— By manufacturing expert Buckley Brinkman
For WisBusiness.com
Wisconsin sits in a unique place with AI. Our large and diversified manufacturing industry provides fertile ground for implementing this technology and achieving immediate returns. Our practical approaches to most problems set the foundation for effective implementations. Most importantly, various regions of the state are developing their own unique AI specializations. Together, these three elements could make Wisconsin the leader in AI implementation and diffusion – but we need to approach this Wisconsinbly.
AI moves fast and acting Wisconsinbly means using that speed to build on emerging regional strengths to develop practical implementations to improve our economy. We should drive expertise in these unique specialties deeper – fostering the learning and focus necessary for national leadership. This marks a distinct departure from past practice where each region would develop comprehensive capabilities on their own little island.
Instead, we need to celebrate and support the capabilities developing around local needs and resources, such as:
- The Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Lab for Manufacturing and the Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute building capabilities and resources in Milwaukee.
- The entrepreneurial approach centered at Titletown Tech in Green Bay.
- The Center for Advanced Manufacturing and AI at UW-Stout building Edge-to-Cloud pathways in northwest Wisconsin.
- The Whitehall School District integrating AI into practical applications for high school students south of Eau Claire.
- UW-Madison – partnering with Microsoft – using cutting-edge AI research tools to accelerate complex research projects.
Each of these specialties brings a different approach to AI implementation. Each of these approaches is terrific at addressing local issues. Each initiative can drive learning and implementation deep into its region. That focus can push these initiatives to the cutting edge.
The usual way these initiatives progress is that each region would expand their capabilities to other areas – diffusing attention and resources needed to drive the specialties deeper. That won’t work with AI – it moves too fast! Narrow and deep focus will enable the specialties to improve, move fast, and lead the country in their sector of AI implementation.
Bringing this to Wisconsinbly standards requires a new level of – and approach to – collaboration across the state among the initiatives. This is not about spreading the basics – there are plenty of workshops, webinars, and individual coaching for anyone to get the skills they need. This collaboration must accelerate progress by sharing insights across initiatives so that we learn critical lessons, solve problems once, and understand where different approaches make sense.
Collaboration requires a different approach supported by a new infrastructure that does three things:
- Shares best practices – there’s no need to relearn every lesson in every part of the state.
- Explores the frontier – Wisconsin is far from the leading edge in many aspects of AI. We need repeated exposure to experts at the frontier to get out of our echo chambers and understand the gap between where we are and where we want to be.
- Builds collaborative solutions – Once we understand our true position, we should create the mechanism to build practical solutions to close the relevant gaps.
This collaboration favors speed over control, networks over hubs and spokes, and practical applications over high-level theories. Much of the organizational structure exists to make this happen. We need to connect those structures and focus on the specific advances needed to lead in AI implementation.
Acting Wisconsinbly on AI will set us apart as leaders in AI implementation and transform large swaths of the state. We will develop deep expertise in numerous specialties in different parts of Wisconsin. The coordinated speed that results from this collaboration will move everyone forward together – especially when we focus on practical applications that get things done now!
