As Director of the UWM Prototyping Center, Kyle Jansson has a mission with far-reaching effects: support the Southeast Wisconsin entrepreneurship system. In practice, that means helping founders, faculty, clinicians, and students transform promising ideas into tangible, testable products—and guiding them along the complex journey to market.

Jansson isn’t just an engineer. He’s a coach, connector, and co‑founder—most notably of RoddyMedical, a UWMRF-supported startup focused on patient safety. His multi-faceted lens shapes a Center that is both hands-on and holistic: a place where people learn to make a product and what it takes to build a business around it.

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More Than a Machine Shop: “Are We Making the Right It?”

The name “Prototyping Center” suggests fabrication; Jansson’s team excels at that. But he argues the bigger value is upstream: helping people prove they’re building the right thing for the right customer.

“A lot of clients start with, ‘Can you 3D print 100 of these by Friday?’ We back up. Who’s the customer? What environment will it live in? Who’s the competition? What regulations apply? Are we making the right it?”

That often means slowing down to speed up: defining requirements, mapping regulatory pathways, and pressure-testing assumptions through customer discovery. For those new to the process, the Center meets them where they are.

“We work mostly with non-engineers and non-technical people. It shouldn’t be intimidating. We’ll help define requirements, translate tradeoffs, and make sure decisions serve the customer.”

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How to Engage: An Open Door & High-Touch Support

Jansson’s message to the UWM community is simple: “Come talk to us.” Whether you’re faculty, staff, or a student with a seed of an idea, a consult can clarify the path. The Center operates as an embedded product development team and job shop, complementing UWM’s research expertise with design-for-manufacturability, materials, processes, testing, and iteration.

Their location at the UWM Innovation Accelerator in Wauwatosa is intentional: steps from Children’s Wisconsin, the Medical College of Wisconsin, and Froedtert. It’s a hub for “accidental collisions” among clinicians, researchers, and founders—conversations that spark collaboration and solutions.

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From Insight to Iteration: PerryMedical

One recent UWM project illustrates the Center’s approach: a bariatric patient-movement solution developed with founder William Perry of UWMRF-backed PerryMedical.

Starting with no funding, the Center team helped secure grants, led interviews with EMTs, mapped requirements, and iterated prototypes with end users. When the project required specialized soft-goods expertise, they sourced a fabrication partner for a pilot run.

The result? A solution that was not only functional but looked legitimate with trustworthy operation. As the pilot units arrived, users were ecstatic: faster, safer, and ready to make an impact.

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Projects That Move the Needle

Jansson loves the variety (80+ projects a year) but he especially lights up when a team comes in with an early-stage idea and real commitment: a clear problem, a defined customer, a complementary team, and enough runway to iterate, test, and refine toward manufacturable reality.

“My favorite projects end in tears of joy. When someone holds the thing they’ve dreamed of for years—and it’s real. That’s what gets me out of bed.”

The Center focuses on early, high-leverage milestones to create a proper initial minimum viable product (average project ≈$4,000) that help founders pitch, validate, and secure the next tranche of funding.

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An Engine for Milwaukee’s Innovation Ecosystem

Beyond the prototypes that hit production, Jansson sees a larger regional impact in the hundreds of founders he meets, mentors, and facilitates connections with (165 last year alone).

“We’re fostering networks—introductions to grant writers, customer discovery programs, investors, potential co-founders. We help people identify and tackle their biggest risk first. That changes trajectories.”

The Center has become a driving force in Milwaukee’s innovation ecosystem—lowering barriers, de-risking ventures, and catalyzing local talent and capital.

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Founder & Mentor: Lessons from the Trenches

As a startup founder and a mentor in the UWM ENGAGE program, Jansson draws on lived experience beyond product development and manufacturing expertise: fundraising, patents, quality systems, regulatory, and the countless “no’s” that precede a “yes.”

“Early on, I realized my clients weren’t in Fortune 500s with an appropriate $250,000 budget ready to go for what they were seeking to accomplish. Now, I suggest they find ways of spending other people’s money wisely through grants received via customer discovery programs, or upon equity investments based on derisking their company and achieving staged milestones.”

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Recharging the Maker Mind

Jansson stays energized through activities that combine creativity, challenge, and reflection:

Maker Faire Milwaukee: This annual event celebrates innovation and hands-on creativity—from robotics and sound art to jewelry-making and 3D printing.

Make48 Hackathons: As a volunteer tool tech and mentor, Jansson helps teams turn a design challenge into a working prototype and pitch—all within 48 hours.

Road Cycling: Long rides give Jansson space to think. “My most innovative breakthroughs happen away from the problem 40 miles out on a county road—thanks to mindless motion to facilitate the environment to let the subconscious mind to do its best work.”

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Connect with the UWM Prototyping Center

If you’re in the UWM community—or anywhere in Southeast Wisconsin—with a problem worth solving, reach out to the UWM Prototyping Center.

Bring your question marks. Leave with a plan, a prototype roadmap, and the right next step.