Wisconsin’s federal designation as a biohealth tech hub will catalyze an industry that’s already seeing noteworthy growth and potentially create a new stronghold for a region that’s been traditionally associated with manufacturing, according to one leader helping spearhead the effort. Last July, Wisconsin officially received $49 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s
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Mara Lord[/caption]
Biohealth employees have also increased their wages by nearly 25% since 2018, outpacing the national average of 19% during the same time period, according to BioForward Wisconsin. Altogether, the state’s biohealth industry supports more than 141,000 jobs.
One hope is that Wisconsin’s federal tech hub designation will continue to attract new businesses, both large and small, to the state. That’s already happening, said Lord, as big names, like Eli Lilly and Company, have recently announced investments in Wisconsin.
“We are taking note of the companies that want to be engaged in this,” said Lord. “I recently had a conversation with another biotech company in Washington state, and they’re talking about relocating to Wisconsin. There is a reputational component to being a biohealth tech hub.”
Supporting startups and entrepreneurs is a priority for Wisconsin’s biohealth tech hub. One of the six regional projects, called Advancing Innovation to Commercialization, will look to turn inventions into tangible solutions that are built and brought to market. Keeping Wisconsin-grown inventors and entrepreneurs in the state will be key to making the tech hub sustainable, said Lord.
“The coasts have become the easy, yet expensive, place to start up a biohealth or biotech company,” she said. “We bring totally different assets. We bring a nimbleness. We have companies that are really anchored. We bring an incredible work ethic in Wisconsin, and with the EDA designation, we’re investing in entrepreneurship.”
Tech hub leaders are also looking at all three stages of product creation (invention, design and production) to see how they can use the state’s supply chain to support each process. Making sure a product makes it through each of those phases is critical to the creation of new businesses and further economic development.
“We can’t just think about the product or the idea,” said Lord. ““We have to always think about what we are inventing and how we are building and deploying it.”
In the long run, supporting entrepreneurs in the biohealth space could create an entirely different portfolio of investment opportunities, Lord said. She believes Wisconsin hasn’t had as many good investment opportunities over the years compared to other parts of the country.
“As we have more opportunities coming through the Wisconsin portfolio, we’re going to become more nimble as a state in how we invest,” she said.
The biggest challenge tech hub leaders will need to navigate in the coming years is making sure each of the six regional projects is self-sustainable by the time the $49 million in federal funding runs out.
While the new Trump administration hasn’t had an impact on the first round of federal Tech Hubs funding, the possibility of a second round remains uncertain, said Lord.
A total of 31 regions received a designation, but not all of them received a portion of the first round of funding.
“Those states that didn’t receive dollars are hopeful that there’s another round of funding,” said Lord. “I do think there are some risks there, but that doesn’t impact what we’re focused on right now.”
To make sure each program becomes self-sustaining, Lord says continuing to foster collaboration between the consortium’s public and private partners will be crucial. Examining each of the six programs to make sure they are scalable at a national level will also play into the goal of sustainability.
If Wisconsin’s tech hub reaches all of its goals, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. estimates the $49 million investment will create more than 30,000 direct jobs, 110,000 indirect jobs, and have a $9 billion impact on the state over the next decade.
“It’s an opportunity for Wisconsin to be really proud of something, just as manufacturing has been, for many years, part of our culture and part of our generational investments,” said Lord.