MadREP in the News

Check out the Madison Region Economic Partnership's recent newsworthy economic development activities.

Blueprint365: MadREP announces new strategic initiative to bridge urban, rural communities

Jessica Reilly · Jul 6, 2023 ·

The Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) has announced a new initiative, Bridge Wisconsin, to serve as the connection point for the Madison Region, working to collaboratively close the economic gaps and drive innovation for rural and urban communities.

“To be successful, economies must acknowledge and leverage the interdependence between their urban and rural assets,” MadREP CEO Jason M. Fields said in a statement. “When I joined MadREP two years ago, I identified this as our Region’s most pressing obstacle to achieving the next level of success.”

Bridge Wisconsin will support five strategic priority areas: housing, early childhood education, economic equity and investment, workforce development, and sustainability. MadREP welcomes their newest team member, Tonnetta Darcel Carter, to lead the initiative.

Darcel Carter will serve as the chief strategy officer of Bridge Wisconsin, where she will develop and execute the strategic vision of the initiative across the Madison region and throughout the state.

“I recognize that our rural and urban counties are ripe for development, innovation, and expansion, and Bridge Wisconsin is a unique opportunity to lean into our strongest industries and work collaboratively to provide capital and resources to bridge these communities under a shared common goal, advancement,” Darcel Carter said in a statement.

Darcel Carter has served in leadership roles for various public sector organizations, including New Leaders Council-Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Urban League Young Professionals.

Currently, she serves on the Advisory Committee for Waukesha County Technical College Real Estate program and Wisconsin Department of Veteran Affairs, Board of Veteran Affairs where she helps veteran-owned business, entrepreneurs, and families thrive across the state.

Darcel Carter is a Milwaukee native and alumnae of University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she received a degree in finance.

Article originally published on blueprint365.com

IB Madison: MadREP launches Bridge Wisconsin initiative, welcomes Chief Strategy Officer Tonnetta Darcel Carter

Jessica Reilly · Jun 28, 2023 ·

Source: In Business Madison

The Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) has announced a new initiative, Bridge Wisconsin, launching this fall. Bridge Wisconsin aims to close economic gaps and drive innovation for rural and urban communities.

This initiative will support five strategic priority areas: housing, early childhood education, economic equity and investment, workforce development, and sustainability.

Tonnetta Darcel Carter joins MadREP as chief strategy officer of Bridge Wisconsin, where she will develop and execute the strategic vision of the regional initiative, driving innovation across Madison Region and the broader state.

Darcel Carter previously served with local venture firm Gener8tor as the firm’s inaugural investment director. She is also the founder and CEO of Carter Wilson Group, an alternative asset consulting firm.

She began her career as chief of staff in the US Army National Guard, spending years abroad in Afghanistan and South Korea. An advocate for health equity and philanthropy, Darcel Carter also served as assistant development director at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Darcel Carter has served in leadership roles for a variety of public sector organizations like New Leaders Council-Wisconsin and Milwaukee Urban League Young Professionals. She currently serves on the Advisory Committee for Waukesha County Technical College Real Estate program and Wisconsin Department of Veteran Affairs, Board of Veteran Affairs.

Darcel Carter is a Milwaukee native and alumnae of UW–Whitewater, having received her BBA in Finance.

Article originally published on ibmadison.com

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee’s Water Council lands $1 million grant to create regional water resiliency solutions hub

Jessica Reilly · May 18, 2023 ·

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A Milwaukee hub for water technology, management and conservation is one of 44 organizations nationwide to receive a $1 million planning grant from the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engine program.

The Milwaukee-based Water Council and its partners will use the grant to focus on developing what NSF calls an “innovation engine,” a network of universities, two-year colleges, small and large businesses, utilities, non-profits and investors, to address the challenges of water-dependent industries and utilities in the face of climate change and increasing water scarcity, said Dean Amhaus, the Water Council’s president and CEO.

The result, he said, is expected to be a long-standing, multi-disciplinary network spanning eastern Wisconsin and parts of Illinois that can quickly take ideas for water-use management, conservation and stewardship from the academic sphere to practical, marketable solutions.

“What the goal is, and this was really the intent of NSF, is to get all those moving parts together so that it is literally working as a fine-tuned engine — and we need to be able to have all those different components together to make that engine work,” said Amhaus said.

The program dovetails with the Water Council’s mission since 2009 of bringing together the Milwaukee-area’s large, established water engineering companies, its academic and research campuses, startup companies and others focus on water issues and business development.

The grant program, created under the federal CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, is a first of its kind effort to leverage regional academic and business expertise to develop solutions and technology to address critical environmental, social and economic challenges.

The goal of the NSF Engines planning grants is to create hubs of knowledge and expertise to find innovative solutions to regional and national isses, develop and bring to market solutions to address those challenges, spur economic development and job growth, and to develop a diverse workforce.

A second round of NSF grants could provide up to $160 million in ongoing funding for that work.

