What happens at a university can have an impact far beyond the campus itself.
That was one of the themes that emerged during Thrive Economic Development’s recent day-long visit to UW-Madison. The visit brought together representatives from ThriveED and several Jefferson County communities with university leaders, researchers and business-engagement staff.
The goal was to learn about some of the work happening at UW-Madison Department of Food Science and explore how stronger connections between the university and Jefferson County could benefit businesses, communities and residents.
Our group began with UW-Madison Food Science Professor Scott Rankin, followed by a tour of the Kikkoman Laboratory of Microbial Fermentation. Later conversations included the Center for Dairy Research, the USDA Cereal Crop Research Unit and the university’s Malting Quality Lab.
While the science is highly specialized, the larger idea is easier to understand: research taking place at UW-Madison can eventually lead to new products, better manufacturing processes, growing companies and new opportunities.
That connection is especially relevant for Jefferson County. Food and beverage manufacturing is already one of the county’s strengths, and new investment is adding to that momentum. Building relationships with researchers and university leaders can help us better understand emerging technologies, connect existing companies with expertise and consider how Jefferson County might play a role as new ideas move from research toward commercial production.
Over lunch, the Jefferson County group met with UW-Madison Vice Chancellor for University Relations Craig Thompson, where the discussion went beyond food science. Economic development increasingly involves issues that once may have been viewed separately: workforce, housing, education, health, infrastructure and quality of life. They are all connected to whether people and communities can thrive. UW–Madison is exploring the concept of food as medicine, recognizing the powerful role nutrition plays in health. In Jefferson County, we have approached housing in a similar way, recognizing stable housing as an important social determinant of health.
The connection is an important one. Healthy communities require more than medical care. They require stable homes, access to nutritious food, meaningful employment and opportunities for people to participate fully in their communities. Those intersections create possibilities for partnerships that cross traditional organizational boundaries.
One of the most valuable outcomes of a day like this is not what we learned while we were on campus; it’s what happens next. Economic development is often about making connections before you know exactly where they will lead. A conversation between a scientist and a manufacturer can become a new process. A student internship can become a career. University research can become a commercial product. And a relationship formed during a campus visit can eventually become an investment in a Jefferson County community.
And after a full day of food science, fermentation, dairy research, cereal crops and economic development conversations, there was no better way to finish the visit than with one final Wisconsin innovation: Babcock ice cream.