and co-founder of Forward BIOLABS.

She shares some highlights from the group’s first impact report, which details the Madison-based co-working space’s role in the local startup ecosystem. It provides fully equipped laboratories to help early-stage life science companies get started.

“And then we kind of envelope that lab in a community — making introductions, helping people with whatever problems or challenges that they’re having, and just really cultivating a collaborative, positive environment,” she said.

Martin Eckerly discusses some of her biggest takeaways from the past five years of running the co-working lab, underlining the importance of collaboration between the member companies and broader community support.

She also touches on the state’s biohealth tech hub effort, which involves Forward BIOLABS and other partners. The coalition, led by BioForward Wisconsin, recently submitted its application for Phase 2 funding through the tech hub program, which could bring millions of federal dollars to the state.

“The tech hub just lights everything on fire in such a good way, because it’s such a good way to really showcase everything Wisconsin has,” she said. “Manufacturing, supply chain, talent … It’s all here, and we know it, but the tech hub is the opportunity to show everybody else that we know we have immense value in biohealth.”

The podcast includes a look ahead to the future of Forward BIOLABS, with Martin Eckerly noting she wants to expand industry collaborations, add more space in the Madison location and establish another co-working lab in Milwaukee.

“It’s like a set of hidden gems in Milwaukee … There’s a lot of opportunity that’s completely untapped,” she said. “And I think to be able to put a site there and see what happens, I think will be really good for that community.”

Listen to the podcast and see the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts.

See coverage of the impact report here.

— Wisconsin’s unemployment rate fell to 3.2% in January, marking a slight decline from December’s revised rate of 3.4%.

The Department of Workforce Development yesterday released the latest federal employment figures for Wisconsin, showing the state again set a new record for total nonfarm jobs with 3,026,900.

Total construction jobs in the state also hit a new record high in January with 140,000 people employed by the sector, an increase of 4,200 over the year and 1,900 over the month.

DWD Chief Economist Dennis Winters said the state’s construction sector is showing a pattern of consistent growth.

“We’ve been setting new employment records for most of all last year, and that’s continued into this year,” he said yesterday during an online briefing. “And so that’ll be boosted probably if interest rates come down again and demand for housing increases.”

Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate was unchanged over the month at 65.9%, and remains above the U.S. rate of 62.5%. And the state’s January unemployment rate was below the national rate of 3.7%, the DWD release shows.

— Residential loans by Wisconsin banks saw solid growth in the fourth quarter of 2023 while commercial lending only rose slightly, according to the Wisconsin Bankers Association.

“The year 2023 ended on a positive note with banks in a solid position,” WBA President and CEO Rose Oswald Poels said yesterday in a statement. “Residential loans are picking up, while many business owners are tending more toward a ‘wait-and-see’ approach on borrowing.”

Residential loans saw 7.64% growth over the quarter and 5.62% growth over the year, according to the WBA release. But commercial lending rose just 0.2% over the year and declined 0.6% over the quarter.

Meanwhile, farm loans rose 10.3% year-over-year, showing growth in the ag sector. The 22.31% decline over the quarter is a result of seasonal demand changes, WBA notes.

“Bankers, consumers, and business owners alike are hopeful that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in 2024,” Oswald Poels said. “Inflation, the potential for a recession, and geopolitical issues remain top concerns for the year ahead.”

See the release.

— The Water Council has announced 10 startups taking part in the latest cohort of the Milwaukee-based group’s BREW 2.0 Post-Accelerator program.

These early-stage companies were selected from among 50 applications and hail from five different countries: the United States, Canada, Ireland, France and Switzerland. They will undergo weeks of virtual training before meeting in Milwaukee in June for in-person activities and a public pitch event.

“BREW 2.0 has truly become a global program assisting some of the most promising water technology startups solving critical issues of water quality and quantity,” Karen Frost, the council’s vice president of economic development and innovation, said in yesterday’s release.

Participants include:

*AquaB Nanobubble Innovations of Ireland, a startup with roots in the University College Dublin. The company’s technology can be used in water treatment and for applications in the oil and gas industry.

*Avivid Water Technology, a U.S.-based company with a treatment system for “heavily contaminated” industrial wastewater, which can remove PFAS, heavy metals and more.

*bNovate Technologies of Switzerland, which has a device called BactoSense for automated monitoring of drinking water for bacteria.

*CANN Forecast of Canada, which has an AI application for identifying at-risk pipes and predicting wastewater flow.

*Diamidex of France, a startup developing a platform for tracking microbes in water.

*GKinetic of Ireland, which has technology for generating energy from manmade and natural waterways.

*Gross-Wen Technologies, a U.S. company that uses algae to recover nutrients.

*Kadeya, a U.S. business with a re-bottling kiosk that aims to reduce plastic waste and associated costs and environmental harm.
*Shower Stream, another U.S. company with a showerhead designed to reduce waste.

*SmartD of Canada, which has a device that’s designed to improve motor efficiency.

See more in the release.

— Marshfield Clinic Health System will be adding urgent care services to its Lake Hallie clinic to help meet higher demand for care in the Chippewa Valley region.

The Marshfield Clinic Lake Hallie Center is located between Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls, where Hospital Sisters Health System in January announced it would be shutting down two hospitals. The new services will be added over the coming months, according to today’s release.

MCHS West Market President Brad Groseth said expanding urgent care options in the region will help reduce the number of patients going to emergency departments, limiting the strain on the local health care system.

“Increasing urgent care capacity in the Chippewa Valley will provide some much-needed relief in the coming months to community members looking for convenient alternatives,” Groseth said in a statement.

The health system says it’s still finalizing a timeline for adding the urgent care service in Lake Hallie but has begun hiring staff.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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