Governor pledges support for Madison Initiative

MILWAUKEE — Gov. Tommy G. Thompson pledged support for the Madison Initiative in the next state budget as he helped kick off the Wisconsin Economic Summit Nov. 29.

“While the coming budget will be very tight, I will work very hard with Chancellor David Ward, (UW System) President Katharine Lyall and new Chancellor John Wiley to fund the rest of the Madison Initiative,” Thompson told a crowd of more than 800 university, business and community leaders at the Midwest Express Center.

Thompson praised the Madison Initiative as a key element that is already serving to grow the state’s economy. With a fully implemented Madison Initiative, the Biostar proposal, additional state investment and more venture capital, Wisconsin will be poised to become a biotechnology giant, Thompson added.

“These initiatives will give Wisconsin the edge to be the No. 1 state for biotechnology in the nation,” he told the crowd during the first day of the three-day event designed to map out the state’s economic future.

The university is halfway into the Madison Initiative, a four-year investment plan to strengthen UW–Madison as it provides students an outstanding education and helps Wisconsin expand its competitiveness in the global economy.

The Madison Initiative calls for an investment of $57 million in new funds from the state and students, matched by $40 million in private support, for a total investment of $97 million.

State lawmakers approved the first $29 million in the 1999-2001 state budget. Alumni and other donors contributed $20 million through the UW Foundation and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

To complete the Madison Initiative, the university has requested the remaining $28 million in public funds from the 2001-03 state budget, which again will be matched with $20 million in private support.

During his speech, Thompson challenged the UW System to become even more involved in Wisconsin economic and business development. He said the state’s universities over the past 50 years have strayed from the Wisconsin Idea.

“There isn’t as much cross-pollination as there used to be between the university and the state,” Thompson said. “There is so much talent on our campuses, and we need to take that expertise and transfer it to the state and the world.”

Thompson singled out UW–Madison professors Donald Nichols and Donald Kettl as examples of the Wisconsin Idea in action. Both professors were lead presenters during a session on regional opportunities and state and national policy.

Nichols, a professor of economics, stressed that Wisconsin should integrate the best aspects of the New Economy, such as Internet-based business practices, into its economic strengths of agriculture and manufacturing, rather than try to recreate itself economically.

Kettl, a political science professor and chair of the state’s commission on state-local partnerships, emphasized that local communities need to work more closely with each other, businesses and the state to become more efficient and help build Wisconsin’s future economy.

The summit on Wednesday also featured reports from committees that studied how to propel the state’s economy in five distinct regions.

Mark Bugher, director of the University Research Park and chair of the committee that reviewed Madison and its surrounding region, said continued support of UW–Madison is vital to the future of southwestern Wisconsin.

“Investment in the state’s flagship university through the Madison Initiative and Biostar remains the key ingredient to the success of the region,” Bugher told the audience.

Bugher said another solution to unequal growth and prosperity in the region is the development of an agricultural research park, modeled after the current University Research Park.