FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with Dean Amhaus, the Water Council; AI Co-Innovation Lab in ‘soft launch mode’

September 13, 2024

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Dean Amhaus, president and CEO of the Water Council.

He discusses the recently announced Water & Wastewater Workforce Center in Milwaukee, led by the Water Council and Veolia North America. The effort aims to develop the water industry workforce and talent pipeline, with an emphasis on training and education as well as diversity.

Amhaus explains the wastewater and water technology labor force is aging, putting increased pressure on efforts to address workforce challenges in this area.

“It’s not just utilities, it’s companies like Veolia North America and engineering firms, and a host of others are looking to be able to grow the workforce for their employees, but also to be able to grow the interest and grow more diversity in the workforce as well,” he said.

He says the water sector is “a great space to start working in,” adding it’s one of the industries that will be “around forever.”

“Businesses come and go and technologies advance here and there, but one thing that we can be assured of is that in the water and again, wastewater business, there will be a continuity of great opportunities,” he said.

Because the sector is so broad, Amhaus notes a wide range of skills and backgrounds will be needed to support further development and advancement in this space.

The interview also touches on the related Water + Energy Forward Engine consortium, led by the Water Council, which is seeking $160 million in funding to develop a regional innovation engine focused on both water and energy technologies. Amhaus shares details on the path ahead for this effort.

“When you start looking at that space and dealing with water, there is a great connection between that water and energy nexus,” he said. “One needs the other as well, and you can’t separate them.”

Listen to the podcast and see the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts. Check out a previous episode with Amhaus.

— Microsoft’s AI Co-Innovation Lab is in “soft launch mode” on the UW-Milwaukee campus as partners in the effort prepare the space for a full launch.

That’s according to Joe Hamann, executive director of the university’s Connected Systems Institute. He spoke yesterday during a Wisconsin Technology Council event in Wauwatosa focused on the impact of Microsoft’s $3.3 billion planned datacenter project in Mount Pleasant.

“We’re working very closely with Microsoft and with Titletown Tech to bring a diverse group of 10 to 15 manufacturers into the front end of the lab,” he said. “And I say soft launch mode because in parallel, we’re preparing the space.”

The AI Co-Innovation Lab, announced this spring alongside the datacenter project, is located with the Connected Systems Institute. Hamann said the university is starting construction “presently” on about 1,500 square feet of additional space, with plans to complete it in 2025.

Balamurugan Balakreshnan, chief artificial intelligence officer and chief architect for Microsoft, yesterday said the lab will be “one of a kind.” He said the effort will help companies of all sizes build new products and business models, aiming to engage 60 to 100 businesses per year in prototyping AI technologies.

The earlier announcement said the lab aims to serve 270 Wisconsin companies by 2030, including 135 manufacturing businesses, though Balakreshnan said that may change depending on demand.

“What we are seeing is that companies are adopting [AI] extremely faster than what we thought,” he said. “That is very exciting.”

Hamann noted Microsoft’s two other co-innovation labs are located on the West Coast, and the one being built in Milwaukee is the first based at a university and the only one in the United States focused on manufacturing. It involves UWM’s CSI and the Titletown Tech venture capital firm in Green Bay.

The lab aims to help manufacturers that have a proposed AI use case and problem to solve, Hamann noted, whose technical specialists will work with Microsoft experts at the lab to explore how it can be addressed. Ultimately, the AI Co-Innovation Lab will serve as a showcase for AI innovations that participating companies want to publicize, he said.

“This helps quite a bit if you’ve got leadership buy-in,” Hamann said. “In this community, we can all point to some great leaders in this region who are leaning into this technology area.”

As partners advance the lab concept at the university, Microsoft has been buying up more land in the region as it works toward its goal of investing $3.3 billion in southeastern Wisconsin through 2026. When asked about those land purchases by an audience member, Balakreshnan said “as of now, we are still in planning” phases for how those parcels will be used.

See more in Top Stories below and see further project details.

— The Wisconsin Policy Forum says a lack of employment recovery in the state’s manufacturing sector following the COVID-19 pandemic “may be cause for concern” given its outsized contribution to Wisconsin’s economy.

The group’s latest report, being released today, shows the state economy overall had a “strong recovery” from the pandemic — though that bounceback hasn’t been equal across Wisconsin. While total state employment averaged just over 2.9 million in 2023, 1.2% higher than in 2019, 42 of the state’s 72 counties had lower average employment in 2023 than in 2019.

This trend reversed previous momentum, as employment was growing in about 81% of Wisconsin counties between 2015 to 2019, but growth was only seen in about 42% of counties between 2019 and 2023.

Private sector employment has also recovered much more in some sectors than others, led by construction; professional, scientific, and technical services; and transportation and warehousing, the report shows.

WPF notes sectors that fared poorly during the pandemic — including arts, entertainment and recreation and health care and social assistance — ended up having positive job growth between 2019 and 2023.

Meanwhile, the report spotlights manufacturing as having lost the most jobs in Wisconsin during the study period, with a decline of 8,759. From 2019 to 2023, the number of manufacturing companies in the state fell by 436 or 4.7% while manufacturing GDP growth fell behind that of the state.

“This is particularly concerning given the sector’s importance to Wisconsin’s economy,” report authors wrote, noting it accounted for 18.6% of private sector employment in the state last year.

“On the other hand, the state’s strong overall employment and wage growth figures perhaps suggest that our economy is diversifying, which could be a strength if it means greater resilience during future economic downturns,” authors wrote.

See the report.

— Abortion policy was the second-highest rated issue for registered voters in the latest Marquette University Law School Poll.

While the economy was the top-rated issue at 41%, abortion policy came in second with 15%, followed by immigration and border policy at 12%. Medicare and Social Security tied for fourth with 9% and health care was at 5%.

On a partisan basis, Democrats rated abortion policy as much more important than Republicans or Independents, the poll found. It was their top concern, though only slightly above the economy. Republicans were “much more likely” to rank the economy and immigration as their most important issue, while Independents also had the economy as their top issue, followed by Medicare and Social Security.

Among registered voters, Vice President Kamala Harris has the edge for health care-related issues. When respondents were asked whether she or former President Donald Trump would do a better job of handling various issues, she came out ahead by at least 10% on abortion policy, health care and Medicare and Social Security.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of registered voters said abortion should be legal “in all or most cases,” while one-third say it should be illegal in all or most cases. This breakdown has “changed little” since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, authors note.

See the full poll results.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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— The MKE 2024 Host Committee is donating $40,000 to four organizations, including two local schools and two veterans groups in Milwaukee.

These donations represent the first post-convention donations to groups that served as the committee’s charitable partners during the Republican National Convention, according to yesterday’s release.

Recipients include: Notre Dame School of Milwaukee, Kingdom Prep Lutheran High School, Veterans Community Project, and Fisher House WI

“As we approach the end of the year, we intend to keep giving back,” said Alison Prange, the committee’s president and COO. “Milwaukee was a great partner, and we will continue looking for groups like these four with a history of working in the community to make a difference.”

— Gov. Tony Evers has announced more than $2.1 million in grants for nine lift bridges along Lake Michigan.

The annual payment helps maintain these bridges, which raise part of the roadway to allow tall oceangoing ships to pass into Green Bay, Manitowoc, Milwaukee and Racine.

See the list of recipients in the release.

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