INNOVATION 2014
Sunday, April 6, 2014.

Innovation is all around us
Rock County, in particular, has been working hard to battle back from the loss of the General Motors plant in Janesville in 2008. Walworth County didn’t suffer a single blow of that magnitude, but its economy also took a significant hit during the recession of the past few years.

INNOVATION IN...
Table of Contents

Building a talent pipeline
“It doesn’t matter how nice your parks are. Are you going to have the workers that can run my business?” Leaving one industrialized area, Eckert arrived in Rock County in 2010 to find another that had been crippled in Eckert large part because of a devastating national recession.

Increasing concentration
She performed a study of seven motor tests and three classroom behavior tests, giving half of her students chairs and the other half stability balls. She found that 59 percent of students using the balls had positive improvement in at least one area, and all improved in one or more of the following areas:.

From paper to program
Staff kept track of rounding in the hospital’s 50 rooms using paper until hospital technology and system managers developed an electronic program in Janesville. It is now going live in hospitals around the Midwest and could find its way into thousands—or millions—of hospital rooms across the country.

Reining in the rain
Motorists using the new interchange at Racine Street in Janesville are likely unaware they are driving past a state Department of Transportation pilot project to manage runoff during construction. New state regulations concerning stormwater management are tougher in river basin areas.

Shop class gets a rebuild
Then, they slowly evolved into the second-best track of high school classes, a spot for students who didn’t do as well in the standard classroom but were “good with their hands.” Finally, the classes fell out of favor almost entirely.

Targeted treatment
Some cancer patients might not think of the physicist who is helping in their treatment.But the addition of a physicist and an experienced radiation oncologist last year at the Mercy Regional Cancer Center is opening the door to state-of-the-art radiation treatment.

Tougher than steel
Picture giant machinery in any factory, anywhere. Images come to mind of networks of machines powered by heavy metal gears, each machine’s moving parts constantly being oiled and lubricated with hoses and pumps.

The information highway
It involves complex forensic programming to extract the data and save it in a form that can be easily accessed. The Data Dimensions team developed a custom extraction application that makes automated migration of files possible, regardless of the proprietary database they’re stored on.

Steering toward careers
Businesses benefit because they get more access to potential workers tied to Huth the area by family and interests, as opposed to trying to lure workers who might not want to live in a four-season climate, said James Otterstein, economic development.

Arts center gets creative
“Whether your child is interested in theater, music or art, it’s about opening your brain up and learning how to be creative.” Horvath The idea is that the classes will help spark the children’s creativity so they become involved in activities such as band, choir or orchestra when they go back.

Booking savings
“The district reallocated funds from the textbook budget, non-capital budget, general supplies, personnel services and from other miscellaneous accounts,” Lutzke said. “As a result, we did not increase our budget by implementing the iPads. We simply reallocated funds.

New beginning for the end
For 35 years, the nonprofit Agrace has provided physical, emotional and spiritual support to patients and their families. The agency has long championed a philosophy of care that says people prefer to die in their homes or homelike settings surrounded by loved ones.

Office space
He figured the center would appeal to home-based businesses in need of meeting or work space, employers and out-of-town lawyers conducting off-site interviews, students looking for a quiet place to study or work on a project and small groups.

Step on the gas
How does it work? The solids collected in the treatment process are pumped to the digesters. Methane is a byproduct of anaerobic digestion, in which microorganisms, basically bugs, eat biodegradable material.

Getting caught in thought
There, she heard from 28- year-old Daniel Epstein, founder and CEO of the Unreasonable Institute, which is a nonprofit that helps fund, mentor and connect ventures that address some of the greatest challenges in today’s rapidly changing world.

A different breed of vet
On the Saturday that Ruby was recovering from coffee grounds, Rylee, a Lab mix, was being examined for a possible intestinal blockage or other serious illness. She had been listless and lethargic for a few days, wasn’t eating and had started throwing up.

Helping them get their start
Working for an environmental consulting firm in Illinois, Lori Huntoon was frustrated when her employer turned away work from nonprofit organizations, law firms and other small customers.

A new dimension in printing
It ran like a standard printer, except instead of ink coming out of the printer head creating flat images on a piece of paper, this printer applied heated plastic, layer by layer, to a heated platform by a heated print head.

Altitude analysis
The company then uses computer programs to assemble the tiny snapshots into a mosaic that can be used to analyze vegetation and habitat, monitor the progress of restoration programs or identify trends when there are problems such as invasive plants or ground contamination.