By Amanda Ciesielczyk
For WisBusiness.com
MADISON — Gov. Jim Doyle opened the second day of the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium with some dire words about the state’s near-term economic outlook before giving the crowd some reasons for optimism.
“You are going to hear me over the next several months giving you the gloomiest news about where the state is and what it is we have to do,” Doyle told the crowd gathered at the Monona Terrace Convention Center. “The world really changed for us in September and for all of the country. That’s the kind of gloomy set of facts that we are dealing with.”
Doyle said large deficits are on the way, but also expressed hope for the state’s economic future.
“We’re in a very difficult and tight time … We are going to see deficits that we have not seen since the early 1980s … the size of the deficit may approach Great Depression levels,” Doyle said. “At the same time there is an incredible range of economic activity here — growing groups of entrepreneurs and a growing infrastructure of how we get our ideas into the marketplace.”
Doyle said the past decade provided a clue to how the next decade would go.
“When I look back at technology in Wisconsin over the last 10 years, its been a remarkable 10 years,” Doyle said. “It shows us what the future holds.”
One recent example he cited: Last month’s launch of the Wisconsin Genomics Initiative, aimed at advancing personalized health care. Collaborating scientists of the Marshfield Clinic, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee will build and test scientific methods to predict the risk of specific diseases based on genes, medical history and environmental factors.
“This is just one of many representations of the bold thinking in Wisconsin that will move us forward,” Doyle said.
Wisconsin’s educational system will be key to any recovery, Doyle said, adding that it had pushed people through the Depression, World War II and built the state’s economy in the last decades.
“With our state’s basic values of education and progress we can stay true and focused on what is most important,” Doyle said. “And we will not only come out of this economic slump, but we will come out of it better.”
Doyle also noted the current dollar-for-dollar tax credit given to any research company who raises their research funding by 25 percent in three years.
“The future of the U.S. depends on a strong technical economy.” Doyle said. “We have a truly bright, thoughtful, president elect. He will support and push technological efforts and we in Wisconsin need to foster and spur further research.”
New Commerce Secretary Richard Leinenkugel, speaking after Doyle, said his goal is to make Wisconsin the best place to start and grow businesses.
“I am coming into this position with a committment to listen and learn,” Leinenkugel said.
Leinenkugel said one main reason he chose to join Doyle’s administration was the governor’s “passion for this state.”
Leinenkugel said his focus will be on the technology industry as a customer.
“I want to know what works, what doesn’t and how we can help you meet your goals,” said Leinenkugel.
Leinenkugel also promoted Doyle’s new Accelerate Wisconsin program.
Through Accelerate Wisconsin $5 million annually will be provided for seed money to start-up companies, individuals will be allowed a limited 100 percent capital gains exclusion of up to $10 million for long-term capital gains reinvested in qualifying Wisconsin businesses and by 2015, the total amount of Accelerate Wisconsin tax credits will reach $100 million, leveraging a minimum of $400 million in private investment.
“We will also continue to provide support for the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Network (WEN),” Leinenkugel said.
WEN has currently leveraged over $7 million in funding for start-ups and provides several useful tools for these emerging companies.
