A Successful Year in Review
As 2016 comes to a close, we want to
thank you for your interest and involvement in the work -- both ours and that of our partners -- we have had the privilege of sharing with you over the past year. Looking back on 2016, we're proud of and excited about the milestones we've achieved in advancing the Madison Region economy. For instance:
The
Inspire Madison Region initiative took off in 2016, reaching
43 school districts and 212 companies across the eight-county region, allowing students to explore career options through direct contact to local employers, mentors and coaches. MadREP's Investing in Manufacturing Partnership Communities designation yielded fruit as well by
helping attract more than $2.1 million in federal investment to the region with significantly more in queue for 2017.
In collaboration with the Urban League of Greater Madison, the 2016 Economic Development & Diversity Summit
drew a record crowd and praise for stellar speakers and informative breakouts, while allowing us to share the results of the second annual
Workplace Diversity & Inclusion Survey. Elected officials in five more communities across the region -- Horicon, Mayville, Poynette, Sun Prairie, and Waupun - received ED101 economic development training, bringing our total to twelve over the past three years.
We promoted the Madison Region globally in Argentina, Canada, Germany, and Mexico through the Americas Competitiveness Exchange program, WEDC's trade venture to Mexico, and the world's largest industrial trade fair at Hannover Messe.
MadREP also
led the creation of the Madison Games Alliance - a network of studios working together to put the region on the map as an internationally recognized hub of game development. We will continue to support this effort as the fledgling organization makes plans for a major game developers conference in 2017. Likewise, we were able to
introduce the region to many site selectors through two familiarization tours, one of which focused on the tech scene. Our work with site selectors is among the reasons that companies like
The Little Potato Company and
HSI Sensing moved here recently.
While we are home to eight of the sixteen Certified in Wisconsin sites in the state, MadREP launched the complementary
Gold Shovel Site Verification Program to provide an alternative, affordable program to promote premium sites for development.
As always,
Business Retention & Expansion (BRE) is a critical piece of our work plan. MadREP and our partners across the region have completed over 85 BRE visits in 2016 (with scores more expected to be completed in a currently open online survey), yielding vital information to grow and maintain our existing businesses. This fall, MadREP also supported the implementation of the
region's first Community Blueprint in the City of Madison's Northside neighborhood - a coordinated one-day outreach to businesses by volunteers who discover and report on threats and opportunities. Following this successful event, at least three additional communities plan to host Community Blueprints in 2017.
Finally, in
our continued commitment to providing the data and information you need to help your business, community, or organization succeed, we overhauled our
data dashboard, adding new metrics and peer regions, and adapted our website to be responsive to mobile devices. We will be supplementing that robust data by adding four more cluster reports for our target industries in 2017.
For efforts like these, and more, MadREP received the Wisconsin Economic Development Association's
2016 Organizational Excellence Award. As we continue to partner with our talented economic development colleagues throughout the region to build a world-class economy, I'm grateful to my exceptional staff and to be working with a Board of Directors of thinkers, creators, influencers and mentors to shape a stronger economy for the Madison Region.
Thank you for your engagement in the important work of economic development. I wish you a happy and thriving New Year.
Sincerely,
Paul Jadin
President, MadREP