At Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. , CEO Missy Hughes sees 2023 as a year for state-owned businesses, locally and globally.
In an interview scheduled for last December, Hughes revealed some big successes for the state. One of them is the federal government’s green light for the next phase of an ambitious proposal to establish a biohealth technology center in Wisconsin. Another is a promising new long-term run for the much-vaunted and still dubious Foxconn in southeastern Wisconsin.
Hughes makes no secret of his enthusiasm for the biofitness generation center and its focus on “personalized medicine” — tailoring the diagnosis and treatment of disease to a patient’s unique genetic characteristics. “This will reshape physical care,” he says.
Doctors treating a patient with a tumor won’t have to throw “the kitchen sink at this tumor,” Hughes says. Instead, they’ll be able “to give the most effective treatment the most directly, with as little damage to the rest of the healthy body as possible and get you back to work, get you back to your family, as quickly as possible. It’s really, honestly, going to be game-changing.”
The federal CHIPS and Science Act was passed in 2022 as legal and funded the generation centers, but Hughes says the state was only able to participate thanks to preparatory work done by participants much earlier.
The Biofitness Technology Hub assignment brings together universities from the University of Wisconsin and the technical colleges of Madison and Milwaukee, fitness generation corporations and agencies, and economic progress. Universities conduct research, corporations expand technologies that use those findings, and physical care providers then put technologies to the test.
“This work is already underway,” Hughes says. With the generation center designation, we’re going to expand that. It combines “a full suite of other capabilities that we already have in Wisconsin”: synthetic intelligence, studies on genetic functions, drug progression, and complex manufacturing.
Wisconsin is one of 31 tech hub projects the federal government designated in October for seed funding, with the prospect of increased federal investments in the future. Just getting to this point gives Wisconsin added appeal to everyone from academics looking to relocate to employers contemplating the state. Hughes says.
In March, Microsoft announced a $1 billion investment to build a knowledge center on a 315-acre site in the village of Mount Pleasant in Racine County, part of the land originally developed for Foxconn. In November, Microsoft announced it would expand its presence there. with the acquisition of another 1,030 acres.
The Foxconn project, which began under previous administrations in Madison and Washington, D. C. , never lived up to the initial promise sold in 2017 through the government of the day. Scott Walker and President Donald Trump: A $10 billion high-tech flat panel production complex employing 13,000 people.
Critics were skeptical from the start about the $3 billion in potential tax credits that lawmakers and Walker had promised the company, and questioned the $700 million Mount Pleasant spent on infrastructure development.
Tony Evers ran for governor and criticized the allocation as a huge waste. Foxconn’s actual operating plans were replaced several times, prompting WEDC to disqualify the company’s tax credit applications.
In the middle of Evers’ first term, WEDC and Hughes renegotiated the tax credits, allowing the company to qualify for them for the first time, but with a much lower burden on the state than the original credits would have collected if the company had ever qualified for them. The April 2021 renegotiation was “a smart move of what Foxconn is willing to do in the marketplace,” Hughes said, putting it on par with other corporations that WEDC has rewarded with task creation tax credits.
Having employed about 1,000 people over the course of its history in the state, “it’s a good company to have here in Wisconsin,” she says of Foxconn. “But they’re just like any of our other companies at this point.”
It was vital to rework the deal to ensure a possible recoupon of the money invested in the development of the site. “I think it would be a shame if all the infrastructure investment went to waste,” Hughes recalls. After making it clear that the company would only use about one-third of the redeveloped land, WEDC “engaged very aggressively. . . doing everything he could” to market the remaining vacant lots, Hughes says.
Microsoft showed interest with an initial investment of $500 million, then doubled that amount, then increased it. “We’ve been very concerned in conversations” with the company, he says. Lawmakers and Evers included a sales tax exemption for knowledge centers in the 2023-25 state budget — an added incentive for Microsoft.
Milwaukee 7, the economic development organization that covers seven southeast Wisconsin counties, handled “the nitty gritty work of working through the new development agreement and the purchase and sale of the land with Microsoft and Foxconn, Hughes says.
“A blue-chip company like Microsoft is the best outcome we hoped for and worked towards,” he says.
While working with giant corporations is an important component of WEDC’s agenda, the firm has continued to deepen its support for small businesses. The Main Street Bounceback program, which is lately in its second year of awarding expansion grants of up to $10,000 to 9,500 small businesses. Wisconsin, is emblematic of this facet of the operation.
Small business development is an important part of WEDC’s mission, Hughes says, because small businesses such as retailers and service providers help bring character, life and value to the communities where they thrive.
In Prairie du Chien, Main Street recovers
“It’s incredibly vital to have communities where other people need to live, go downtown, and spend time with others,” Hughes says. “At WEDC, we like to say that we can walk and chew gum at the same time, so we can focus on our small and giant businesses. “
The Bounceback program has given interested businesses the opportunity to expand, perhaps renovate or move into new facilities, and increase their price without owners having to dip into their own savings. Small businesses “are often big companies if we give them enough support. “”Supporting small businesses, with the tens of millions of dollars we give each year to large businesses in the form of tax credits, is one way to balance things out. “
In the coming weeks, WEDC plans to announce the first investments made through the Wisconsin Investment Fund, a venture capital project.
