February 2007 Issue
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Dear Reader,
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"Real" winter has finally arrived and it's also an exciting time of the year for those of us in the economic development field. The state budget will soon be introduced by Governor Doyle and a healthy debate will take place at the Capitol over the next five months on how to make Wisconsin's economy better over the next two years and into the future.

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For the second straight year, Wisconsin was selected to the economic honor roll in the annual report card of the states compiled by the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a national economic development organization. Wisconsin was among only six states to earn this honor in 2007. In the study, Wisconsin earned an “A” for economic performance, a “B” for business vitality and a “B” for development capacity. The Economic Performance index includes measures such as earnings and job quality, equity, and quality of life.
LOIS
The LocationOne Information System (LOIS) software tool used to power Wisconsin's Internet-based, available building and site database, is getting very good reviews. In November, we surveyed all the folks in Wisconsin communities that work with the system as part of their duties - what we call LOIS Administrators - and they had positive feedback.

Here are a few of the results of our survey. Eighty- five percent of users said that LOIS was very important or important to their organization's marketing effort. Seventy-two percent indicated that LOIS was easy-to-use and many offered their ideas for improvements to the database and the desire for additional training.

This year, LOIS will be undergoing more improvements and Wisconsin's available building and site database will become even more useful to communities and business prospects. Some of the improvements include adding a Google Map Integration, a Modify Date Feature to make sure listings are current, a Document Center to allow space for files affiliated with a listing, and a Photo Label area so users can add a caption under photos. If you want to learn more about LOIS and/or having LOIS training, please contact Sharon Seffrood at 608.261.2501 or via email.
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For readers that are a "little" older and those that can actually also remember 1974, you may recall the Top Ten Hit by Dave Loggins (the cousin of better-known Kenny Loggins) that began with the words "please come to Boston in the springtime, I'm stayin' here with some friends and they've got lots of room . . ." Well, we can relate to that song a bit.

Forward Wisconsin "has lots of room" as well for our springtime trip to Boston this year when we will be attending BIO 2007, the world's largest biotechnology conference. On May 6-9, about 20,000 industry leaders will gather at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, and Wisconsin will have a large presence during the conference.

A 1600-square-foot exhibit pavilion (May 7-9) will highlight Wisconsin's biotech marketing effort and we still have some room for you to promote your organization as we promote the State of Wisconsin as a top location for biotech investment, firms and talent. In addition, a Wisconsin reception will take place on Monday evening, May 7 near the Boston Harbor that will include many biotech and venture capital professionals from across the world. A limited number of sponsorship opportunities still remain. If you want to learn more about Wisconsin's initiative at BIO 2007, please contact Jan Alf at 262.691.7873 or via email.
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We often get asked about what factors corporate leaders and site selection consultants consider when they are making a business-location decision and how much weight they put upon them. While economic development professionals will agree that each business project is different, there are common factors that emerge time and time again in most business-location decisions.

For the past 21 years, Area Development magazine has surveyed top executives with manufacturing firms and asked them what their priorities are when they make business location decisions. For the past three years, the publication has also done a similar survey for business consultants that work in the area of corporate location. To view the results of the two surveys that appear in Area Development's December 2006/January 2007 issue, you can click below:
January 2007 was the best month ever for ForwardWI.com. The current version of our web site has been in operation since October 2004, and until this past month, the site had never exceeded 7,000 unique visitors in a calendar month. The January 2007 statistics for ForwardWI.com include 7,320 unique visitors, 10,632 visits and 289,224 hits.
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Our three featured partners for the month are Madison-based CUNA Mutual Group, Durand Builders (Durand) and Forward Janesville (nice name!). The CUNA Mutual Group is the leading provider of financial services to credit unions and their members worldwide, offering lending, protection, financial, employee and member solutions through strategic partnerships, technological innovations and multiple service channels. Durand Builders is northwest Wisconsin's full service design/build general contractor, balancing system requirements, timeframes, growth plans, budgets, and financing issues for their industrial clients. Forward Janesville leads private sector economic and community development efforts to ensure the continued health and prosperity of business and industry in Janesville. We appreciate their support and the support of all our partners!

As Forward Wisconsin looks ahead, we have been reaching out to more partners to collaborate on projects that serve a common purpose. For example, over the past month, I have met with the leadership of several state agencies and statewide associations to find how we can work together even more than we do now.

You can never have too many partners and we appreciate your partnership.

Thank you,

 PepiSignature
Pepi Randolph
Forward Wisconsin

Phone: 608.261.2500

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This email was sent to scott.reigstad@wisconsin.gov, by scott.reigstad@wisconsin.gov
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