WisBusiness: Development officials see economic clusters as key to growth

By Brian E. Clark

For WisBusiness.com

Every July, Oshkosh becomes the center of the universe for aviation fans when the Experimental Aircraft Association hosts its annual AirVenture gathering. During that week-long event, the control tower at the city’s Wittman Regional Airport is reputedly the busiest in the world.

AirVenture brings millions of tourism dollars to the region each summer. But economic development officials want to mine that enthusiasm by developing year-round aviation related businesses and high-paying jobs.

That’s where AeroInnovoate comes in.

Based at UW-Oshkosh, the organization encourages entrepreneurs who are developing aviation and aerospace technologies, the group’s co-founder said Thursday at the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Economic Development Association.

“We’re not a fly-over state when it comes to the aeropace industry,” said Meredith Jaeger, whose organization hopes to develop a cluster of aircraft and aerospace companies in Wisconsin.

Jaeger, the group’s outreach program manager, was one of many speakers at the conference, which drew hundreds of economic development officials from around the state. Jaeger was on a panel that dealt with emerging business clusters. It followed a similar session on mature clusters.

Bruce Kepner, the outgoing WEDA president and an executive at Alliant Energy, said the theme of the gathering is to build the state’s economy by focusing on the strengths on Wisconsin’s traditional industries while helping new companies succeed.

Lee Swindall, an official with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, said new clusters have the potential to be dominant in the future. The key, he said, is passionate leadership, as well as the right technology.

Jaeger, whose group was conceived several years ago, said AeroInnovate helps entrepreneurs get their ideas to the marketplace. It also connects with them existing manufacturers in northern Wisconsin.

Jaeger said her organization also has pushed for new aviation-related majors at regional schools. And she lauded the state for making recent investments in the Kestrel and Morgan aircraft companies to expand in Wisconsin.

Ann Franz, who coordinates the North Coast Marine Manufacturers Alliance, said the yacht- and ship-building industries are thriving once again in the area around Green Bay.

She said seven boat builders in the region are global exporters. Two recently finished 63-foot yachts were sold to wealthy individuals in China and Russia. And she said Marinette Marine, which is building ships for the Coast Guard and Navy, is hiring 40 workers a month.

Franz said clusters must be industry-led, but noted that her group helped develop marine engineering and manufacturing courses for local colleges.

On the topic of mature business clusters, Thomas D. Stilp of Neenah-based Arcways custom stairway builder, said many companies in the Wisconsin forest products industry are national and international leaders.

Stilp, whose company was started by his father in 1965, said only 3 percent of the entryways and stairways his firm builds are used in Wisconsin. He said he has collaborated with the same suppliers for decades and he praised the state’s Department of Natural Resources for helping Wisconsin’s hardwood forests thrive.

He also lauded the WoodLINKS Wisconsin program, which provides educational tools and resources to secondary and post-secondary schools to teach manufacturing processes and technologies used in the wood products industry.

“Tech colleges are our life-line,” he said. “But we still have to struggle against the attitude of some parents that wood working is just a hobby and not a serious, high-tech profession.”

Michael Jones, a vice president at MillerCoors, said his company is working closely with firms in the water cluster to promote southeastern Wisconsin as a world leader in water technology.

“Milwaukee means “gathering place by waters” in the Ojibwe language,” he said. “We have more than 130 water-related companies in the M7 region that are responsible for 20,000 jobs.”

He said many of those companies joined with academic, government and conservation groups to form the Milwaukee Water Council.

“And in 2009, we were named a United Nations Global Compact City – one of just two in the United States – for our expertise in water technology,” he said.

He noted that Milwaukee is home to the Great Lakes WATER (Wisconsin Aquatic Technology and Environmental Research) Institute, which received $50 million from the state in 2010. In addition, he said MillerCoors helped launch the Milwaukee Water Accelerator Project to incubate new water technology firms. It is receiving support from the state and the City of Milwaukee.

“We are the North American hub for developing water use and reuse standards,” he said. “And while the Water Council hasn’t hit any home runs yet, we have had some singles. We need to build on this.”