The Wisconsin Investment Fund is endowed with a $50 million federal grant from the U. S. Treasury’s Small Business Credit Availability Initiative. Evers’ administration had asked for $75 million from the state budget for venture capital, but the Republican majority on the Budget Committee withdrew that request.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations with the legislature about how other Midwestern states (Michigan and Minnesota) are investing in economic development,” Hughes says, “and I wish I had noticed a greater willingness to invest and think about the long-term economic development of our legislature.
Nevertheless, she considers the investment fund one of WEDC’s big priorities for the new year.
“Access to capital is going to be incredibly important, whether it’s our small businesses, our classic businesses, but also our startups or our marketers who want significant capital to market their product or expand their software or medical device,” Hughes says. .
Hughes also presents other opportunities through the federal government. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 included a number of provisions to address climate change, adding investments for the National Green Innovation Bank.
“The governor has told WEDC we’re responsible for that,” Hughes says. Working with a commission that Evers established in June, WEDC will be looking at projects “all around the state that help businesses become more sustainable, Wisconsinites choose renewable energy.”
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There are also bank federal tax credits to reward cleaner energy choices in the legislation, and WEDC will dig into “how can we help our communities and our businesses” make use of those incentives, she adds.
“A lot of the recent federal funding is ‘get it while you can and be first in line,’” says Hughes. “We want to make sure that for those opportunities, our businesses and our communities are up at the front of the line.”
Hughes says he’s also pleased to have the opportunity over the next year to “get back on the road and internationally,” helping Wisconsin corporations build new relationships around the world.
“I think it’s incredibly important for Wisconsin businesses to realize that they’re part of a global marketplace and that there are opportunities in Asia, there’s opportunities in Africa, there’s opportunities in Europe — and not only grabbing those opportunities, but also just having that understanding that there are markets to expand to and places to sell your goods that are different and interesting, and pursuing them,” she says.
Exports are picking up, Hughes observes: “And I think that’s going to continue to create opportunities for Wisconsin businesses. “
by Erik Gunn, Wisconsin Examiner January 3, 2024
At Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. , CEO Missy Hughes sees 2023 as a year for state-owned businesses, locally and globally.
In an interview conducted in late December, Hughes revealed some big successes for the state. One of them is the federal government’s green light for the next phase of an ambitious proposal to identify a biohealth generation center in Wisconsin. Another is a promising new long-term future for the much-touted and still questionable Foxconn in southeastern Wisconsin.
Hughes makes no secret of his enthusiasm for the biofitness tech center and its focus on “personalized medicine” — tailoring the diagnosis and treatment of disease to a patient’s unique genetic characteristics. “It’s going to reshape physical care,” he says.
Doctors treating a patient with a tumor possibly wouldn’t have to throw “the kitchen sink at that tumor,” Hughes says. Instead, they will be able to “give the most effective remedy in the most direct way possible, with the least imaginable damage to the rest of the healthy body and get you back to work, back to your family, as temporarily as imaginable. “imaginable. ” Honestly, this is going to be a real game-changer.
The federal CHIPS and Science Act was passed in 2022 and funded the generation centers, but Hughes says the state was only able to participate thanks to preparatory work done by participants much earlier.
The Biofitness Technology Hub assignment brings together universities from the University of Wisconsin and the technical colleges of Madison and Milwaukee, fitness generation corporations and agencies, and economic progress. Universities conduct research, corporations expand technologies that use those findings, and physical care providers then put technologies to the test.
“This work is already underway,” Hughes says. With the generation center designation, we’re going to expand that. It combines “a full suite of other capabilities that we already have in Wisconsin”: synthetic intelligence, studies on genetic functions, drug progression, and complex manufacturing.
Wisconsin is one of 31 tech hub projects the federal government designated in October for seed funding, with the prospect of increased federal investments in the future. Just getting to this point gives Wisconsin added appeal to everyone from academics looking to relocate to employers contemplating the state. Hughes says.
In March, Microsoft announced a $1 billion investment to build a knowledge center on a 315-acre site in the village of Mount Pleasant in Racine County, part of the land originally developed for Foxconn. In November, Microsoft announced it would expand its presence there. with the acquisition of another 1,030 acres.
The Foxconn project, which began under previous administrations in Madison and Washington, D. C. , never lived up to the initial promise sold in 2017 through the government of the day. Scott Walker and President Donald Trump: A complex $10 billion production of high-tech flat panels that employs 13,000 people.
Critics were skeptical from the start about the $3 billion in potential tax credits that lawmakers and Walker had promised the company, and questioned the $700 million Mount Pleasant spent on infrastructure development.
Tony Evers ran for governor and criticized the allocation as a huge disaster. Foxconn’s actual operating plans have been superseded several times, prompting WEDC to disqualify the company’s tax credit claims.
