BIO Blog: Doyle meets with business prospects

CHICAGO — Gov. Jim Doyle says he completed a day of “seven consecutive meetings’’ with national and international companies here that are considering locating in Wisconsin, or investing the state’s businesses and ideas.

“I can’t talk about the details,’’ Doyle said after the meetings at BIO International at the McCormick Place in Chicago. “But they were very substantive meetings. We may have some very exciting news to report.’’

Doyle has been a high-profile visitor every year at BIO International, holding meetings with potential investors, meeting with journalists, and using BIO International as a forum to market Wisconsin and spread its reputation.

“This is my last BIO,’’ he told the crowd gathered Tuesday at the Wisconsin Pavilion in the enormous McCormick Place convention center. “What is truly remarkable is how much Wisconsin’s profile has grown in the world’s biotechnology industry.’’

Doyle said building the profile has been the result of major increases in public-private cooperation with the state’s universities; strong state and federal support for the growth of state universities’ research capacity; the drive by university researchers to develop new products and companies from that research; and the strong effort to convince investors to place their investment capital in Wisconsin.

“It’s been a lot of hard work,’’ Doyle said after his formal remarks “But we’ve made real progress since my first BIO. There is now a tremendous amount of interest in what is going on in Wisconsin.’’

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