EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the seventh article in an eight-part series highlighting the strong opportunities to grow the Madison Region's economy in ways that preserve and enhance our quality of life. The Assets and Opportunities Initiative, or A&O, was launched by Thrive, the economic development enterprise for the eight-county Madison Region, with support from the Madison Community Foundation and conducted by Vandewalle & Associates with input from state and regional resources and experts.

Our region - home to Aldo Leopold, John Muir, Gaylord Nelson and many others - has a rich environmental legacy that has made us leaders in conservation, both in perpetuating a culture that recognizes the value of our natural resources, and in implementing sustainable solutions. We have an ecologically rich and complex region that by virtue of its diversity is a living laboratory. We have a growing number of green businesses, products, services and communities that have adopted sustainability initiatives and business models. We also have prototypes, expertise and skill sets to develop solutions for the long term that we can apply here and take to market globally, exporting both products and knowledge. We live in a world where the interrelationship and balance between humans and the natural environment have reached a critical tipping point.

The impacts of climate change, population growth and competition for limited resources like water will continue to be profound; the world will be looking for regional solutions. Let's be a region that discovers, tests, prototypes and then brings those ideas to market.

This opportunity is the epitome of Thrive's mission: to grow the economy in ways that preserve and enhance quality of life. We can blend research and application to improve environmental health, while growing jobs and businesses to meet the real, pressing demands of the global economy.

A core foundation of the knowledge economy will be about finding solutions that fit the global human-environment balance. Our solutions can be transferable and marketable to other regions across the globe. To fully engage all of our assets, we should:

* More aggressively pursue federal and major foundation funding for key projects.

* Build on the example of working models like the Aldo Leopold Center, International Crane Foundation, and UW Arboretum.

* Work with our educational system to create the workforce needed for this emerging economy.

* Market ourselves as a national convening center on this topic.

* Support and create businesses and education around this opportunity.

* Expand our current export of technologies and services.

* Live this opportunity promote the concept of sustainable communities as a standard of practice.

There are many examples of this already present or under way across the region. We included some of these in the June column about growing the bio and green economy, but they are worth repeating.

* Eco-municipalities, "sustain county" initiatives and Natural Step study circles continue to expand in the region as more individuals and communities adopt sustainability principles to guide decision-making.

* The BioAg Gateway in southeast Madison will include research and development facilities that will help prototypes be developed and then commercialized.

* The DeForest BioAg sector has been quietly developing over the last century and is anchored by world renowned ABS Global and more than 10 seed companies. A leader in agriculture research, the UW Research Station is located in DeForest.

* The newly envisioned LEED training center in Plain in Sauk County is a great example of a business and community joining forces to train the current and future workforce in green building technologies.

* The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, connected to UW-Madison, is one of three in the country, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to accelerate basic research in the development of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels.

* The state, region and local municipalities continue to work together on alternate energy strategies such as wind power with the Glacier Hills Wind Park project in Columbia County, and to explore how other industry sectors might benefit such as wind industry manufacturing. A monthly gathering in Sun Prairie dubbed the Wind Power Happy Hour brings interested businesses and community leaders together to explore opportunities.

* The Nelson Institute of Environment Studies, formed in 1970 and renamed in 2002, is a pioneer and world leader in the development of interdisciplinary environmental learning and inquiry.

There are more examples of both new connections and opportunities developing all the time alongside longstanding businesses and education and research capacity such as the University of Wisconsin.

As a region and as "legacy players," we can and should focus our efforts to deploy innovative practices, leverage our existing leadership to bring in funding and resources, and export our knowledge-driven solutions to address some of the world's pressing resource-based issues. Not only is this an imperative for the world, it is an opportunity for this region to expand our leadership and simultaneously reap the benefits for our own economy.

Coming in October: We will wrap-up this series with a focus on our wellspring knowledge and convening capacity as a region as well as an update on progress on the previously highlighted seven opportunities.

 

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