In the middle of Evers’ first term, WEDC and Hughes renegotiated the tax credits, allowing the company to qualify for them for the first time, but with a much lower burden on the state than the original credits would have collected if the company had ever qualified for them. The April 2021 renegotiation was “a smart move of what Foxconn is willing to do in the marketplace,” Hughes said, putting it on par with other corporations that WEDC has rewarded with task creation tax credits.
Having hired about 1,000 more people throughout its history in the state, “it’s a smart company here in Wisconsin,” he says of Foxconn. “But right now they’re just like any of our other companies. “
It was vital to rework the deal to ensure a possible recoupon of the money invested in the development of the site. “I think it would be a shame if all the infrastructure investment went to waste,” Hughes recalls. After making it clear that the company would only use about one-third of the redeveloped land, WEDC “engaged very aggressively. . . doing everything he could” to market the remaining vacant lots, Hughes says.
Microsoft showed interest with an initial investment of $500 million, then doubled that amount, and then increased it. “We’ve been very concerned in conversations” with the company, he says. Lawmakers and Evers included a sales tax break for knowledge centers in the 2023-25 state budget — an added incentive for Microsoft.
Milwaukee 7, the economic growth organization that covers seven counties in southeastern Wisconsin, did “most of the work to get the new growth deal done and buy and sell the land with Microsoft and Foxconn,” Hughes says.
“A blue-chip company like Microsoft is the best outcome we hoped for and worked towards,” he says.
While working with giant corporations is an important component of WEDC’s agenda, the firm has continued to deepen its support for small businesses. The Main Street Bounceback program, which is lately in its second year of awarding expansion grants of up to $10,000 to 9,500 small businesses. Wisconsin, is emblematic of this facet of the operation.
Small business progress is a vital component of WEDC’s mission, Hughes says, because small businesses, like stores and service providers, bring character, life, and price to the communities in which they thrive.
In Prairie du Chien, Main Street recovers
“Having communities where folks want to live and go downtown and spend time with each other is incredibly important,” Hughes says. “At WEDC we like to say we can walk and chew gum at the same time, so we can focus on our small businesses and our large businesses.”
The Bounceback program has given interested businesses the opportunity to expand, perhaps renovate or move into new facilities, and increase their price without owners having to dip into their own savings. Small businesses “are often big companies if we give them enough support. “”Supporting small businesses, with the tens of millions of dollars we give each year to large businesses in the form of tax credits, is one way to balance things out. “
In the coming weeks, WEDC plans to announce the first investments made through the Wisconsin Investment Fund, a venture capital project.
The Wisconsin Investment Fund is endowed with a $50 million federal grant from the U. S. Treasury’s Small Business Credit Availability Initiative. Evers’ administration had asked for $75 million from the state budget for venture capital, but the Republican majority on the Budget Committee withdrew that request.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations with the Legislature about how other Midwestern states (Michigan and Minnesota) are investing in economic progress,” Hughes says, “and I would have liked to see more willingness to invest and think. on the long-term economic progress in our legislature.
However, he considers the investment fund to be one of WEDC’s most sensible priorities for the new year.
“Access to capital is going to be incredibly important, whether it’s our small businesses, our classic businesses, but also our startups or our marketers who want significant capital to market their product or expand their software or medical device,” Hughes says. .
Hughes also presents other opportunities through the federal government. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 included a number of provisions to address climate change, adding investments for the National Green Innovation Bank.
“The governor has told WEDC we’re responsible for that,” Hughes says. Working with a commission that Evers established in June, WEDC will be looking at projects “all around the state that help businesses become more sustainable, Wisconsinites choose renewable energy.”
GET YOUR MORNING PAPERS DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
The law also provides federal tax credits to praise cleaner energy options, and WEDC will look at “how we can our communities and businesses” use those incentives, he adds.
“A lot of the recent federal funding is ‘get it while you can and be first in line,’” says Hughes. “We want to make sure that for those opportunities, our businesses and our communities are up at the front of the line.”
Hughes says he’s also pleased to have the opportunity over the next year to “get back on the road and internationally,” helping Wisconsin businesses build new relationships around the world.
“I think it’s incredibly important for Wisconsin businesses to realize that they’re part of a global marketplace and that there are opportunities in Asia, there’s opportunities in Africa, there’s opportunities in Europe — and not only grabbing those opportunities, but also just having that understanding that there are markets to expand to and places to sell your goods that are different and interesting, and pursuing them,” she says.
Exports are rising, Hughes observes: “And that will continue to create opportunities for Wisconsin businesses. “»
The Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of grant-funded news bureaus and a coalition of donors as a 501c public charity(3). The Wisconsin Examiner maintains editorial independence. Please contact Editor Ruth Conniff if you have questions: info@wisconsinexaminer. com. Follow the Wisconsin Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.
Associate editor Erik Gunn reports and writes about hard work and economics, fitness policies, and similar topics for the Wisconsin Examiner. He spent 24 years freelancing for Milwaukee Magazine, Isthmus, The Progressive, BNA Inc. and other publications, winning awards for investigative reporting, article writing, media coverage, business writing, and commentary.
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