- A first look tonight at how the University of Wisconsin
could benefit from Foxconn locating in the state.
On Wednesday, flanked by UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca
Blank and officials from the UW School of Medicine,
Governor Scott Walker touted the potential biomedical advances
that could result from a joint research effort
between the UW and Foxconn.
- We think there's incredible applications.
We're excited about that.
We hope that as they build this new product,
here in the state of Wisconsin,
that our health care systems and our schools and medicine
can be at the forefront of using that technology
and having access to that
at the forefront really around the world.
- Governor Walker appearing at UW Hospital touting the promise
of Foxconn technology in Wisconsin biotech industry.
In tonight's first look, we hear from Lisa Johnson,
the CEO of BioForward, an organization that advocates
for the state's biomedical industry.
She joins us by telephone and thanks a lot for doing so.
- My pleasure, Frederica. Good to be here.
- First of all what's your reaction to Foxconn potentially
locating a medical devise or research facility in Wisconsin,
even in Dane County?
- It's extremely positive and very exciting.
This is really due to what's happening in southeast Wisconsin
with their big screen potentially manufacturing plant
in southeast Wisconsin.
But also we've been working with their medical division
for a couple months and
certainly they're looking at Wisconsin on this front
because of our outstanding research institutions,
our strengths in the biosciences, medical technology.
So it's really exciting that there is this potential.
But again, this is also very much due to
what's happening in southeast Wisconsin.
- Right.
So we're speaking with a radiologist in a moment,
but broadly what applications would the company's technology
have in the medical field?
- So there's a couple fronts.
On the screens themselves, they're 8K technology,
and again, I'm not a surgeon,
but it provides such high-quality resolution
that it provides surgeons
with a much better view of the body while in surgery
that would allow them more precision.
I would assume then less errors, better outcomes
and ultimately less health care costs.
But that's just their screen technology.
There's an investment in medical technology
that goes beyond that.
And they're very much into precision medicine,
from treatment to prevention.
And that's where you're starting to see
this medical division stepping in and looking
at medical technologies here or our research institutions.
So they really have a broad path in the medical technology area
beyond their screens, which the radiologist will be addressing.
We're also seeing that in the college area, too,
that they're looking at.
- BioForward expects to have a representative from Foxconn,
I understand, as its keynote speaker in October.
What do you expect to hear from that representative?
- Yeah.
I really expect to hear trends in the health care industry.
I mean, they're cutting edge.
And so I'm expecting them
and that's kind of a theme that we have.
We also have Samsung coming in, their chief medical officer.
And how virtual reality is being used in health care.
What you see are these electronic giants.
They're really critical to medical technology,
medical advances in the future.
So we're going to be hearing about that from Foxconn.
But also looking--
What's really fascinating about Foxconn,
they're also saying what else is out there?
They're looking for innovation and what are the next steps
to their company, to their medical technology division.
So I think they will be addressing that.
I'm going to be assuming so.
So I think that's really exciting for the whole community
to be hearing where is that company going
and how can Wisconsin be a part of that.
We don't get these opportunities.
So Foxconn really-- if we can get this company into Wisconsin,
it could have a major impact on our medical community.
- All right. Well, that's great news.
Lisa Johnson, thanks very much for joining us.
- Thank you for having me.
- Just what are the specific applications for Foxconn's
liquid-crystal display panel technology in the medical field?
For that, we turn to Dr. Scott Reeder,
UW Medical School Professor of Radiology,
Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics.
Doctor, thanks very much for being here.
- Great to be here.
- So what is it about the technology that Foxconn
could bring to Wisconsin that is most promising in your mind?
- So Foxconn has unique display technology that would be helpful
in medical imaging in a variety of ways.
One of the things that we focus on historically
is better ways to acquire data more rapidly.
There's new techniques. There's more data.
And to be able to display this all at the end
so a physician such as a radiologist or surgeons can view this
is really what's needed.
This is really I think where the opportunity lies.
- So even more specifically,
how would that be used in patient care?
- Right, so it can be used in a number of ways.
It could be used to facilitate
improved visualization for endoscopy.
An actual camera placed inside the body.
Or being able to put multimodality information together,
like CT, ultrasound and MRI
and to display this in unique ways that we couldn't before.
- Do people at the UW, at the medical school, in the hospital,
the practitioners, do they feel like we would be so far ahead
because Foxconn would be in our backyard?
- I think they would allow us
to have some unique collaborations.
And it certainly would allow us to work with
this unique manufacturer of advanced imaging technology.
We've been able to enjoy that kind of relationship
with other manufacturers.
And that really does provide cutting edge research--
pardon me, cutting edge technology for our patients.
- How would any of that of which you speak
compare to what you're using now?
- Well, right now, we're using
sort of standard display technologies.
And so having a collaboration with Foxconn to explore
how we can do this I think is really quite unknown
to understand the full potential.
But it is something that would allow us again to display that
information in unique ways that we haven't been able to before.
- Now, you're the chief of MRI
and the Director of the UW Liver Imaging Research Program
that performs research in technical development
and translation of new imaging methods.
So how would Foxconn's technology,
especially being here as we've discussed,
help in that research and development?
