Missy Hughes addresses the 2024 Wisconsin Economic Summit.
By Missy Hughes
WEDC Secretary and CEO
What do health care breakthroughs, thriving neighborhoods, and dancing tractors all have in common?
They’re all examples of breadth and depth of innovation taking place every day in Wisconsin. These and countless other creative advances are pushing our state relentlessly forward, helping to build an economy where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
At the third annual Wisconsin Economic Summit, held recently in La Crosse, leaders in biohealth and biotechnology, community development, artificial intelligence (AI), sustainable technology, the arts, and more shared how they are tapping Wisconsin’s immense resources to develop cutting-edge innovations.
What emerged from those discussions is that Wisconsin’s combination of world-class research and educational institutions, pathbreaking manufacturers, highly skilled workers, and climate-friendly location continues to make our state ideal for businesses pursuing new ideas.
But there’s one more ingredient—the “secret sauce,” if you will, that makes Wisconsin so successful: collaboration. Taking the time to make connections opens the way for even more new ideas and opportunities.
Collaboration among biohealth companies has played a critical role in Wisconsin earning a Regional Technology Hub designation from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, which will provide up to $50 million to position our state as a global leader in personalized medicine.
Before the Tech Hub consortium was formed, there was little, if any, formal communication among academics, entrepreneurs, and more established biohealth companies; now, one of the Hub’s first steps is taking is to create a single database of medical information that will enable partners to devise personalized treatments for many diseases.
“No one company can do this by themselves,” said Wendy Harris, regional innovation officer for the Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub. “The tech hub is a place to connect the dots and allow these companies to collaborate.”
AI can assist in these collaborative efforts by allowing innovators to “find the problem, address the problem, and then train AI to find ways to improve” both processes and outcomes, whether it’s in the fields of manufacturing, medicine, or other areas, said Matt Kirchner, president of ATS/LAB Midwest and host of the TechEd Podcast.
It’s also critically important to collaborate as widely as possible by involving not only experts in the same or related fields, but also stakeholders, customers, and those affected by potential changes.
When GE Healthcare sought to improve their breast cancer imaging equipment, they formed an all-female team that designed a machine more tailored to women’s bodies. Then they sought patients’ feedback. The screening system is now more comfortable, which makes screenings less stressful and yields more accurate results.
“These changes sound trivial, but they make a big difference for women,” said Jyoti Gupta, president and CEO of women’s health and x-ray at GE HealthCare.
Meanwhile, in Southeast Wisconsin, the Kenosha Innovation Neighborhood (KIN) is working closely with residents to revive a community scarred by recession, plant closings, and civil unrest. The plan calls for creating a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) high school and an innovation center, plus offering career training programs through the local technical college.
As KIN board chair Tim Mahone told us, the residents’ input is critical to the project’s success because “the biggest tool in your toolbox is the people you serve.”
While residents in Kenosha are making their voices heard about what kind of neighborhood they envision living in, the arts play a vital role in creating communities where people want to live, work, and grow.
Creativity—and innovation—are also essential to making art, and collaboration is at the heart of the Reedsburg-based Wormfarm Institute, which offers a residency program where artists can live and work on a farm and “get dirty, eat well, and make art,” in the words of Executive Director Donna Neuwirth.
The institute’s Farm/Art DTour attracts an estimated 20,000 visitors to rural Sauk County every other October for a 50-mile route of art installations, performances, and educational exhibits demonstrating the importance of agriculture, environmental stewardship, and the arts. One of this year’s highlights, which drew the attention of the New York Times, was an unlikely pairing of farming and art: a “ballet” of three tractors pulling hay rakes, all moving in unison to classical music.
Collaboration drives innovation, and for Wisconsin to continue to lead in innovation, we must continue to build on the connections we’re establishing.
As our closing speaker, former Kimberly-Clark executive Pete Dulcamara, put it, “If you want to go faster, go alone. If you want to go farther, go together. If you want to go farther faster, go together as one Wisconsin.”
Missy Hughes is secretary and CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, the state’s leading economic development organization.
