The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery is a public-private research and outreach partnership that is located in the Discovery Building on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. It consists of two institutions: the privately funded Morgridge Institute for Research, and the publicly funded Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. Both institutes opened in 2010.[1] The publicly funded institute is headed by Jo Handelsman,[2] and the privately funded institute is led by chief executive officer Brad Schwartz.[3]
Both institutes are housed in the same facility, the ground floor of which serves as a "town center", providing several small and large meeting and collaboration areas and variety of dining options. This town center design is based on the philosophies presented in the Wisconsin Idea.[4] Above the town center on the ground floor, the building has three floors of modular, non-traditional research and lab space, designed to promote collaboration amongst researchers.[4] The building is also designed using green techniques, and is expected to use 50% less energy and water than the next most recent research building on the UW–Madison campus.[4]