In 2010 Sector67 got 2nd place and $7000 in the G. Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition and now its members and those it sponsors are now winning at all different business competitions.

In the Global Stewards Sustainability Prize Pure Water Trike won the mini plan prize of $15,000 and C-Motive Technologies also was a finalist and won $15,000

Eric Ronning won the Schoofs Prize for Creativity for his prosthetic hand made on a 3D printer called Manu Print. He won the top prize and $10,000. Eric also got 2nd place in the Tong Prototype Prize along with $1,250.

C-Motive Technologies came in 2nd in the G. Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition and won $6000 and Eric Ronning was a runner-up winning $250.

C-Motive Technologies also got 2nd place at the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest.

Sector67 sponsored the team behind The Polymaster who won Most Creative in the 100 Hour Challenge. Also Joe Powell who received Honorable Mentions from Judges on his Bike Wheel Wall Clock worked out at Sector67.

Congratulations to everyone!

Sector67′s business incubator is home to some interesting startups here in Madison. The business incubator is located in the back of Sector67 and provides a shared office environment that gives the business an opportunity to work with other startups and entrepreneurs along with access to the conference room and workspace. Here is a brief overview of the current companies in the incubator.

C-Motive Technologies is a high-tech startup focusing on power conversion technology R&D founded by three electrical engineering Ph.D. students from UW-Madison, Dan Ludois, Justin Reed, and Micah Erickson. C-Motive Technologies eliminates the need for rare earth materials in electric motors and generators along with creating a cheaper motor with higher efficiency. Other areas of focus include wireless power technologies, electric vehicle drive and storage technologies, modular multi-level power conversion for wind or solar farms, electromagnetic design, and smart-grid solutions.

 Binary Sprocket offers professional design and development services for WordPress and Drupal sites. Founded by Grant Dobbe and Chris Jernigan, Binary Sprocket provides a variety of services including programming, design (UX/UI), research and strategy, site optimization, security and protection, backup and server management, and a variety of other services.

Fractal is a program for school aged kids to learn about math, science, and technology through fun projects. During a session participants are given a handout with instructions and materials for a project they are to complete. Participants receive minimal instruction from the instructor and are encouraged to troubleshoot amongst their peers. Fractal was created by Heather Wentler to help kids build self-confidence and life skills through hands on and challenge based problems.

Madison SOUP

Madison SOUP is a micro-granting event which is part of The Sunday Soup Network. For a $10 admission participants enjoy a meal while 5 presenters with a variety of backgrounds such as local artists, entrepreneurs and activists pitch projects they would like to receive funding for in order to improve the Madison Community. Participants vote on which project they want to receive the micro-grant and the project with the most votes win.

Wuntusk is a small group of software professionals founded by Monty Schmidt that helps companies by building custom solutions. Wuntusk helps advise investors by evaluating technical merits of companies they wish to fund along with helping startups with software development.

Cycle Computing provides software tools and solutions to securely and optimally manage their HPC workflows such as engineering, simulation, rendering, testing, drug discovery, bioinformatics and finance applications  on in-house or cloud cluster.

Tak Tek

More information TBA

TreeCraft is a social enterprise combining urban timber, woodworking technology, and people founded by Mike Fisher. More information TBA.

For the July meeting 38 people stopped in to listen and share ideas and projects. This month’s presenters included:

Mike discussed ARM based motor controllers

Joe demonstrated his Hydrophobic Teflon experiment

Issac and Micah gave a summary of the PPPRS Kansas City races

Here’s a link to a video of the races.

Maker Faire KC 2012 Power Racing Series: Stop Breaking Down from Power Racing Series on Vimeo.

Alex talked about PPPRS motor controller

Peter presented a biomass/algae combustion

Heather made a Madison SOUP announcement

Joe made an announcement about 3D Printing Camp

MakerBot stopped by Sector67 to demonstrate their MakeBot Replicators. MakerBot has recently blogged about Sector67 so its only proper to repay the favor.

The Replicators and a bunch of cool things you can make with them

Davy created a mini replica of his home using the 3D printers at Sector67 and a larger version using the MakerBot Replicator.

Cool party trick: Tilt your 3D printer sideways while you’re printing and it won’t affect the printing process at all.

This past Sunday (June 24th) the Wisconsin State Journal business section covered the Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Bootcamp where Sector67 founder and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp Alumni, Chris Meyer attended and was a luncheon speaker. The Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Bootcamp is an opportunity for UW-Madison graduate students to learn the basics of the business world and meet many interesting and successful people. Click here to read the full article.

Congrats to everyone who participated in making Sector67′s Fauxrrari this years winning car in the Power Racing Series at Kansas City. The team survived the heat and the various obstacles that come when children’s toys are used in ways they were not made to be used such as things breaking down and cut knees. Despite all this, the team came out victorious and even set a new lap time record.

Sector67 tows their own car around the track.

Check out this video of all the action that happened at Kansas City brought to you by the Power Racing Series.

One of the latest projects at Sector67 reaches out to the community helping out F.H. King students is using a BLINK art grant to create a portable chicken coop. The project was brought here on bicycle and worked on outside the building using Sector67′s tools. Now the chickens have a practical, stylish ride to get around the city.

A side view of the chicken coop before it was completed.

The inside of the completed chicken coop with the roosting posts and door for collecting eggs.

The completed coop

The Power Racing Series is where engineering meets childhood dreams meets fun. Every year people from all over the country gather at Maker Faires in Kansas City, Detroit and Chicago to race these souped up childhood toys in front of a cheering audience. The challenge is to create a working electric vehicle for less than $500 using open source tools and technology. The goal of these annual events is to make engineering entertaining and approachable along with advancing technology education and encouraging people to try new things. Sector67 is currently the reigning champions and is returning to compete in their 2nd competition this summer.  For more information on how to get involved see the Power Series Racing website.