By Brian E. Clark
WisBusiness.com
MILWAUKEE – Gov. Jim Doyle said today he’ll soon unveil a “Next Generation Manufacturing Plan” for Wisconsin to keep the state’s $47 billion industrial sector strong.
Speaking before the Competitive Wisconsin board of directors, Doyle didn’t mention any specific dollar figures for manufacturing initiatives.
In an interview before Doyle’s speech, Bill McCoshen, executive director of Competitive Wisconsin and a former state Commerce Department secretary, praised Doyle’s efforts to expand the Badger State economy.
But McCoshen said Wisconsin needs to close the $4,000 income gap with Minnesota.
If that happens, he said the Badger State economy would grow by $22 billion and generate $1.32 billion in new tax revenue without a tax increase.
Doyle said the state will invest in “programs we already have in place to help our small and mid-sized manufacturers adopt lean principles and new efforts to prepare them for the pace and the needs of the new economy.”
Last month, he announced the “Next Generation Agriculture Plan” to help Wisconsin farms compete domestically and abroad. He said the plan includes more than $30 million in initiatives that should result in a total investment of $200 million.
That money, he said, will move agricultural industries forward by providing more resources to modernize and innovate.
He also said he will propose new tax credits to encourage start-up companies to invest in research and development. Doyle said Act 255 has already leveraged $260 million in private investment in new enterprises.
In the recently passed budget, he said the amount of available credits for Act 255 increased by $10 million. By 2015, he predicted the > program will result in $400 million in private investment in Wisconsin.
Doyle said Jack Fischer, the state’s new Commerce Department secretary, will lead his administration’s efforts to boost the economy.
Doyle boasted that since 2003, the state has simplified regulations, added thousands of new jobs and increased exports by 60 percent and seen Wisconsin’s biotech industry grow.
Doyle also praised Competitive Wisconsin, a broad-based economic development group, for its work “to brainstorm ideas on how the state can continue to grow.”
Doyle lauded the emphasis the group is putting on education.
“One of the many aspects of your plan that is so important is that it recognizes the incredible importance of education to our state’s economy … that we must prioritize investments in K-12 education, higher education, and worker training.
“The future of our state rests on having great schools with great teachers who are training the next generation of Wisconsin workers, and as your mandate recognizes, we must continually invest in education to do that.
“But education is just the beginning, as the Competitive Mandate highlights, we must sharpen Wisconsin’s economic tools to compete in the new economy. I applaud you for the work you have done and I look forward to working with you on a comprehensive economic strategy for this state.”
