Largest Energy Fair in the World a Huge Success!
| Our Centergy region is fortunate to have all of the right ingredients - agriculture, Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technologies, Midwest Renewable Energy Association, manufacturing, land, and financial support - to move our state and nation into the top spot in the global renewable energy market.
Each year the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) Energy Fair transforms rural Central Wisconsin into the global hot spot for renewable energy education. The Energy Fair brings over 20,000 people from nearly every state in the U.S. and several countries around the world to learn, connect with others and ready them for action at home. The Energy Fair is the nation's longest running energy education event of its kind - and is located right in the central part of our state.
Click HERE to read about the results of the Fair.
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Meet the Centergy
Board of Directors
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Centergy is blessed to have a strong, diverse board of directors from both the public and private sectors. Meet them HERE. |
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Greetings!
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 Centergy's brand rationale to make region stand out:
Life.Science. Connecting To Tomorrow
Centergy needs to stand out in a competitive landscape to attract attention and facilitate understanding and retention. Centergy needs to occupy an identifiable niche, with a single, defining and differentiating attribute. The label "Life. Science." represents a focused-and bold-brand position. The two words were chosen to reference a broad field of expertise that the region will be known for. "Life. Science." alludes to a wide set of professional disciplines associated with a major future growth sector based in biosciences. These include agriculture, biofuels, health care, medical research, next generation manufacturing, environmental studies, and more.
A manufacturer of wind turbine blades or components that support green architecture; a company that supports sustainability in forestry-related products; or a clean, efficient plant that produces custom-designed parts for OEMs, can all be seen as examples of scientific expertise, and life enhancement. Also, any manufacturer looking ahead will agree that new, cleaner, more efficient methods are needed to help drive success. These methods will certainly be based in science one way or another.
"Life. Science." also ties in with the region's cultural personality and other industries and professional sectors.
Life. Science. Connecting to Tomorrow. This slogan says that the audience will see Centergy as an entity and region where they can access resources and capabilities to move their business forward. "Connecting to Tomorrow" refers to Centergy's ongoing efforts as an advocacy and economic development corporation, and also refers to an opportunity for entrepreneurs or executives to "plug into" existing infrastructure and an active, advanced business environment.
It is important to keep in mind that this brand position will be supported with a considerable amount of support messaging and detail.
Click HERE to see mock-up images of how the brand will be further relayed.
Barb Fleisner
Barb Fleisner
Executive Director
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Central WI Manufacturing Alliance Takes Shape
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 SAVE THE DATE!
The Centergy-led Central Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance is hosting a first annual Manufacturing Dinner and Business-to-Business Networking Event on October 20, 2010. Several manufacturers across Marathon, Portage and Wood Counties have come together to assist in the creation of a manufacturing alliance whose purpose is to: 1. Provide Business-to-Business connections - growing the Central WI manufacturing supply chain. 2. Enhance the image of manufacturing to increase the size of available workers. 3. Advance 'next generation' manufacturing concepts.4. Advocate for legislative support. Click HERE for the action plan in progress to address each of these four initiatives. Please contact the Centergy office should you wish to be part of this regional initiative or to get on the mailing list for the October 20 Manufacturing Dinner and Business-to-Business Networking Event.
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Creative Council Summit a Success
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 On June 30, 2010, 16 emerging leaders from across central Wisconsin participated in a half day Summit to develop organizational structure and action strategies for Centergy's newly formed Creative Council. The purpose of the Creative Council is to provide direction for systemic change that will make the region more attractive to young talent.
The afternoon session was facilitated by Molly Foley of Next Generation Consulting. Ten priorities identified by the council were grouped together into four areas of focus in moving forward over the next 24 months.
1. Encourage and create stronger asset awareness/communication about the region and within the region.
2. Help bridge the leadership gap in civic and non-profit organizations.
3. Assist in developing the "jobs of the future" for the region.
4. Advocate for the amenities, policies, and infrastructure that will enable the region to become a magnet for young, educated talent.
Click HERE for Summit details.
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New Software to Assist in the Movement of Commercial and Industrial Properties
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Centergy has been involved in discussions with commercial and industrial real estate brokers and chambers in central Wisconsin in an attempt to help them better market available sites and buildings and to make our region more accessible to out-of-state site selectors. We commend the Wisconsin Department of Commerce and the Wisconsin Economic Development Association in their leading role to identify new software that offers private sector real estate brokers a way to deal with these shortcomings in the current software.
While the contract is not yet signed, the new platform will allow communities to enter in municipally-owned land and buildings, provide specific detail about properties, implement GIS mapping and demographic software to each site, and provide tools to ensure the database stays current. These will all aid the site selector's decision-making process on what properties to get before their clients and allow our local professional brokers another tool to help their clients as well. The time line for implementation is January 1. The current version of the software will be replaced, but is still available HERE. Please watch for a new direct link on Centergy's Web site in the future.
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