Regardless of how you feel about him personally, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had a point when he said you should “never let a serious crisis go to waste.”

While most people are familiar with his controversial quotation, not as many are aware of its second sentence: “And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” That approach is exactly what a number of Wisconsin’s economic development organizations are doing to seek out growth during the past few years.

Cautiously optimistic

According to Sean Robbins, executive vice president of Thrive, the economic development organization representing the eight-county Madison region and the platinum winner for Best Economic Development Agency in Corporate Report Wisconsin’s 2010 Best of Wisconsin Business Awards, the Thrive region has a number of initiatives and projects going on that indicate forward economic momentum.

“If I had to characterize my views, I would call them ‘cautiously optimistic,’” he says. “There are projects in our region, such as the St. Mary’s Hospital project in Janesville, that indicate things are on the right track. Health care and similar types of investments are critical for that community right now.”

He also points to Madison’s BioAg Gateway as a strongly positive development for the region.

“This development recently received a $4.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration and the city of Madison stepped up as well,” says Robbins. “This project is now on track to move forward and we have already had contact from interested businesses because of the synergy that will happen at the BioAg Gateway.”

As planned, the BioAg Gateway will include space and equipment on the forefront of crop science research and commercialization. A secure, state-of-the art facility, BioLink is expected to be a research catalyst, with controlled environment agriculture manufacturing growth chambers, a plant science BSL II greenhouse and pilot processing biotechnology lab capabilities.

“We’ve also had positive reinforcement in other ways, such as Virent Energy Systems’ recent ability to secure $46.4 million in its third round of funding,” he says.

Re-thinking efforts

In some areas of the state, the downshift in traditional economic development has given agencies the opportunity to develop new strategies.

“The current economy has actually given us a little time to try out different, neat things,” says Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation President Brenda Hicks-Sorensen. “We’ve been talking with some second-stage companies that have growth potential in our area, so that’s a focus for our next step.”

The Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corp., another 2010 BOWBA winner, has been using the Impact! economic gardening program since October 2009.

The term economic gardening means growing the economy from within. It is a model based on the idea that entrepreneurs at all levels of a business life-cycle drive economies. The program creates jobs by supporting existing companies in a community. Economic gardening works by providing access to technology for finding or expanding sales opportunities, creating supply chain efficiencies and understanding competition.

Thrive has used the recent economic downtime to pursue the development of a new online data sharing tool, Synchronist, to support a regional business retention and expansion program.

“Up until now, we used technology from the 1950s — a paper survey — to collect this data,” says Robbins. “We have every county and many major municipalities on board in the Thrive region.”

Robbins says that Synchronist allows for online uploading of data, which allows for much faster analysis.

“We can identify sectors and companies far in advance of what we’ve been able to in the past,” says Robbins. “We can flag companies and whole sectors for that matter, and get in to help companies long before we receive a layoff notice from the Department of Workforce Development.”

Moreover, this type of collaboration is not something that has really been seen in the past.

“This project really has brought everyone to the table,” says Robbins. “In the past, a business in Dane County may not have been as interested in what is going on in Rock County and vice versa, but now we have the same shared interest in business retention. During the past few years, we’ve gotten a lot smarter about how we approach things.”

A fortunate status quo

Some areas and regions of the state haven’t had as significant of an economic impact as others.

“We were very fortunate in that we haven’t experienced the same type of downturn that some other areas and regions have during the past few years,” says FCEDC’s Hicks-Sorensen. “For example, in 2009, we assisted 235 clients, which was an increase of 26 percent over the previous year. And as of a few months ago, we’ve already reached 140 clients.”

She says there’s been a lot of recent tire kicking in her county.

“It would be nice to see a little more activity,” she admits. “So many people are still doing OK and they’re waiting things out, thinking, ‘Gosh, it’s going to continue. But there’s a point where things do need to start happening.”

Another area of the state that has the relatively good fortune of being able to wait the economic downturn out is the St. Croix Region. 

“While I would definitely say we’re looking at a long walk back in terms of the economy, I am buoyed by what we have recently been seeing,” says Bill Rubin, executive director of the St. Croix Economic Development Corporation. “Because of where we’re located, we’re very tied to the health of the Twin Cities metro area. As goes the Twin Cities, so goes the St. Croix Valley.”

Seeking answers

As for the future, there may be more direction to be found within a month or so when the results of a new study addressing what Wisconsin can do to become more economically competitive in the future.

“The Competitiveness and Positioning Study will bring an independent third party view to how Wisconsin can grow investment, jobs and incomes in Wisconsin,“ says Brian Doudna, president of the Wisconsin Economic Development Association and the executive director of the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corp.

Doudna says the study is unique. “It considers how Wisconsin fits into the global economy and what services, organizations, programs and policies need to be aligned to ensure our economy advances faster than surrounding Midwestern states,” he explains.“The study will analyze specific industries clusters during a business lifecycle to identify opportunities for Wisconsin to advance programs initiatives. “

WEDA, Competitive Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Counties Association are the study’s founding partners with the charitable research foundation Wisconsin Economic Development Institute as the fiscal and contracting organization. The results of the study are expected to be released by mid-July.

By Laurie Arendt

Laurie Arendt is editor of CRW. She can be reached at crweditor@crwmag.com

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