Column: Nathan Bomey
Reconstructing Michigan: Hope brews despite economic disaster
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In Michigan, hope quietly brews in the midst of economic disaster.
It’s a counterintuitive statement in light of Friday’s release of a University of Michigan economic forecast predicting that Michigan’s unemployment rate would top 15 percent through 2011.
Michigan’s economic collapse sometimes feels hopeless. We've all experienced it.
Witness this statistic: The state gained some 793,000 jobs from 1991 to 2000 but will have lost 937,000 jobs from 2000 to 2011, according to the U-M forecast.
About 75 percent of Michigan’s auto jobs in 2000 will be gone by 2011.
This is a full-scale economic collapse - a jobs crisis that makes the rest of the recession-riddled country look like an oasis of opportunity.
So you have to look hard to see that our economic diversification is quietly underway. Here are three entirely different examples of companies that harbor promise:
-General Motors. Yes, that’s right. GM. GM last week said it would begin distributing some government loans back to Washington as sales begin to stabilize. And this month is the one-year mark before the extended-range electric vehicle Chevrolet Volt is released. GM’s electric vehicle vision promises to reap rewards for Michigan.
-HandyLab. New Jersey medical devices maker Becton, Dickinson and Co. on Friday finalized its $275 million acquisition of HandyLab, an Ann Arbor-based U-M startup company.
HandyLab has just 60 employees right now, but the firm’s rapid detection-infection system is revolutionary technology that’s likely to require a major expansion in coming years.
-Accio Energy. You’ve probably never heard of this small Ann Arbor-based startup company and for good reason: It isn’t selling a product yet. But the firm, led by Solidica founder Dawn White, is developing an “aerovoltaic” wind energy device that generates electricity without moving parts. Accio hopes that its device will generate electricity at twice the rate per square meter of a photovoltaic solar panel.
The best part? The device could be manufactured at typical Michigan manufacturing facilities.
"You can kind of look at this like being the Model T of wind energy," White said at the TEDx Detroit entrepreneurial event last month.
Accio's revolutionary ideas show the importance of promoting entrepreneurship in Michigan’s culture. HandyLab shows the power of university technology in revolutionizing
Michigan’s economy. GM’s survival is critical to our vitality.
The common thread between these unrelated companies: talent. Talent drives economic diversification.
Michigan’s economic revival could still be years off. U-M economist George Fulton said his forecast indicates that the state could start adding jobs in 2012.
In the interim, however, the complexion of our workforce must evolve. We need more alternative energy engineers, biotech scientists and information technology entrepreneurs.
Michigan is not hopeless.
"Investment leading to greater economic diversification needs to be part of the strategic package,” Fulton said. “But it also has to be investment that makes sense, investment that plays to our assets and strengths.”
Let’s reconstruct Michigan.
Contact AnnArbor.com’s Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.
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Seldom mentioned when talk turns to Michigan's economy are two things:
1. "Loyalty" to home state has profited many states at many times in the past. It's no secret that Henry Ford could have succeeded anywhere but stayed in Michigan to build one of the greatest industrial giants of all time. Loyalty of this kind feeds on itself, instilling pride and confidence. So when we see these new companies making strides, I think we should think about that. Having a start up bought by a company from another state or another country isn't such a great thing, though it has obvious short-term benefits. Look what happened when Parke-Davis was sold (twice) to companies which were not native to Michigan. There was a temporary bulge in employment but it went away "overnight" when Pfizer reorganized.
2. The "gold rush" phenomenon is part of human nature: when "gold" lies over the horizon, you'll always see a rush from other places to that place where "gold" is reputed to be found. Michigan had its first big gold rush in the lumber industry, then again when the auto industry boomed. Alaska had its first gold rush when the actual metal was found and then again when the North Slope oil fields were developed. The problem with gold rushes is that they always peter out, leaving people stranded in between. A disciplined, foresighted approach to economic development must be Rule Number One for states like Michigan if we're to see an end to this cycle.
Show your love and loyalty to Michigan: our state will prosper again.
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Posted Nov 23