Excerpted from Wisconsin State Journal
By Dee J. Hall

A global plastics company announced Thursday an $11.5 million expansion of its plant in Portage, aided in part by $700,000 in state tax credits.

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics held a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for the 48,000-square-foot expansion, which is expected to add 42 jobs to its 300-member Portage workforce.

Saint-Gobain vice president Marco Corrales said the company, which is celebrating 350 years in business, currently operates in 64 countries. It opened its Portage plant in 2001, he said, and has been growing by about 10 jobs a year.

The expansion is expected to be completed in early 2016.

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, with more than 4,000 employees, is present in 16 countries in North America, Europe and Asia and operates 45 manufacturing sites including Portage.

Paris-based parent company Saint-Gobain Corp. is one of the top 100 largest industrial companies in the world with 43.2 billion (euros) in sales and 193,000 employees in 64 countries.

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PRESS RELEASE: May 20, 2015

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced USDA’s plan to implement a Farm Bill provision that will have a major policy impact on the way the Department helps rural communities plan and finance regional economic development strategies. The new Regional Development Priority (RDP) policy will make it easier for rural communities to access resources to invest in long-term community development efforts by giving priority to applications for Rural Development programs that include regional partnerships and strategies.

“Regional planning maximizes the effectiveness of our investments in rural America,” Vilsack said here today while addressing the 10th Annual Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Conference. “When communities come together to share resources, ideas and expertise, they can develop a cohesive economy strategy and invest in their future. With a strategy in place, USDA-funded projects can spur regional economic transformation, increase job opportunities and improve quality of life for rural communities.”

Under the RDP, communities with multi-jurisdictional economic development plans will be able to request funding priority when they apply for loans and grants in four key USDA programs. These programs help finance a variety of infrastructure, business and community development needs. They are:

• Community Facilities Program
• Business & Industry Loan Guarantee Program
• Water and Environmental Program and
• Rural Business Development Grant Program.

Applicants seeking priority consideration will be judged by (1) how well their funding request supports a region’s existing development plan, and (2) how well the plan addresses regional collaboration and considers other funding sources including philanthropic groups and other federal agencies. Projects that receive funding will be based on locally identified needs and growth strategies that capitalize upon a region’s unique strengths.

Vilsack made this announcement during the 10th Annual Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Conference in Memphis, Tenn. The conference brings world leaders and policy officials from 34 countries to discuss how modern policies can help rural regions reach their full economic potential, support national growth and be globally competitive. During the conference, Secretary Vilsack reaffirmed his vision for four pillars of rural economic development.

Additional information about the funding priority was published in today’s Federal Register.

Congress authorized USDA to implement this regional approach when it passed the 2014 Farm Bill. That law builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past six years while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers.

Since the bill’s enactment, USDA has made significant progress to implement each provision of this critical legislation, including expanding access to rural credit, developing new markets for rural-made products, and investing in infrastructure, housing and community facilities to help improve the quality of life in rural America. For more information, visit www.usda.gov/farmbill.

 

Excerpted from WISC-TV/Channel3000
By Neil Heinen

The annual Economic Development and Diversity Summit held by the Madison Region Economic Partnership and the Urban League of Greater Madison is always an important event in building the Greater Madison region’s economic growth capacity.

It is a recognition that diversity is a critical element in our region’s ability to compete globally for talent, business development and innovation.

But the Summit had added significance in the context of racial disparities that are clearly one of our region’s biggest challenges and the growing awareness of what is needed to end those disparities.

Clearly employment, income and household wealth disparities are holding this region back.

The Summit’s contribution to addressing those inequities would be reason enough to sing its praises. But it seemed to us there was a new level of commitment this year, a greater comfort with addressing uncomfortable issues with plain language and desire for collaboration and, of course, results.

None of this matter without results. But we believe MadREP and the Urban League know that as well and we were again impressed with the partnership, the engagement and dare we say the diversity.

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Excerpted from Wisconsin State Journal
By Karen Rivedal

A foreign delegation featuring 47 government ministers from 28 countries spent Wednesday touring Madison-area centers of technology and entrepreneurship, starting with a tour of healthcare software giant Epic Systems Corp. in Verona and moving on to many examples of UW-Madison-related innovations.

“It’s an opportunity to show off the Madison region,” said Paul Jadin, president of the Madison Region Economic Partnership, which authored the application to include the area in the three-state exchange tour highlighting sectors such as agriculture, information technology and biomedical devices. “We want to show what we’re doing with respect to our partnerships in economic development, and also with respect to the extraordinary research and development going on at the university.”
Organized by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration and other federal partners, the six-day exchange tour was to include 41 sites in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, with Wednesday’s Madison-area events being day four. Known as the third annual Americas Competitiveness Exchange Tour, the first two tours were last year in Mexico and the southeastern region of the United States.

In a phone interview Wednesday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce Jay Williams said the exchange tours were an opportunity for delegates “to see first-hand on the ground” examples of successful innovations between government and private business, as well as plant seeds “to increase the prospect of trade and commerce” between the participating countries.
“Out of the sharing of ideas come actual, concrete actions and partnerships and investment opportunities,” Williams said.

Delegate Michael Singh, chief executive officer of the Ministry of Trade and Investments for the Belize government, said Wednesday before the Epic Systems program began that he hoped to hear ideas on the tour that would help his country create more jobs for the 70 percent of its population that’s now under the age of 25.

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Excerpted from Wisconsin State Journal
By Karen Rivedal

Madison for two days next week will host an international delegation featuring nearly 50 foreign trade and innovation ministers from 28 countries as a stop on the third Americas Competitiveness Exchange Tour, a week-long event designed to feature a selection of Midwestern centers of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Organized by the U.S. Economic Development Administration and other partners, the tour is aimed at setting up opportunities to establish long-term global and regional partnerships and to see the results of initiatives that are strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship.
In Madison, the tour will include presentations Tuesday at the Edgewater Hotel with featured speakers including Paul Jadin, president of Madison Region Economic Partnership, and Matt Erskine, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity to feature Madison and its many academic, innovation and industry assets to a prominent foreign delegation,” Jadin said in a news release. “Being selected for the ACE tour points to the region’s global recognition as a leader in technology and innovation that invites international exchange.”

The delegation on Wednesday will tour Epic Systems Corp., UW Center for Dairy Research, Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, and University Research Park, followed by a community networking reception from 6:15 to 7:45 p.m. back at the Edgewater Hotel.

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