Tech leaders call for more creativity – Arts, business, government and academia meet to plot ways to create a more exciting – and inviting – Wisconsin economy

These are not your parents’ generation of corporate leaders.

A quarter-century ago, the word "cool" was rarely heard to cross the lips of gray-haired, gray-suited corporate executives. Today, cool is a marketable commodity. The problem is that Wisconsin doesn’t yet have it.

At the Olympia Resort on Thursday, several dozen representatives of business, civic, academic and arts groups met to brainstorm strategies for making Wisconsin a creative, cool place, a place where industries want to locate and where college students want to work. The session preceded Friday’s conference of the Biotechnology and Medical Device Association.

The invitation-only gathering drew 60 people, more than organizers had expected.

"Somebody really thought out of the box about what a circus is, and that success would follow," said Hendee. Wisconsin arts leaders should consider what roles they can play in the state’s economy, he added. "Creative people attract creative people."

Wisconsin has assets, such as a high quality of life and excellent academic institutions. But the state is beset with a Midwestern attitude that discourages brash, bold thinking. "We’ve got to have a swagger," Hendee said.

Ross Devol, director of regional economics at the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Milken Institute and the keynote speaker at Friday’s conference, echoed Hendee’s concerns. The University of Wisconsin-Madison ranks alongside Oxford and Cambridge Universities in the credit given to researchers, as measured by scientific citations, DeVol said. "But it’s what you do with it that counts" in the state’s economy.

Scientists "get off doing interesting research. But, ultimately, creativity has to be channeled," Devol said. Wisconsin needs better leadership, whether from those in business, government or academia, he added. "You need a cultural shift from `I don’t know,’ to `Of course,’" he said.

Katherine Esposito

Full Story: http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=2359