These 2023 Fire Award winners are heating up Wisconsin's tech scene

Generative artificial intelligence has been a dominant technology in 2023, and that was reflected in the winners of this year's Wisconsin Inno Fire Awards. As the region's innovation ecosystem continues to gain steam, many local companies and organizations are focused on leveraging AI.

Now in its sixth year, the Fire Awards is a program of the Milwaukee Business Journal's sister publication, Wisconsin Inno. It honors individuals, companies and organizations across the state that are setting the area's technology ecosystem ablaze.

MORE: Inno on Fire: 2023 Fire Awards

We didn't set out to specifically focus on AI for this year's awards, but three out of four of the winners happen to be working in the space — a testament to the power and promise of AI within Wisconsin's technology and business sectors.

To select the 2023 honorees, Wisconsin Inno and the Milwaukee Business Journal publicly solicited nominations across five categories. Our editorial team then narrowed the pool to three categories — emerging technology, ecosystem supporters and 'Inno picks' — and chose 15 finalists. Finally, two outside judges — Wisconsin Technology Council president Tom Still and Milwaukee entrepreneur and business executive Kyle Weatherly — assisted in choosing the winners.

Meet the four winners on the following pages. We've lightly edited their responses for clarity and length.

7Rivers Inc.

Led by veteran tech entrepreneur Paul Stillmank, 7Rivers publicly launched this year and has already grown to 25 employees, raised $4 million and acquired the performance management consultancy PerformanceG2 Inc. The startup uses AI and machine learning to help companies leverage their data.

Stillmank previously founded and led the Salesforce consulting firm 7Summits, which he sold to IBM in early 2021.

In one sentence, describe what you do: "7Rivers specializes in helping companies to identify augmented enterprise objectives that tie directly to their own business objectives, and then leverages data, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to deliver high-value business solutions."

Biggest 2023 accomplishment: "7Rivers’ greatest accomplishment was our amazing startup story: from securing a $4 million capital round, to launching our business in August, to announcing our partnership with Snowflake Inc., to successfully acquiring the PerformanceG2 business, to now having the chance to innovate with multiple amazing Fortune companies."

Goal for 2024: "Our goal is to continue to expand our AI-driven solutions into new markets by focusing on what we refer to as the five core business spheres of every company: their customers, their partners, their employees, their products and their operations. We will do this by leveraging our Data Native model to unlock business value through AI-infused solutions, data collaborations and by further integrating large language models to offer more intuitive and intelligent experiences throughout our customers’ businesses."

What's your company’s vision and the biggest obstacle you face in accomplishing it?: "Our vision is to be at the forefront of AI innovation, making AI accessible and beneficial for all business sectors. Our biggest obstacle is navigating the rapidly evolving tech landscape while ensuring ethical use and public trust in AI technologies."

Wisconsin’s technology ecosystem is: "Dynamic. I think that Wisconsin’s technology ecosystem is further marked by a growing number of innovative startups, supportive policy frameworks, a willingness to invest and a collaborative community driving technological advancement and economic growth. Wisconsin can and will ascend to a new level of prowess during this transformative time of artificial intelligence."

Adam Aerospace Co. LLC

Adam Aerospace Co. is a blockchain-based data verification software firm that has won three Air Force and Space Force contracts in the last few years. With the latest contract won in 2023, the company is looking to expand its development team. It currently has 10 employees, is generating revenue and is profitable, the company's founder and CEO Michael Adam said.

Adam was a Milwaukee Business Journal 40 Under 40 winner in 2019, when he was building another blockchain-enabled startup. He quickly wound down that company and pivoted to what is now Adam Aerospace.

In one sentence, describe what you do: "We create next-generation data verification and AI software for the United States Department of Defense, protecting the world's most critical assets."

Biggest 2023 accomplishment: "In 2023, Adam Aerospace successfully completed its first Air Force Innovation contract and won two additional contracts, including a coveted Direct to Phase II contract, which serves the U.S. Air Force, Space Force and Air National Guard. These contracts prove that Adam's core technology offerings are powerful and can be used across departments and use cases."

Goal for 2024: "Adam is growing fast and adding to our team. In 2024, we would like to add at least five full-stack developers to our team as well as other key individuals. This will directly have an impact on our road to becoming the next big prime defense contractor here in Wisconsin."

What's the company’s vision and the biggest obstacle faced in accomplishing it? "Adam Aerospace produces software solutions that have a clear impact on our national security. Our vision is to see our proprietary data verification process become a worldwide protocol that ensures data accuracy, provenance and auditability. The biggest obstacle standing in the way of this grand vision is working to get multiple stakeholders on the same page."

