RACINE -The Center for Advanced Technology & Innovation announced today that Alliance Enterprises of SE Wisconsin, LLC is constructing a production plant at CATI Inc.

The plant will be used for the research and development of Benelact, a new, healthy dairy ingredient based on patented technology licensed from CATI.

Its headquarters will be the CATI Center, a business incubator and education facility founded in 2003 through a partnership with Gateway Technical College and CATI Inc.

Besides being used for research and development, the new plant will be used for initial production of Benelact, according to Brandon Malacara, dairy marketing director for Alliance Enterprises.

According to CATI, Benelact was launched in 2007 in response to increased consumer demand for healthy, tasty food options. The Benelact process removes up to 80 percent of cholesterol and saturated fat from milk, resulting in a healthier product that can function as milk in a variety of food products.

"Benelact will be marketed primarily to manufacturers in the dairy and bakery markets as an ingredient to drive healthy consumer options while still retaining the taste, texture and consistency that consumers desire," Malacara stated.

In May 2006 CATI Inc. licensed the proprietary process, today known as Benelact, to Alliance Enterprises. According to CATI, the all-natural process extracts cholesterol from milk to create a healthy milk ingredient without altering the taste, texture, or properties of the milk.

CATI Executive Director Matt Wagner said the technology was originally developed by Kraft Foods and donated to CATI, Inc. Wagner said Alliance will bring a commercially viable product to market, while creating economic growth here, by using an underutilized patent from private industry.

The project represents an estimated $1.5 million investment and up to eight new jobs initially, he said.

Bryan Albrecht, president of Gateway Technical College, said Gateway, University of Wisconsin-Parkside and area high school students will have an opportunity to work side-by-side with researchers and engineers from Alliance on "real-world applications of new products and technologies."

"The Alliance partnership is exactly what the facility was designed to do."

CATI Inc. was founded in 2001. Its strategy is to license underutilized patents from the private sector to start new businesses in Southeastern Wisconsin. CATI manages a $35 million patent portfolio from partnerships with global firms such as SC Johnson, Kraft, Boeing and ISP. For its efforts, CATI has received international recognition in technology-based economic development as a 2006 and 2007 International Economic Development Council award winner.