MILWAUKEE – A talented line-up of finalists in the seventh annual Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest will compete for the contest’s top cash and in-kind prizes Tuesday during the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference at The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee.

To attend the competition and register for the conference, go to: http://www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com/events/ent_conf/

Contestants listed below will present beginning 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Pfister, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave., and ending just before the evening reception. About $200,000 in cash and in-kind prizes will be awarded to those contestants and 13 other finalists. Winners will be announced at Wednesday’s conference luncheon. Wisconsin Commerce Secretary Aaron Olver will speak.

Ankit Agarwal, ImBed Biosciences                                           Life Sciences

Jim Blair, FlexTec Managed Virtual Network                           Information Technology

Kristin Benson Ellsworth, Peeps Eyewear                                 Business Services

Patrick Heaney, NCD Technologies                                          Advanced Manufacturing

Karl Holt, Aero-Stream Septic Remediation                              Advanced Manufacturing

Jim Maerzke, Lever Propelled DCD Wheelchair                       Advanced Manufacturing

Chris Meyer, Sector67                                                             Business Services

Don Noskowiak, Liveyearbook                                                Information Technology

Rishi Shah, Flying Cart LLC                                                     Business Services

Ryan Shepherd, PhylloTech                                                      Life Sciences

Nancy Sielaff, Population Manager                                           Information Technology

Joe Vosters, Friendly Bed Systems                                           Life Sciences

ImBed Biosciences is a biomedical systems company developing advanced materials for wound care and surgical applications. ImBed’s platform technology involves ultra-thin polymer coatings with precise loadings of silver nanoparticles that will enable manufacturing of unique antibacterial biologic wound dressings.

FlexTec Managed Virtual Network is a fully-managed virtual desktop infrastructure. FlexTec delivers robust cloud-computing based IT network services to businesses.

Peeps Eyewear designs and markets quality childrens’ optical frames and accessories, providing positive “first glasses” experiences for pre-school children who GET to wear glasses. The trademarked, optical frames, books and dress-up accessories are packaged in treasure boxes.

NCD Technologies has developed a new process for decreasing thickness and improving the adhesion of nanocrystalline diamond coatings to tungsten carbide, micro-end mills. This process creates significant improvements in cutting performance, afforded by NCD coatings, that are commercially viable.

Aero-Stream designs, manufactures and markets a patented, proven, environmentally beneficial product to maintain and restore septic systems.

Lever Propelled DCD Wheelchair uses the combination of linear to rotary motion conversion and levers to produce a user-powered wheelchair that is as capable as a battery powered wheelchair and more portable than a manually powered wheelchair.

Sector67 is a non‐profit center for technology, prototyping and advanced manufacturing (hacker space) providing tools, equipment, and member networking to people in the southern Wisconsin area interested in creating innovative technology and working with the community.

Liveyearbook is reinvigorating an iconic American institution, the school yearbook. Liveyearbook’s Software as a Service platform offers schools the editorial control they need and improved economics while letting students create custom yearbooks online and/or in traditional print formats that cover the entire year.

Flying Cart LLC is a subscription-based web application for the creation and management of online stores. Customers get their own store website with credit card processing, an administrative interface for managing products and orders, automated marketing tools, and full integration of Facebook so they can quickly find customers through friends and family.

PhylloTech is an agricultural biotechnology company that is developing broad-spectrum natural product fungicides for the environmentally-friendly control of plant pathogens. The core technology of PhylloTech is a family of antimicrobial proteins, termed phylloplanins, which are naturally secreted as defenses to plant leaf surfaces.

Population Manager is a software solution that supports an ongoing flow of health-care data. It is a web-based tool that provides physicians, hospitals and other health care stakeholders with structured views of quality measures that can be used to improve patient care, reduce costs and compare performance to evidence-based standards.

The Friendly Bed System consists of framework (over and under a bed) that accommodates a full range of optional features to improve the safety, mobility, and comfort of elderly and or disabled users.

All finalists have survived three rounds of judging in the contest organized through the Wisconsin Technology Council, which produces the contest in conjunction with the Wisconsin Innovation Network, the Wisconsin Angel Network and other statewide affiliates. The contest began in late January with 285 entries from about 100 communities.

This year’s contest sponsors: 5Nines/Matador Consulting; Aberdean Consulting LLC; American Transmission Co.; Associated Bank; Earth Information Technologies; Epiphany Law; Fitchburg Technology Campus; Foley & Lardner LLP; Frontier Airlines; The Gialamas Company; The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and Journal Interactive; Kollath & Associates, CPAs; The Luminis Group, Ltd.; Madison Area Technical College; Madison Gas & Electric Co.; McAllen TECH Campus; Michael Best & Friedrich LLP; Murphy Desmond; PercipEnz Technologies, Inc.; Perkins Coie; Quarles & Brady LLP; Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.; Ruedebusch Development & Construction; Rusk Prairie Group; Smith & Gesteland LLP; State of Wisconsin Investment Board; TDS Telecom; University Research Park; Wisconsin Department of Commerce; WisBusiness.com; Wisconsin Angel Network; Wisconsin Tech College System; Wisconsin Technology Council; WTN Media; and Xcel Energy.

Other highlights of the eighth annual Entrepreneurs’ Conference include:

The annual “Seize the Day” award luncheon on Tuesday, June 8. This year’s winner is Bill Linton, CEO and founder of Promega.

Headline speeches by Dave Berkus, past chairman of California’s Tech Coast Angels and one of the nation’s most prolific angel investors, who will also host a conference workshop; Eric Apfelbach, chief executive officer of ZBB Energy Corp. in Menomonee Falls; Sue Marks, founder and CEO of Brookfield-based Pinstripe Inc., a privately‐held, venture‐backed human resources and recruitment process outsourcing firm; and Robert Okabe, a veteran Chicago-area investor and managing director of RPX Group, where he leads the firm’s efforts to assist universities, research institutions and corporations in creating startups.

Nearly 20 panel discussions, workshops and special sessions under the “Pathways to Innovation” theme.

Plenty of chances to network over food and refreshments!

Register or learn more by visiting www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com/events/ent_conf.