THU AM News: WEDC leader calls for ‘more forward-thinking’ approach to business attraction; INNIO expanding with $300M investment

August 20, 2026

— WEDC Secretary and CEO John Miller says Wisconsin needs to be “a little bit more forward-thinking” about landing capital investment by businesses before they’re entrenched elsewhere.

“It’s very hard to get, as we’ve seen, companies that are fully baked to move their headquarters,” Miller said yesterday during a luncheon hosted by WisPolitics-State Affairs and the Wisconsin Technology Council.

Full transplants of company headquarters do happen, Miller noted, pointing to the manufacturer Caterpillar leaving Illinois for Texas in recent years. And with the state’s lower office building occupancy rate in the post-pandemic era, “we should be in the play for some of those things,” he argued.

“But we also need to make sure that we start at a lower level to make sure that we’re capturing some of these opportunities when they’re in their growth stage,” Miller said. “It’s a little bit longer waiting period, but I think it’s a good way to start.”

He also addressed the state’s “brain drain” challenge, saying “there’s no doubt that we need to do a better job” of selling the benefits of staying in Wisconsin post-graduation.

Although the state routinely has more than 100,000 open job listings at any given time, its unemployment rate remains near-record lows, standing just above 3% at last count, he noted.

“So where’s the give? We need to have more people not only coming to Wisconsin to go to college and learn, but also staying here after,” he said, emphasizing the importance of developing more housing and childcare options to support the state’s workforce.

Meanwhile, Miller stressed the need for greater venture investment activity to support Wisconsin’s startup ecosystem. His own background includes founding the venture capital fund Arenberg Holdings LLC in Milwaukee in 2015, and serving on the UW Board of Regents.

“With regard to capital … we desperately need to have bigger and more,” he said, adding “we have a couple of great new Wisconsin-based venture funds that are raising money, and we also have some others that are raising at a different level, to engage in a higher level … but it is something that will never drop off, the need for Wisconsin to focus on.”

In response to an audience question about controversies surrounding the energy-intensive data center projects being developed in Wisconsin, Miller pointed to the “thousands and thousands” of jobs being created by these projects.

In addition to the construction work needed for the multi-billion dollar developments, he also touted the partnerships being created by tech companies, such as Microsoft’s work to establish Green Bay’s TitletownTech VC fund and the Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Lab at UW-Milwaukee.

“So there’s a lot of good being derived from this data center work,” he said.

Still, he acknowledged concerns being voiced about the projects, noting “stressful areas” for state residents such as their massive energy consumption and water usage.

But with more than 40 other U.S. states already building data centers, he argued: “Wisconsin can’t lose out on that type of innovation, otherwise we’re going to get left behind.”

Watch the video.

— INNIO plans to spend $300 million to expand its operations in Waukesha and create 500 jobs with up to $6 million in tax credit support from the state.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. yesterday announced the expansion project for the energy systems manufacturer, which makes various power systems under its Jenbacher and Waukesha brands for data centers, industrial energy use and other applications.

Its existing Waukesha facility, located on a 1.7 million-square-foot parcel, will be expanded with an 80,000-square-foot addition for advanced testing purposes. The company also plans to renovate its offices and shop floor there, as part of a “production ramp-up” spurred by rising demand, according to WEDC.

Roger George, CEO of INNIO’s Waukesha brand, calls the expansion “a testament to our long-term commitment to local value creation in the U.S. and to meeting the rising demand for decentralized power solutions that are shaping the future of energy.”

The agency’s performance-based tax credits for the project can be earned through capital investment and job creation.

See the release.

— Six film projects in Wisconsin have been awarded nearly $1.2 million in tax credits through the new state office Film Wisconsin, which launched earlier this year.

Gov. Tony Evers yesterday announced the funding from the state’s film tax credit program, which was created in the latest biennial state budget along with Film Wisconsin, part of the state Department of Tourism.

Up to $5 million in film tax credits is available per year to help fund movies, TV shows, documentaries and broadcast advertisements in Wisconsin, as well as production infrastructure needed for these projects.

“These tax credits will not only help create jobs and support local businesses, but they work to support the projects that tell stories that focus on the people and places that make our state extraordinary,” Evers said in the release.

The largest tax credit for about $560,000 is going to “RAO,” an independent film from filmmaker Sagar Brahmbhatt. It tells the story of an Indian American family across multiple generations in northern Wisconsin, according to details from the guv’s office.

The next largest with $216,000 is helping fund “The Warehouse,” a documentary by OmaChance Productions about the effort to complete Frank Lloyd Wright’s last unfinished building in Richland Center.

Another $167,000 has been awarded for the feature film “Long Shot: How Bud Selig Brought Baseball Home,” from filmmakers Steve Boettcher and Mike Trinklein.

Meanwhile, “UECK” has been awarded about $140,000, funding the documentary film exploring the life of sports broadcaster Bob Uecker.

Yet another sports-focused project, “Run for Glory: The Don Beebe Story,” is getting an $86,000 tax credit. This feature film from Salty Earth Pictures focuses on the NFL player’s Midwest upbringing and impact in professional football.

The final funded project, “Mis Undead Quince,” is getting about $20,000 in funding. The short film from Cyclops Girl Productions in Green Bay features a rebellious teenager and her Spanish-speaking grandmother surviving against the undead during a quinceañera.

To earn the tax credits, productions have to spend at least $100,000 on salary and wages for projects running 30 minutes or longer, or at least $50,000 for shorter projects. Individual projects can get up to $1 million in tax credits per fiscal year for eligible expenses.

