Making Michigan More Competitive

June 6, 2022

“We have a larger role to play, particularly in the new jobs & new economy of technology innovation than we actually get credit for. People don’t generally think, in tech, of Michigan as a growth state. I think it’s evidenced by the fact that we have not actually grown our population. But neither do they think of auto as a tech industry—which actually is!

The big challenge though is from the World Economic Forum report on the future of jobs: there’s 75 million jobs that will be displaced by technology, with 133 million new jobs being created that are digital. And we have to fight harder for the jobs that remain in manufacturing: our manufacturing levels are back up, but with a third less jobs. Some cases, like an EV, as many of you know, it takes 30% less labor to actually develop. So we have to fight harder for not just the jobs that we have, but for the jobs of the future—and those really are driven by technology innovation.

If you look at what JobsOhio, OhioX are doing, they’re talking about the fact that the economy of the future for Ohio is being driven by technology innovation. We have all that here, but we don’t bear that reputation for how folks think about us. There’s a lot more we have to do to line up a reputation for Michigan as a hub for technology and innovation.”