In the five years since the
MKE Tech Hub Coalition was founded, the organization has been a key player in supporting several regional initiatives aimed at shining a spotlight on Wisconsin as a great place for technology and innovation.
The idea that regional initiatives can spur growth and innovation is not a new one. At a recent MKE Tech Hub Coalition event,
Mark Muro, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, shared why this modern strategy has risen in prominence across the country.
Muro focuses on the interplay of technology, people and place as they are altered by positive and negative disruptions. His recent work has examined how the U.S. government is embracing “place-based industrial strategy” though efforts like the Regional Tech Hubs initiative.
Some of the regional efforts being pushed forward in Wisconsin by organizations like The Water Council and TitletownTech have partly inspired Muro’s research, he said last week at the MKE Tech Hub Coalition’s five-year anniversary event.
Muro’s research was prompted after the financial crisis of 2019, when he realized most regional economies across the United States were recovering at an incredibly slow pace. A few coastal superstar cities like San Francisco and New York, recovered much quicker and saw noteworthy growth around digital services.
"You know the economic idea that if we just keep growing, we will all sort of converge to a general level of prosperity? We weren't seeing that. People in the Midwest certainly knew that," said Muro.
This led to the idea that the country needed to focus on creating regional centers of growth to address the uneven recovery in different parts of the country.
Since that time, southeast Wisconsin has accelerated toward its goal of becoming a tech hub, securing a federal recognition as a BioHealth Tech Hub and sending in an application to become the next region to create a Manufacturing USA Institute. The state has also attracted big names like Microsoft, which is building a $3.3 billion data center campus.
How these regional efforts will play out in the long run remain unclear. Muro believes there are several strategies Wisconsin leaders must use to ensure the programs’ longevity. In a recent Q&A with BizTimes Milwaukee, he shared what local leaders should focus on next.
What’s working for the tech hubs program and what are the challenges?
"I think aspirations have been lifted in many places, and that's not going to go away. The genie is out of the bottle. Regions are simply not going to accept slow growth in the same way. They want to transform themselves. I think the challenges have been around struggling with true inclusive coalition building. Can you make tough decisions? Can you do it quickly? Some places are doing well, while others are struggling a little bit...and then rallying the community. How do you mobilize over time?"
How does a region pursue multiple efforts at once?
"Multiple programs seem to be addressing some of the same ideas. There is sort of self-parallelism. The thing I think is important is light touch, but real cross-sectional governance. There should be interactions from personnel within all programs so these things know what the other is doing. Exchange of data is important, but I would say don't force linkages. It has to be about authentic adjacency and synergy."
How do we accelerate AI to make sure our tech hub continues to grow?
"(AI) is clearly a cross-cutting, ubiquitous, general-purpose technology, so you can't have a narrow approach. It has to be a pervasive effort. Your organization, your region, must center AI as a way it is going to compete."
What should we consider as a tech hub with a manufacturing legacy?
“Successful traditional economic activity is becoming more digital and innovation oriented and AI driven. If it doesn't, it's not going to be around. It's not going to be truly viable and competitive. I think there's a tremendous opportunity right now with (reshoring). But it's not your grandparents’ manufacturing. If it's successful in the United States, it's going to be an extremely high tech, AI oriented activity. You know that better than anyone here with Rockwell Automation, for instance. So that's my answer. All these traditional verticals must be reinvented. If they're not, they're not going to be around."
What should we think about as we move forward as a tech hub?
Sustainability is a challenge. You won a nice award, but it is up to you to make this effort have the right degree of mobilization, the right degree of capital. Otherwise, it's just going to be a few million dollars and it will eventually be forgotten. It won't have the impact it needs. I think you have to demonstrate that you can create a strategy and start implementing it.”
How will a new presidency affect these ongoing federal efforts?
"At minimum, there'll be a period of uncertainty and shift, but let's be real, Elon Musk is getting a lot of attention, including from the president, about $2 trillion in savings cuts to the federal government, which is a huge number and very worrisome. But the bigger worry is how Milwaukee will sustain its efforts and fund the investments needed to draw to succeed."
