Issue Position: Economic Development

Issue Position

Michigan is capable of training, attracting, and retaining a talented workforce, but it is not living up to its full potential. As an economic development professional and a former Mayor, Sam has years of experience in building an environment for businesses to thrive.

Many existing Michigan businesses struggle to expand because they don't have access to the work force talent or capital that they need to do so. We need to work with our community colleges and universities to identify the needs of businesses so that workers can be trained accordingly. Sam also recognizes the tremendous technological research being done at our universities. We need to better support transfers of that technology to entrepreneurial start-ups, going from laboratories to the marketplace -- a goal that Sam accomplished as Mayor by fostering the creation of the Technology Innovation Center, which has been a model of success for bringing the ideas and concepts generated at our universities to market.

Michigan is uniquely positioned in a number of industries including advanced manufacturing, alternative energy, information technology and global trade. The only thing holding us back from being world leaders is our lack of investment and commitment to these industries. Sam knows that we can and must do better in order to grow the industries in our own back yard.

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