Wisconsin’s technology ecosystem is: "In a unique position to become the Midwest tech hub for the future of aerospace and defense."

Milwaukee School of Engineering graduate programs in machine learning

MSOE this year expanded its graduate-level offerings by launching a master of science in machine learning program to help prepare students for in-demand jobs in machine learning, AI and data. It has nearly 30 students enrolled and has additional students in its graduate certificate programs.

The university has historical expertise in AI, with one of its most prominent alumni being Dwight Diercks, the senior vice president of software engineering at the California-based AI computing giant NVIDIA Corp. In 2018, Diercks donated $34 million to build a new computer science building at MSOE that features an NVIDIA GPU-powered supercomputer. 

The following responses are from MSOE electrical engineering and computer science associate professor RJ Nowling.

Describe the program in one sentence: "We offer a technical program for technical people who want to use machine learning models in user-facing services and products."

Biggest 2023 accomplishment: "Ensuring that our curriculum is exceedingly relevant to industry needs. There are quite a few data science and machine learning programs, but most of those programs focus purely on the work of the data scientist. At the end of the day, models are only useful if they are incorporated into products and services.

"Our master's in machine learning is fortunate to have multiple faculty with industry experience who have designed and taught courses that address the challenges when incorporating models into new or existing technical systems. Our program prepares our graduates for roles not only as data scientists but as machine learning engineers and data engineers."

Goal for 2024: "Our goal is to be the premier program in applied AI for students who are focused on obtaining advanced industry roles."

What's the program’s vision and the biggest obstacle faced in accomplishing it? "MSOE is known for its high-quality undergraduate programs, but we are often not the first institution someone has in mind when considering a master's degree. We're seeking to change that. We are especially indebted to corporate partners like Direct Supply and Milwaukee Tool who placed their trust in us as we started this program and provided some of our first students."

Wisconsin’s technology ecosystem is: "Flourishing. We interact with a number of Wisconsin-based businesses and are witness to their work in the AI space. We are continually amazed by what they are accomplishing. We want to make sure that these businesses have the human resources needed to achieve their plans."

NVNG Investment Advisors LLC

NVNG Investment Advisors, whose firm name stands for "nothing ventured, nothing gained," invests in venture capital funds on behalf of clients including Baird, Exact Sciences, Johnson Financial Group and other major Wisconsin-based corporations and institutions. In doing so, it seeks to expose VCs across the country to Wisconsin-based startups.

The firm in October brought dozens of venture capitalists from across the county to Milwaukee for its +Venture North event at the new Walker's Point headquarters of locally based manufacturer Rite-Hite. The event gave local startups and corporations unprecedented exposure to out-of-state investors.

The following responses are from NVNG managing directors Grady Buchanan and Carrie Thome.

In one sentence, describe what you do: "NVNG is a boutique investment firm that leverages experience and the depth of networks to craft innovative portfolios in the venture capital asset class."

Biggest 2023 accomplishment: "NVNG created and hosted our +Venture North event, which marked the firm’s 'coming out' party, in a way. The event centered on the strategic uses of venture capital and included VCs and corporate speakers. It served as a great introduction to Wisconsin for many in NVNG’s network of venture capitalists. The invite-only event saw more than 275 registered attendees from 17 states and three countries, and from 211 unique organizations, more than 90 of which were venture capitalists.

"We’re also energized by the support and capital from local corporations and leading institutions throughout the state in our first fund. We’ve made 12 fund investments and one direct startup investment to date, with more to come."

Goal for 2024: "We’re looking forward to completing the investment of our first fund and continuing to invest in venture capital managers interested in supporting Wisconsin. We’re also excited about establishing our direct investment arm and co-investment into Wisconsin-based startup companies. Beyond that, we’ll be planning for +Venture North 2024 and strategizing for future NVNG funds."

What's your firm’s vision and the biggest obstacle you face in accomplishing it?: "Our vision is to make Wisconsin’s startup ecosystem globally competitive. Wisconsin already has working groups, communities and those dedicated to supporting this vision. The biggest obstacle has been bringing it all together, working as one collective unit and getting us all rowing in the same direction. We’ll all do better when we embrace the concept that this is about increasing the pie, not fighting for a fixed pie."

Wisconsin’s technology ecosystem is: "Still moving forward. The market is in transition, with new venture funds and innovative startup companies having launched here in just the past few years. We need to move the needle by level-setting where we are and where we’d like to go as an ecosystem, and we see NVNG’s role as helping to bring insights, education and capital to those building throughout Wisconsin."