How about those Badgers trouncing Auburn in the Capital One Bowl? Just another indication of the true spirit we have here in the Badger State. Well, it's 2006 and what will it bring? If I could predict the future, I'd submit the winning lottery numbers and live a life of sport and leisure. Although were not quite sure what 2006 will bring, we at Forward Wisconsin do have a number of events and outreach efforts scheduled for the calendar year that we are very excited about. I invite you to contact Forward Wisconsin if you are interested in partnering with us on any of the following initiatives.

In April, we will be going to Chicago for BIO 2006 - the largest biotechnology conference in the world. We hope to have over 100 Wisconsin representatives at the event to help us promote the Badger State as the premier location for life science and biotech investment. April will also take us to Philadelphia for a major site selection consultant summit to promote the State of Wisconsin.

May includes our annual Chicago Marketing Mission. June features another trip to Chicago for the National Plastics Expo. July has a recognition event at the US Bank Championship golf tournament in its midst, and August is slated for travel to Atlanta for the International Woodworking Fair 2006. In the fall of 2006, we will be heading to the Twin Cities for our annual marketing mission and to Orlando for another site selector conference.

As you can see, we have a very busy schedule for the upcoming year. With additional public and private support, we hope to add to these efforts and be more aggressive in adding marketing missions to different parts of the country, continuing to make ForwardWI.com an even better web site, and working with business prospects and economic development partners. We are looking Forward to a great 2006!

Forward Wisconsin is pleased to announce our new "Partner Links" program. The Partner Links program works this way: if you web link to us from your organization's web page, we'll link to you from our web page - located at ForwardWI.com. Partner Links will help your organization and Forward Wisconsin to generate more web page visitors, push our web page rankings higher on search engines and provide greater access to resources for our business prospects and customers.

To participate, simply add a link to http://www.forwardwi.com to your web page. Then, email Sharon Seffrood, Forward Wisconsin's Web Marketing Specialist, (1) your organization name - as you want it to appear on our Partner Links page - and (2) your full web site address. Sharon will add your organization's web link to our Partner Links page. If you already link to ForwardWI.com on your web site, just let Sharon know. Note that if your organization is a Forward Wisconsin investor, you are already listed on ForwardWI.com, but we would appreciate a link to us on your web site.

The Partner Links section of ForwardWI.com will be accessible from our home page to provide maximum visibility to the web link listings. Forward Wisconsin will categorize the web links and create new sub-sections based on the type and number of web links we receive. We reserve the right to not list web links that are inappropriate. The Partner Links program will be an ongoing initiative for Forward Wisconsin throughout 2006. If you have any questions about the Partner Links program, email Sharon Seffrood or call her at 608.261.2501.

Oz had its wizard and the Harry Potter books and movies have oodles of them, but perhaps you didn't know that the State of Wisconsin has one too. The Business Wizard doesn't cast magic spells or fly over the skies of the Badger State, but it does provide customized information to help people start and operate a Wisconsin-based business - and it's easily accessible on the Internet.

The Business Wizard offers fast information on regulatory requirements, as well as specifics on financial and technical assistance programs. The Business Wizard is a one-stop Internet resource that cuts across all state agencies to give on-line access to licenses, forms, and other documents for more than 500 business types. It also provides a linkage to the DNR Permit Primer, which offers an online tutorial that allows business owners to walk through the first steps of a virtual permitting process. Pretty neat, huh? But how does it work?

The Business Wizard lets the user describe their business, its features and requirements. If the user is uncertain about an issue, the Wizard provides an explanatory link. Once the user has completed five data entry steps, the Wizard instantly develops a comprehensive, carefully-tailored summary of business requirements.

Our partners at Commerce took the lead in developing the Business Wizard, but 18 state departments worked together on it. The Business Wizard is free and is always open for business. Give it a test flight today!

Last month, two regional economic development groups made major announcements regarding their brand image efforts. The "New North" became the brand for an 18-county region in Northeast Wisconsin, while the "Milwaukee 7" was declared the label for seven counties in the southeastern part of the state. Both regional groups have already received state financial support and have ongoing private sector fundraising campaigns. They also have each garnered impressive business participation.

The New North is co-chaired by Bob DeKoch, President and COO of the Boldt Company, and Kathi Seifert, a retired Executive Vice President for the Kimberly-Clark Corporation. The New North also recently hired Jerry Murphy as its executive director. Murphy comes to the group from the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, an eight-county economic development group in Western New York. The 18-county northeast group began about two years ago.

In March 2005, Commerce provided a $380,000 grant to the New North (previously called the Northeastern Wisconsin Economic Development Partnership) with plans for the private sector to contribute the majority of the long-term funding. The Commerce grant was to be used for administration and operational costs. The New North is focusing on six areas: fostering regional collaboration, focusing on target growth opportunities, supporting an entrepreneurial climate, encouraging educational attainment, encouraging and embracing diverse talents and promoting a regional brand.

The 7-county Milwaukee Regional Economic Development Council unanimously approved the brand "Milwaukee 7" at its first full meeting in mid- December. The brand is meant to capitalize on a well-known city, while also including all seven area counties in the marketing effort. The group has three co-chairmen: Steven J. Smith, Chairman and CEO of Journal Communications, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, and Dennis J. Kuester, Chairman and CEO of Marshall & Ilsley Corporation. The Milwaukee Regional Economic Development Council started about four months ago.

In September 2005, Commerce provided a $500,000 grant to the group as part of their $12 million, five-year funding plan. The City of Milwaukee is contributing $100,000 and several counties are kicking in $25,000 each. As with the New North, the private sector will provide the bulk of the funding for the new economic development initiative.

The Milwaukee Regional Economic Development Council's near-term goals include the launch of a website that will pull together comprehensive data on the region and to assemble a $1.2 million economic "nerve" center that business prospects can visit to obtain extensive information on southeast Wisconsin.