|
|||
 |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||
The Joint Finance Committee met on May 22nd in
executive session with the Commerce and Forward
Wisconsin economic development marketing
proposals on their agenda. There were two proposals
pertaining to business marketing that have a direct
impact on Forward Wisconsin. The first item was the
continuation of Forward Wisconsin's state GPR
(general purpose revenue) funding at the current
$320,000 level annually for the next biennium that runs
from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2009. The second
item was Governor Doyle's recommendation of an
added $590,000 state GPR funding annually and 2
full-time positions for economic development
promotion within Commerce.
The Joint Finance Committee approved the
continuation of Forward Wisconsin's state GPR
funding at the current $320,000 level for the next
biennium. However, the Committee did not adopt the
specific Governor's recommendation of the added
dollars and positions for Commerce. Instead, the
Joint Finance Committee approved a motion, on a
16-0 vote, that modified the Governor's proposal for
the added $590,000 annually and 2 positions for
Commerce.
The approved motion places $750,000 GPR in the
Joint Finance Committee's supplemental GPR
appropriation. The intent is to use $50,000 of that
$750,000 in the 2007-08 fiscal year (July 1, 2007
through June 30, 2008) for Commerce and Forward
Wisconsin to develop a plan, within six months after
the release of the funds, for how best to use the
remaining $700,000 to attract business to
Wisconsin/market the state. While no specific process
in developing the plan was established, if the plan is
okayed, the Joint Finance Committee would then have
the authority to release $700,000 to Commerce and
Forward Wisconsin to do business attraction
marketing in the 2008-09 fiscal year (the earliest those
funds could be released is July 2008).
|
||||
|
||||
|
||
The state's number one "Bio Booster", Governor Jim
Doyle, led a Wisconsin delegation of over 150 people
into the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center for
BIO 2007 on
May 6-9 - and it ended up being quite a show. The
busiest day for the Badger contingent was
Monday, May 7th, the first day of the exhibition.
Wisconsin Department of Commerce Secretary Mary
Burke officially opened the 1600-square-foot
Wisconsin tradeshow pavilion that morning and
once
she cut the ribbon, we were off to the races. The
BioTheater opened soon after the
ribbon-cutting as eight companies did Monday
presentations in the Wisconsin pavilion.
Monday's exhibit floor activities were wrapped up with
appearances by Governor Doyle and former U.S.
Ambassador to Norway Tom Loftus. The
world-leading expert on avian flu,
Yoshi Kawaoka, made a fascinating presentation
as well and then the Wisconsin delegation was off to
an evening reception at the Boston Harbor Hotel,
sponsored by Quarles & Brady. The Monday evening
event - again featuring remarks from Governor Doyle,
Tom Loftus and Yoshi Kawaoka - included not only the
Wisconsin group but many key biotech leaders from
across the country, including one guest that Forward
Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Department of
Commerce are currently working with to potentially
locate a facility in the state.
Tuesday and Wednesday at the world's largest
biotechnology conference featured additional
Wisconsin company presentations and strong traffic
within the Wisconsin pavilion. In addition to Secretary
Burke, Ag Secretary Rod Nilsestuen and DFI
Secretary Lorrie Keating-Heineman pitched in to
bolster Wisconsin's marketing effort. With the
combined efforts of over 60 Wisconsin organizations and
partners, the state made a strong showing at BIO
2007. Forward Wisconsin wishes to thank everyone
that worked to make Wisconsin's appearance at BIO
2007 a success.
|
||
|
|
||
Prior to and during the BIO 2007 conference, Forward
Wisconsin conducted a mini-marketing mission and
met with several Boston area corporate executives.
The groundwork for the initiative was put together by
mailing 300 letters from Governor Doyle to large
manufacturing and biotechnology firms requesting
appointments to tout Wisconsin's business climate.
We also mailed letters from Forward Wisconsin to
15 "headquarter" companies - companies
headquartered in the Boston area that have facilities in
Wisconsin.
