World-changing ideas will continue to flow from Ann Arbor, to be sure, but very few things will be actually made there. It takes a city of Detroit’s size, diversity, and manufacturing capacity to turn world-changing ideas into world-changing products. If Detroit continues to fail, the region will never be the economic powerhouse it once was—and people will not want to once again live, work, and raise their families here.
The People Mover is running now. My wife and I take our two young boys downtown sometimes just to ride it. They love it. Every time we take them into the city of Detroit, I am always struck by how impressed they are by the tall buildings. I don’t tell them that most of the buildings they’re marveling at are empty and decaying inside. Between college and my return to Detroit 15 years ago, I lived in the Boston area, in Manhattan, near Philadelphia, and I know what “real cities” should look like. Detroit isn’t there yet.
If the Xconomists shied away from tackling the quandary of downtown Detroit head-on, they had a wealth of ideas for the region that could be instructive for the downtown as well. Many of them are already being implemented. And some of them are direct criticisms of strategies being taken.
Susannah Malarkey, executive director of the Technology Alliance in Washington state, writes: “Here is a don’t: Don’t chase after out-of-state businesses with big tax breaks. It’s so last century and it is a big waste of time and taxpayer money. Really focus on growing your own.” This could be a direct criticism of what Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s administration is doing—although I would add that tax breaks are being used not only to attract out-of-state companies, but to make sure Michigan’s homegrown businesses do not leave for greener pastures.
MIT professor Robert Langer writes: “Bring more venture capital into the region.” I met many people at the recent Michigan Growth Capital Symposium who would agree—although the positive spin on that is because Michigan hosts so few deals, we appreciate what we get and really know how to give VCs their money’s worth when they do invest.
Deborah Dunsire, president and CEO of Millenium, the Takeda Oncology Company in Boston, writes: “By developing partnerships with universities like University of Michigan and Wayne State University, local entrepreneurs can access new ideas and support incubator companies coming out of these
