Grow Your Business in the Region

Business growth, metrics and resources

The Madison Region offers a wealth of resources at the state, region, county and city level to help entrepreneurs grow and expand their business.

The Wisconsin Department of Commerce has Area Development Managers to assist business owners with their specific needs, whether financial, location, industry specific, employee or technology development. The Department also offers Trade Show grants, helping many entrepreneurs bring their product to broader, more far-reaching markets--even internationally.

The Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Network, or WEN, has a wealth of information to further assist business owners and entrepreneurs with needs including marketing, product development, intellectual property, competitive research. This statewide resource represents the creative and innovative brand of the Madison Region with its searchable resource connection interface, entrepreneurial connections and e-newsletter and events calendar.

To find a building, site, location or to research communities for business expansion, see our Data Center, below. Here you can find a wealth of city, county and regional statistics, a full listing of available buildings and site, and demographic and labor force information.

Additional research on the Madison Region and State of Wisconsin can be found at Forward Wisconsin, the economic devlopment and marketing arm for the State of Wisconsin.

Alongside the efforts of Thrive for the eight-county Madison Region is Governor Doyle's Growing Regional Opportunities (GROW) grant programs, established as part of the GROW Wisconsin plan to encourage regional partnerships and coordinate economic, workforce and education data. This effort guides an "apples to apples" comparison of regions inside the state and of the GROW Regions to similar areas outside the state to more easily identify and measure the progress of economic development initiatives.

The Southwest Wisconsin GROW region incorporates the eight-county Madison Region. Benchmarking for the GROW Region can be found through the Department of Workforce Development.


For further information specific to the eight-county Madison Region, see the Business Climate section of our site.

Educational resources for business owners

Entrepreneurs and business owners in the Madison Region have a tremendous advantage through our region's higher education and continuing education system. The University of Wisconsin offers a range of entrepreneurial instruction, from its world renowned Executive Education programs and the world-class School of Business, which also hosts the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship, dedicated to teaching, research, and service pertaining to entrepreneurial management and enterprise development - a resource for preparation for roles as business owners and managers, venture capitalists, or consultants to smaller businesses.

Located in downtown Madison, the UW Family Business Center helps family-owned businesses throughout the region succeed with training, education and resources specifically for the unique needs of family businesses.

Both our technical college system and our many UW Extension facilities (see links below) located throughout the region provide strong fundamentals for business owners and entrepreneurs seeking to expand their operational knowledge base.


Whatever your industry, whatever your need, you'll find the resources in the Madison Region.

Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest Now Accepting Entries

The Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest - the nation's first statewide, tech-based business plan competition - is accepting entries online for the 2008 competition. Entries will be accepted now through 5 p.m. Jan. 31, 2008. The contest's Grand Prize is worth $50,000 in cash and services. For their initial entry, contestants will submit 250-word idea abstracts online at www.govsbizplancontest.com. Contestants who advance to subsequent contest rounds will have the opportunity to expand their plan or idea.