The mini-marketing mission generated one good
lead for Wisconsin and we are following up on that
currently. In addition, the four headquarter company
meetings we held gave us the opportunity to
thank those business people for creating jobs and
investing in Wisconsin. It also provided a chance
for us to ask them about their perceptions on doing
business in our state. The firms included two
food-related companies, a plastics firm, and a
minerals business. Other than voicing the
occasional challenge of getting workers - a common
issue among many manufacturers throughout the
country - there were nothing but positive comments
made regarding doing business in Wisconsin by the
business executives of the headquarter companies.
A common theme throughout these meetings was the
mention of the strong work ethic and productivity of
Wisconsin workers. In fact, one company had to
consolidate its Florida and Wisconsin facilities and
decided to do so in Wisconsin, primarily because of
the great workers and their productivity here. Another
said they would author a quote for use by Forward
Wisconsin about how great it was doing business in
the state. Wisconsin business tax rates were not
mentioned in any of the conversations as being an
obstacle, which was not entirely surprising, given that
Massachusetts has higher business taxes than
Wisconsin.
|
||
|
|
||
Going to Vegas rarely sounds like a bad idea,
although Forward Wisconsin's Jan Alf did encounter
temperatures close to the triple digits when she was
there on May 20-23 for the International Council of
Shopping Centers (ICSC) Spring Convention.
The ICSC is the global trade association of the
shopping center industry and its Spring Convention
brought together about 35,000 developers, owners,
retailers and lenders. Given that Forward Wisconsin
seldom works in the retail area, why are we attending
a convention dealing with shopping centers? Well, we
saw a couple of good reasons for attending the event.
For one, the real estate executives, developers and
consultants at the ICSC events often also work in
locating commercial and industrial businesses.
These individuals cross over into multiple areas of
development and are a good target for Wisconsin
marketing efforts. In addition, Forward Wisconsin had
not attended this event for many years and several of
our partners thought it was a good idea to go and
figure out if it was worth going to again in the future.
Finally, there was a significant group of
Wisconsin-based real estate and construction
business people that attended and it gave us an
opportunity to develop better relationships with
them and perhaps even get them to sponsor possible
future marketing efforts at ICSC.
|
||
|
|
||
Wisconsin's business sector is primarily made up of
small and medium-sized companies and we
sometimes tend to think that the largest of the largest
firms are located in other states. Yet, this perception
is not entirely accurate and the recent Fortune 500 list -
an annual ranking of America's largest corporations -
illustrates Wisconsin's strong standing as a location
for big businesses.
Wisconsin firms captured nine slots on the Fortune
500 list and twenty four on the Fortune 1000 list. Eight
of the Wisconsin Fortune 500 companies were
located in the Milwaukee area with one in Madison.
When looking strictly at cities, Milwaukee has six
Fortune 500 businesses. That puts Milwaukee ahead
of Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Antonio and Fort
Worth on the list.
|
||
|
|
||
Our three featured partners for the month are the
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF),
Wisconsin Biotechnology and Medical Device
Association (WBMA) and the Wisconsin Economic
Development Association (WEDA). WARF, founded in
1925, patents inventions arising from UW-Madison
research, licenses the technologies to companies for
commercialization, and returns the licensing income
to the UW-Madison to support further scientific
endeavors. WBMA, founded
in 1987, is a statewide association of business,
science, education and government leaders dedicated
to promoting the growth of the life science industry in
Wisconsin. WEDA,
founded in 1975, is a statewide non-profit organization
dedicated to expanding the economy of the State of
Wisconsin. We appreciate their support and the
support of all our partners!
|
||
|
|
|
|
Thank you for your ongoing support.
 Jan Alf, Interim Director
Forward Wisconsin
Email:
jalf@execpc.com
Phone:
262.691.7873
Website:
http://www.forwardwi.com
|
|
