“It’s not just a conference where you sit and listen in,” UW-Madison Associate Dean Oliver Schmitz tells co-hosts Kate Bruns and Ann Franz on this week’s episode of NEW Manufacturing Insights, on which he talks about the university’s vision behind creating the Wisconsin Drives Manufacturing Summit, which will be held June 1-2 at Lambeau Field.
Schmitz says the new event is designed to be hands-on, participatory and, most importantly, help bridge the gap between industry and academia.
Speaking on this episode of the podcast, Schmitz tells Bruns and Franz that increasing collaboration will benefit the entire Wisconsin manufacturing ecosystem by providing better access to grants and by helping campus innovations evolve to better meet manufacturers where they’re at. In addition, the opportunity to better engage the UW College of Engineering’s “product” — its students — also holds enormous appeal.
“This is the type of experience we don’t have otherwise at UW-Madison. Many students have now raised their hand and said this sounds really interesting, I want to be there,” he shares with the co-hosts.
Monday, June 1 will include an innovation showcase from 3 to 6 p.m., then the event will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 2. Insight Publisher Angela O’Kray will moderate a fireside chat on perspectives for new manufacturing frontiers and workforce excellence at 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday; Franz will moderate an afternoon panel. Both Insight and NEWMA are supporting partners of the event.
The NEW Manufacturing Insights podcast is sponsored by Stoke RGA throughout 2026 and is produced by Woodward Community Media. NEW Manufacturing Insights is free and available everywhere you listen to audio podcasts. New episodes are released on Thursdays.
