Wisconsin economic leaders met earlier this week to discuss, in part, UW-Madison's key role in the state's economic recovery.
Speakers at the third Wisconsin Economic Summit, held Oct.14-16, discussed economic development efforts, including collaboration between UW-Madison and regional business sectors to create economic clusters.
Tony Holzemy, public information manager for the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, said the collaboration involves \transferring technology from the university directly to businesses.""
The UW System hosted the event and was an integral part of the overall discussion, according to participant UW-Madison Professor of political science Don Kettl.
""The university has been a catalyst for this movement and shaped and directed it,"" he said.
Gov. Scott McCallum also addressed the importance of the collaborations at the summit.
""By targeting existing research programs in close cooperation with industry at UW campuses around the state, we can prioritize areas associated with [economic] clusters, identify gaps in research and create strategies to fund them,"" he said in a speech at the event, adding that he aims to create 400,000 new jobs by the end of the decade.
Nonetheless, Kettl stressed that any economic turnaround is ""inevitably a long-term venture.""
""You can't hold a meeting and suddenly create 5,000 jobs,"" he said.
McCallum spokesman Tim Roby said the long-term goals for the state are to increase per capita income by $8,000 and therefore offer an incentive to UW graduates to stay in the state.
""We will work with university officials to link job creations with jobs students seek, so they won't go look for a job in Minnesota or Chicago because they can make $5, 6 [or] 7,000 more in Wisconsin,"" he said.
McCallum's ultimate goal is to ""get through a legislative session"" first and than set a benchmark per capita income for 2006.
""The [Wisconsin] economy is stronger than is being perceived ... and will continue to grow through 2006,"" Roby said.
