It’s time for Michigan to make the capital investment mark.

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Quentin Messer's head
Quentin L. Messer Jr. He is the CEO of MEDC.

In economic development, as in sports, winning is not easy, it does not happen overnight. As an avid sports fan, I understand that great teams take advantage of their championship windows. The Red Wings of the 1990s and early 2000s won the Stanley Cup in the championship window, as did the Buffalo Bills, who lost four consecutive Super Bowls.

It is the same concept of creating a business environment that makes Michigan a four-season state or province in North America for financial capital investment. As recently announced private investment rankings show, if more companies decide to make more things in Michigan, from electric vehicle batteries to polysilicon used in semiconductors, to robots that increase manufacturing and warehousing productivity and improve worker safety, we’re winning. . We are grateful to receive these votes of confidence in Michigan’s bipartisan, proactive and proactive approach to economic development, with many projects underway to translate these wins into accelerated economic and community importance on both peninsulas.

Today’s championship window is heavily influenced by aggressive and welcome federal investment to reposition America as a makerspace. The CHIPS Act, the Inflation and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, along with programmatic initiatives from the Departments of Commerce, Energy and Transportation, have created an opportunity for companies around the world to adjust their private capital investment decisions. Use and application of available US federal dollars.

In short, more supply chains in industries ranging from semiconductors to clean energy are coming back home to the U.S. And if these supply chains are brought back to the U.S., the associated jobs, small businesses, and an expanded tax base here in Michigan.

This accelerated capital expansion is unlikely to be repeated in a generation. We owe it to Michigan to win projects that want to locate in America to take advantage of federal policies funded by Michigan taxpayer dollars.

The winning formula is clear: companies of all sizes want large, flat greenfield sites; increasingly clean energy sources; Clear ways to identify and develop local talent while welcoming international workers in an ever-increasing productivity crisis; And dollars risk these “company’s” private investments in the growth periods before revenue generation.

Tennessee was featured in a recent Business Leaders for Michigan benchmarking report. Let’s review what this competitor has done over the past decade. Tennessee created a large industrial site authority to “promote economic development (and) create high-quality jobs in and around the megasite…” The federally subsidized Tennessee Valley Authority has provided low-cost power, thanks to that state’s community college system. Like Texas and Florida, Tennessee recognized that no personal income tax alone was sufficient and used financial economic development incentives to protect private investment from risk.

At Absolute Content, Team Michigan is strengthening community services that go beyond financial incentives, supporting more than 430 affordable and workforce housing units in communities across the state this year to ensure that when companies choose Michigan, they’re choosing communities that are ready. To accommodate their workforce with housing and other necessary supports.

Michigan has undeniable strengths: a workforce that embraces chaos and is unafraid of the pressures of working in a zero-defect environment, a stable climate that isn’t subject to extreme volatility, a bipartisan problem-solver, and an ongoing willingness to extend open arms and welcome to people from around the world.

I look forward to working with business leaders for Michigan and anyone else to take full advantage of this championship window now open for Team Michigan. As the Bills mafia knows all too well, it could be a generation before a championship opportunity returns, and this team can’t wait to emulate Michigan.

Quentin L. Messer Jr. He is CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and President and Chairman of the Michigan Strategic Fund.

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