3 big takeaways from the Detroit Policy Conference
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Mayor Mike Duggan answers reporters' questions after giving a talk at the Detroit Policy Conference. Photo: Annalise Frank/Axios
Retaining the talent that Michigan and Detroit are losing was the central quandary at Thursday's Detroit Policy Conference at MotorCity Casino.
The big picture: The annual stakeholder meeting gathered city government leaders, corporate execs, educators, funders and nonprofits for a series of panels.
- They talked around a theme of "innovation" — an amorphous concept that splintered into discussions of the need for regional transit, incoming developments that aim to make Detroit more of a research destination, and how to keep startup founders in-state.
Here are three key takeaways from our time at the conference:
RenCen reset: Developers hoping to bring the Renaissance Center back to life signaled that they're willing to work with lawmakers who balked at the $1.6 billion project last year.
- Executives from Dan Gilbert's Bedrock firm and General Motors were apologetic about misconceptions created by the plan's introduction in November.
- The $250 million in state money for the project would come from the Transformational Brownfield Program rather than any up-front payment, they said.
- "The rollout of this didn't necessarily convey ultimately what we're trying to do," David Massaron, GM's chief economic development officer, said. "We're trying to situate the most important parcel of land in the city for the next 50 years."
Big sites to pitch dwindling: What was once an abundance of land used in Mayor Mike Duggan's strategy to draw manufacturers to the city is down to just two or three "big enough" sites, he said during an on-stage chat at the conference.
- Duggan didn't say if plans are forming for developers of these remaining sites, which include the riverfront Uniroyal site and 60 acres by the airport.
- But he has pivoted his focus the last couple years from plants with relatively low-wage roles to "jobs of the future" at high-tech companies that don't require huge swaths of land.
Big hopes for startup capital: Funder Dug Song of the Song Foundation, and other speakers, pointed to Michigan's and Detroit's need to attract more startups with great ideas, and talented young business creators who want to stay in the region.
- "Sometimes in Michigan, we train the best but we keep the rest," Song said.
- Case in point: Just three of 46 U of M alumni unicorn startups were based in Michigan, per Song.
The bottom line: "The challenge we have right now is Michigan isn't in crisis now, but 5-10 years from now, if we aren't thinking this through, it's going to be the other areas of the country we envy," Duggan said of public policy embracing AI and other innovative technologies.