- What we're doing in the liver imaging research program is that
we're developing new imaging technologies mostly focused on
the acquisition and the reconstruction
that is generating the images in unique ways
to look at things like liver disease and other diseases,
especially quantitative imaging, as well.
So we do this in close collaboration with partners
such as GE Healthcare to explore new techniques
and new ways of doing this.
So I think that developing a relationship with Foxconn would
make a lot of sense in terms of understanding how we can
use their unique technologies to improve medical imaging.
- And do you feel as though there would be
kind of partnerships with places like GE?
- Absolutely.
So partnerships with not only the university,
but also partnerships with GE.
There's really a nexus of medical imaging industry
within southern Wisconsin, largely centered around GE.
A number of spin-off companies
that have come out of universities.
So there's a wide variety of partnerships that could happen
between industry, between academics and industry,
as well as multicenter studies.
There's really a critical mass of talent in this area.
I think Foxconn really could be a big player
and really add to that in a significant way.
- And this is well-known, across the world presumably,
that Wisconsin is the hub of this kind of activity?
- You know, I'm not sure that it is.
Among the medical imaging community it certainly is.
GE is one of the largest manufacturers
of medical imaging technologies in the world.
And their world headquarters is here in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
They have a long-standing relationship with
Medical College of Wisconsin and University of Wisconsin.
And there are a large number of spin off companies
that have also come out of that as well.
So I think it's something that actually is not well-appreciated
but is really a unique and interesting strength of Wisconsin.
- So how excited are you for the prospect of Foxconn?
- Oh, I think this is a great opportunity.
The exact outcomes of this and how it will play out
have yet to be determined.
But when you have someone who has specific and unique technology
that would be applicable to medical imaging,
it can only be good.
- All right. Dr. Scott Reeder.
Thanks very much. - Thank you.
- Even with a secondary Foxconn site under consideration
for Dane County, southeast Wisconsin
is poised to welcome the giant flat screen plant,
thousands of new jobs and that spin-off development.
In tonight's closer look, the governor and others say
the whole state will prosper because of Foxconn locating
its $10 billion plant in Racine or Kenosha.
Even though the legislature's Democrats mostly oppose
the risk of the $3 billion state incentive package,
three reps from that part of the state
including the minority leader voted in favor.
Without the proximity of the plant to sway opinion though,
we wondered what people in southwest Wisconsin thought
about whether Foxconn would be a good deal.
We visited Richland Center to find out.
- I think it's a great deal.
I like the idea that someone like Foxconn
is thinking of Wisconsin.
- Anything that puts Wisconsin on the business map
is good news for Karin Tepley.
Her former business couldn't weather the past recession
in this small city.
It's Richland Center, population just over 5,000.
It's the county seat and the people we met
were well-informed with definite opinions about Foxconn.
- I like the fact that other people are thinking Wisconsin.
We're not just this little Midwestern state anymore,
it seems like.
- When somebody offers me something
that seems too good to be true, it usually is.
And $3 billion is--
You know, that's a dollar a second for 90 or 100 years.
- Daniel Miller runs the Main Street Book Shop.
- Now we're supposed to come up with $3 billion
for jobs we don't know are going to be there.
We don't know if they're going to be there.
- He's not alone in his concern
about the state's incentive package.
- $3 billion is a huge amount that's going to be taken away
from the state that could go into our, you know, schools,
could go into our roads.
$3 billion is a huge amount.
- I'm opposed to it.
I'm generally opposed to all aspects of corporate welfare.
- For attorney Benjamin Southwick,
it's that incentive package
to lure the Taiwanese flat screen manufacturer
that sours him on the deal.
- On one hand I certainly understand the desire
of states and municipalities to
have private sector jobs and to attract those jobs.
But in my opinion, it's obscene the way
states and municipalities compete with one another
by offering more and more incentives
for corporations to move there.
- I'm concerned about it, partially because of
the payback is so far in advance.
And if you think about other technology,
25 years is a long time,
like eight track tapes and all this sort of thing.
I'm old enough to have lived through
a lot of this technology.
Is it still going to be good 25 years from now?
- Shirley Steiner says everyone
she sees is talking about Foxconn and considering
everything that's in the legislation paving its way.
- The other thing, I'm concerned about the environment.
I don't want all of the DNR requirements
for the environmental things just sort of pushed aside
to get this in there in a hurry.
- We ran into David Teiwes
at Richland Center's main crossroads.
He says any statewide economic boost is all positive.
- My personal opinion is that if it brings jobs to Wisconsin,
I think it would be a great, great idea.
- But will that great idea realize growth
in western counties or up north in places
often left out of development in urban corridors?
- I'm sure they will have spin-offs
for the southeastern part of the state.
I can't imagine any of those spin-offs
reaching Richland County.
- And so as to the question of whether the benefits
will reach places like Richland Center,
the owner of a local coffee shop is only half-joking
when she wonders if Foxconn has any friends who
would like to locate a similar major employer in her town.
- You know, we have very friendly people,
a great coffeehouse to go to.
No, but, you know, there's a lot of benefits,
and it would be great to have a place like that move here.