The power of partnership

Early in June 2026, I stood on the floor of the Lambeau Field atrium for the Wisconsin Drives Manufacturing Summit—and I watched something remarkable unfold.

Before the first speaker took the stage, conversations were already underway. A manufacturer from Wausau was deep in discussion with a College of Engineering faculty member. A technical college leader from northeast Wisconsin exchanged notes with a Rockwell Automation executive. Congressional staffers from Washington, D.C., listened as small business owners described challenges and opportunities that rarely reach national policy conversations.

None of these conversations was scheduled. They happened because hundreds of people from different sectors were finally in the same room—brought together by a shared commitment to Wisconsin’s manufacturing future.

I left Green Bay with a simple conviction: our greatest progress—as a community, a state, a society—comes from partnership.

There is a reason we gathered at Lambeau Field. The Green Bay Packers are unique in American professional sports: They belong to Wisconsin—not to a single owner, but to a community. Their continuity is sustained by shared belief and collective responsibility.

Wisconsin manufacturing reflects a similar truth. It’s not defined by any one company or sector. Rather, this sector has been built by thousands of firms, nearly half a million workers and generations of knowledge shaped on shop floors, in design labs, in technical colleges and in family-owned businesses across our state. It cannot be easily relocated or replicated. It endures because people choose—every day—to invest in it, improve it and pass it forward.

Despite manufacturing’s deep history in our state, what I heard at Lambeau was not nostalgia. It was ambition.

Manufacturers are integrating AI—not to replace human expertise, but to amplify it. Companies are developing components for energy systems and advanced technologies that did not exist a decade ago. Family-owned businesses are asking how to ensure the next generation inherits something stronger than what they received.

I heard a plant manager describe how a new process developed in a College of Engineering lab reduced scrap rates by nearly a third. I heard workforce leaders talk about the demand for technical graduates outpacing supply. I heard engineers and executives describe a manufacturing landscape defined not just by scale, but by precision, adaptability and innovation.

This is not recovery. It is a renaissance—one driven by partnership.

Too often, “partnership” is treated as a transaction—a sponsorship, a grant, a contract. But real connections begin when people see a shared problem—when a manufacturer says, “Here is a challenge I cannot solve alone,” and a researcher responds, “Here is something I have been working on that might help,” or another manufacturer adds, “We can meet that need.”

That is what I saw—even before the summit’s sessions began, in the breakout rooms, during breaks, and in conversations that continued long after the day ended. A faculty member whose work had been largely theoretical left with new industry collaborators and a clearer path to impact. A manufacturer who had never engaged with a research university left with the beginnings of a joint project.

These outcomes were not scripted. They emerged from proximity, trust and shared purpose. This was the Wisconsin Idea in action.

At its core, it holds that the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state—that education and discovery should serve every community, everywhere.

I think about that often as I travel across Wisconsin through Project 72—my commitment to the impact of engineering heard and felt in each county. In each county I visit, I meet people who are building the future of our state: manufacturers, educators, entrepreneurs, workforce leaders and students. Their aspirations are remarkably consistent—strong communities, meaningful work, opportunity for the next generation, and a belief that the future can be better than the present.

The opportunity before us now is to connect those aspirations to our state’s strengths—its research universities, technical colleges, industry partners, advocates and many, many other resources.

The Wisconsin Drives Manufacturing Summit was one expression of that opportunity—an event where ideas, expertise and experience met and now can move forward together. What happens next is even more important: the follow-up conversations, joint projects, internships, research collaborations and decisions shaped by relationships formed in a shared space at Lambeau Field.

That is the real measure of impact. Manufacturing in Wisconsin does not need saving. It is already transforming. And that transformation accelerates when we work together more intentionally across institutions, communities and emerging sectors like fusion energy and quantum technology.

The summit will return in 2027. It will grow and evolve—but its purpose will remain the same: to bring people together and create the conditions where partnership can take root.

This is how progress happens.

The Green Bay Packers do not succeed because they belong to one person. They succeed because they belong to many. Wisconsin manufacturing is no different. Its strength lies in a shared commitment to build, adapt and endure together.

That is our advantage. That is our responsibility. And that is our opportunity.

On, Wisconsin!

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