Amhaus said winning the planning grant “speaks volumes of what we have in the eastern side of Wisconsin — that we can be extremely competitive when it comes to that water energy nexus.”

“It’s the combination of the businesses that are already here and have been here for decades, it’s the universities, the utilities — it’s all here, and pulling them all together as a region we believe can be a solution that not only the country needs, but the world needs around this resiliency,” he said.

The MKE Tech Hub Coalition, Wisconsin Technology Council, Marquette University, Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity, and Madison Region Economic Partnership partnered with The Water Council to prepare the grant application.

Article originally published on jsonline.com

The Center Square: Wisconsin apprenticeship programs growing more popular

Jessica Reilly · May 16, 2023 ·

Source: The Center Square

Apprenticeship programs across Wisconsin are on the rise, as companies fiercely compete for talent in the post-pandemic era.

Wisconsin Apprenticeship Deputy Director Liz Pusch pointed to an ongoing surge in business engagement with the state Department of Workforce Development (DWD), adding that more students and even college-educated workers now view the program as an avenue toward better job opportunities.

“Our average age of a registered apprentice is 28 years old,” Pusch shared during a recent speech at the Madison Region’s Economic Development and Diversity Summit hosted by the Madison Region Economic Partnership and the Urban League of Greater Madison, according to WisBusiness.com. “So people are starting in their career route, and then they’re figuring out, ‘This is not what I want to do.’”

In April, DWD announced a new record-high 8,357 high school junior and senior students were taking part in the Youth Apprenticeship programs during the 2022-23 school year, and just weeks before then state officials highlighted that a record 15,900 apprentices took part in the Registered Apprenticeship program last year. While many of the programs typically train workers for a specific occupation, the youth program is structured to open participants to a growing list of career choices.

“Employers are starting to see some increased retention because you’re making and building this bond with the workers,” said Seth Lentz, executive director of the Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin, adding that more businesses are starting to internalize the long-term advantages of investing in their own workers’ skills.

Article originally published on thecentersquare.com

Wisconsin Inno: Two Wisconsin groups win NSF grants to plot innovation hubs that could land $160 million

Jessica Reilly · May 16, 2023 ·

Source: Wisconsin Inno

Similar to the way in which Silicon Valley is synonymous with information technology, Wisconsin could eventually be known for water innovation or sustainable agriculture.

At least, that’s what two new Wisconsin groups are working toward.

The two separate teams led by The Water Council and WiSys each recently received a $1 million federal grant to plan innovation hubs around water and sustainable agriculture. Each group has two years to assemble a proposal for how they would use $160 million to make those hubs a reality.

The money comes from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines program. The two Wisconsin teams are among 44 U.S. teams to land a $1 million, two-year development grant. Five of those teams will each win a 10-year, up to $160 million grant to establish their regional innovation hub.

“Through these planning awards, NSF is seeding the future for in-place innovation,” NSF director Sethuraman Panchanathan said in a statement earlier this month. “This will unleash ideas, talent, pathways and resources to create vibrant innovation ecosystems all across our nation.”

The Regional Innovation Engines program was authorized in the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. It’s designed to increase commercial investment in research and development outside of traditional U.S. tech hubs and create thriving companies focused on emerging technologies that solve national and societal challenges.

Water and energy resilience

One of Wisconsin’s regional innovation teams is focused on water and energy resilience for manufacturers and utilities. It’s led by The Water Council, which has its headquarters in Milwaukee.

Other partners include the MKE Tech Hub Coalition, the Wisconsin Technology Council, Marquette University, the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity and the Madison Region Economic Partnership.

The partners are taking an industry-led approach, involving companies including A.O. Smith Corp., Rockwell Automation and WEC Energy Group. Their goal is to spur job creation and water innovation by connecting companies, universities, governments and other stakeholders to quickly scale solutions that help manufacturers and utilities adapt to the effects of climate change.

“We have industry strengths already around water technology,” Water Council president and CEO Dean Amhaus said. “Can we become that water energy hub that people are attracted to and be able to grow those businesses?”

Sustainable agriculture

Wisconsin’s other regional innovation engine team is focused on advancing sustainable agriculture. It’s led by WiSys, a Madison-based nonprofit that supports technology transfer for the University of Wisconsin System.

Other partners include all 13 University of Wisconsin institutions, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Research Foundation and the Wisconsin Technology Council.

The group’s objectives include translating research into industry collaborations, supporting sustainability tech startups and attracting investment to fund sustainable agriculture.

“This NSF Engine could be a key economic driver for Wisconsin,” WiSys president Arjun Sanga said in a May 11 statement. “Just as a public-private partnership turned Wisconsin into the ‘Dairy State’ in the last century, this potential engine’s public-private partnership could have a profound impact on the future of the state and the world.”

Article original published on bizjournals.com

MadREP in the News

Water and energy resilience

Sustainable agriculture

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