— Wisconsin home sales rose by 8.1% over the year in July, continuing the state’s “solid” summer housing market.

That’s according to the Wisconsin Realtors Association’s latest monthly report, showing 7,512 homes were sold in the state last month, up from 6,952 in July 2025. On a year-to-date basis, the sales total was 4.9% higher than for the first seven months of last year.

The boost to home sales “put strong upward pressure” on prices, as the state’s median home price rose 6.8% over the year to $360,000. For the year-to-date, it rose by 6.2% to reach $345,000.

And while total listings and new listings crept up over the year — by 1.6% and 1.3%, respectively — high demand for homes led to a slight reduction in inventory from 4.3 months to 4.2 months over the same period. Wisconsin remains a seller’s market, as inventory levels are below WRA’s six-month benchmark for this measure.

“The state has technically been in a seller’s market for the past nine years, and strong price pressure and relatively high mortgage rates have severely eroded affordability,” WRA President and CEO Tom Larson said in the report. “Still, demand remains quite strong, especially among millennials, who have had to adjust to the new normal of mortgage rates in the 6% to 7% range.”

Meanwhile, WRA Board Chair Amy Curler notes June and July represent “the strongest first two months of peak summer sales since 2022 when mortgage rates began increasing.”

See the report.

— We Energies has renewed its power purchasing contract with the Point Beach Nuclear Plant into the 2050s.

In a Security and Exchange Commission filing, the state’s largest utility this week agreed to purchase 86% of the capacity of each of the plant’s two reactors – equivalent to approximately 1,000 megawatts of capacity – through 2050 and 2053.

That coincides with the six-decade-old plant’s approved service life, which federal regulators extended to 2053 when they renewed its operating license last September.

The new power purchase agreement goes into effect when the terms of the current power purchase agreement expire in 2030 and 2033 for the two reactors.

In its filing, the utility wrote that the new Point Beach contract “will result in savings for customers as compared to the terms of the current power purchase agreement,” but did not provide the new purchase agreement or details on what We Energies will pay.

We Energies’ spokesperson Brendan Conway wrote in an email that the new contract provides “long-term price certainty.”

The SEC filing comes months after an earnings call where Scott Lauber, CEO of We Energies’ parent WEC Energy Group, said the utility would not renew its contract with plant owners NextEra Energy Resources and would “most likely” replace the nuclear plant with new natural gas generation.

Conway did not address the change of course when asked by WisPolitics.

We Energies built the 1.2 gigawatt plant in the 1960s and sold it to NextEra in 2006.

NextEra spokesperson Bill Orlove said the new agreement “ensures a solid future for nuclear power in the state of Wisconsin and delivers long-term benefits for the local community through reliable and low-cost energy, quality jobs and continued economic investment.”

Under the terms of the current power purchase agreement, signed nearly 20 years ago, We Energies has paid increasingly steep costs for power generated at Point Beach.

The base rate for power purchased by We Energies grew by 6% annually beginning in 2019 and increased to 7.15% this year; it’s expected to continue increasing at that rate annually through the end of the current contract in 2033.

The current base rate is slightly less than two-and-a-half times what the utility paid in 2007.

We Energies’ fuel costs are markedly higher than Wisconsin’s other major utilities. State regulators approved fuel costs of $43.96 per megawatt-hour for the utility for 2026.

Point Beach supplied around 30% of We Energies’ electricity supply in 2025, according to Conway.

For comparison, regulators approved: fuel costs of $15.57 per megawatt-hour for Alliant Energy in 2026; $22.18 per megawatt-hour for Xcel Energy; and $19.97 per megawatt-hour for Madison Gas & Electric.

Regulators approved fuel costs of $25.46 per megawatt-hour in 2026 for Wisconsin Public Service, We Energies’ sister utility.

Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin Executive Director Tom Content said the watchdog has been concerned about the plant’s rising power costs for the better part of a decade.

“The CUB team will review what We Energies proposes with an eye toward learning how much savings are in store for customers compared with the hockey-stick style increases we are seeing now that makes power from Point Beach expensive rather than affordable,” Content wrote in a text message.

— A company developing imaging technology for tracking cell therapies called CellTrack has won the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce’s Pressure Chamber pitch contest.

The business boasts 100 times greater sensitivity than existing methods, using a proprietary three-step process. By labeling therapeutic cells with the radioactive isotope zirconium-89, it can perform high-resolution imaging without compromising cell function.

This results in shorter development time for cell therapies at half the cost, according to details provided by the chamber. The startup aims to help cell therapies reach 10 times more patients, with potential applications in cancer treatment.

“It feels good to win and to be here,” CEO and founder Victor Santoro Fernandes said after Tuesday’s win. “I’m excited for the momentum that we will get out of this competition, and I look forward to building CellTrack up.”

The 13th annual pitch competition was held at The Sylvee in Madison. Participating entrepreneurs vied for the chamber’s “golden suitcase” award, which comes with an all-expenses-paid trip to meet with Silicon Valley investment firms in the fall.

CellTrack beat out fellow competitors CuroNow, FUDI Protein and Service ID through audience votes and scoring by a panel of judges.

Chamber President Zach Brandon says the company exemplifies what Pressure Chamber is all about: “showcasing cutting-edge technology that solves global challenges and is rooted in our region’s world-class research and innovation ecosystem.”

See more, including photos from the event, at MadisonStartups.

See the release.

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