HomeMy WebLinkAboutAeroCatalyst History and Background City of Oshkosh LRF 013018
History and Background
City of Oshkosh Long Range Finance Committee 020718
History of Northeast Wisconsin Aerospace Cluster Development Project
The City of Oshkosh (City) has led the Northeast Wisconsin Aerospace Cluster project from the
beginning and made significant investments in it
Chamco Aviation Development Committee formed in 2008 begins evaluation of aviation
focused cluster and business park in Oshkosh
City and Winnebago County (County) purchase the land adjacent to Wittman Regional
Airport for Oshkosh Aviation Business Park
Chamco works with the City and County to obtain a grant from the U.S. Economic
Development Administration (EDA Grant) to help to put in park
infrastructure
Chamco successfully submits aerospace cluster as a project for a grant from the
Department of Defense, Office of Economic Adjustment grant (DoD Grant)
City makes significant infrastructure investments in the Oshkosh Aviation Business Park
City invests significant staff time in managing the various grants and keeping the project on
track
The City has leveraged its financial and staff time investments with an additional $5,000,000+, as
well as significant staff time investments from other parties
County portion of the park: $1,000,000
EDA grant (2013): $2,000,000
DoD grant (2013-present): more than $2,000,000 just for aerospace
UW Oshkosh investments of staff time
o AeroInnovate programming supporting entrepreneurship and innovation in
aerospace (2008-present)
o Wisconsin Aerospace Partners
aerospace industry (2011-present)
o Grants to UW Oshkosh from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation
(WEDC) focused on aerospace: $260,000
Chamco investments of staff time to support cluster development efforts (2008-2014)
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Greater Oshkosh EDC investments of staff time to support cluster development efforts not
compensated by the DoD Grant (2015-present)
This project has wide support throughout the region and state
Aerospace cluster development is a priority of the Wisconsin Economic Development
Corporation and Lt. Governor Kleefisch, who is the incoming chair of the Aerospace States
Association
Cities and Counties in Northeast Wisconsin have developed a network of
business/industrial parks with an aerospace focus and are talking about how to work
together to develop the regional cluster
Current Efforts to Build out the Cluster Phase 2 of the DoD Grant
Phase 1 of the DoD Grant helped us to identify niche clusters of maintenance, repair and overhaul
and additive manufacturing and identified needs to develop the cluster staffing capacity, talent
development, support for suppliers and manufacturers and access to capital and entrepreneurship
support
Greater Oshkosh EDC building capacity for the cluster by dedicating staff and developing the
workforce
UW Oshkosh
AeroInnovate operating a startup accelerator and year round programming for
entrepreneurs and innovators in aerospace
Wisconsin Aerospace Partners continuing to grow and build out programming to support
aerospace suppliers and manufacturers in Wisconsin
AeroCatalyst Fund will provide access to capital and mentoring to seed to second stage businesses
which are part of the cluster
Why AeroCatalyst Fund?
Entrepreneurship and innovation critical to success of cluster
During the DoD grant planning phase - CƚƭƷĻƩźƓŭ ĻƓƷƩĻƦƩĻƓĻǒƩƭŷźƦ ƷŷƩƚǒŭŷ źƓĭƩĻğƭĻķ ğĭĭĻƭƭ
Ʒƚ ĭğƦźƷğƌ ğƓķ ƚƓŭƚźƓŭ ƒĻƓƷƚƩźƓŭ was identified as a critical need of the aerospace cluster
Similar to AeroInnovate, an industry-focused fund will attract interest from entrepreneurs to start
and develop businesses here
Dedicated source of funding to support this effort only other successful clusters have dedicated
sources of capital, i.e., Research Triangle Park, Boston Bio-Pharma Cluster
It will have an investment committee with early stage investment experience, and will build a
network of mentors in the aerospace industry mentoring is an important ingredient of success
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This expertise and capacity will lead to better investment decisions, mentoring of and connections
for companies and increase the chances of developing a portfolio of strong aerospace companies
in Oshkosh, as part of the larger regional cluster
There is no source of risk capital, coupled with the requisite expertise, to support the aerospace
cluster efforts AeroCatalyst is the answer.
Commitment by the City of Oshkosh to the AeroCatalyst Fund is critical. The Northeast Wisconsin
Aerospace Cluster started with you, has been significantly supported by you as well as others
including the EDA, DoD, WEDC and UW Oshkosh. It will be difficult to get others to contribute to
this fund without the City.
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