Regional Economic Development

Across Wisconsin, business and education leaders are waking up to the fact that competing in the 21st century economy is no longer an automatic "win-win" for America. Globalization has collapsed time and distance and introduced the new reality that people living half a world away may be able to do your job cheaper, and perhaps just as well.

Florida, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Wyoming, North Dakota, Delaware, New Mexico, Montana, Maine and West Virginia will have fewer children than elderly.

Commerce and Labor spokesman Dwight Johnson said he’s working on a list to target the Idaho businesses that most likely could use the new breaks, and officials are targeting out-of-state corporations, too.

The state can point to plenty of examples. A trio of Colorado State University professors, for instance, developed new technology to track cattle by scanning the animals’ retinas. A startup outfit, Optibrand, was born at CSU in Fort Collins several years ago and was built around the scientists’ software.

In an era of social promotion and graduation, the quality of public schools is a major concern to companies that will soon be looking to these young adults as future employees.

The end cannot come soon enough.

"It brings more people together for the good of the community," Tuttle said. "Giving back to the community, that’s our mission."

First-time financings are important because they typically are made in early-stage software, biotechnology, electronics or consumer product companies — bets that are necessary to keep a technology center vibrant. If successful, this class of companies will most likely attract larger pools of capital as they grow.

They also should add employees and revenue over the next four to seven years at a faster clip than more established firms.

The move seems to be working. Inquiries during March were up 39 percent over the same month last year.

Economic development officials may be going too far and being too secretive in their deal making.