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Michigan

Michigan

What has Michigan to offer a UK-based company? To start with, the fact that the state is surrounded by four of the five Great Lakes will certainly help a British corporate family feel right at home! But aside from exceptional natural resources and cultural and recreational amenities, there are very sound business reasons why more than 500 UK-based companies have already committed to operations in Michigan.

Among them are access to a highly-skilled labour force, proximity to customers and suppliers, a strategically-located export platform and world-class university and research capability. Excellent transportation links include regular nonstop flights from Detroit Metropolitan Airport to destinations in Europe, Asia, Mexico and Canada. Deepwater ports, 38 in total, give access to the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic via the St Lawrence Seaway.

Attracting investment

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s (MEDC) International Development Unit has led investment missions to Europe and Asia, including two led by Governor Jennifer Granholm within the past 12 months. As a result of these missions, over 15 international companies have announced plans to locate or expand in Michigan. The MEDC is able to offer tax credits, site selection assistance and many other services to international companies investing and creating new jobs in the state.

Facilitating exports

The MEDC unveiled a new Strategic Market Access Program (SMAP) in 2005 providing Michigan companies the opportunity to introduce products to targeted markets in China and Mexico where the MEDC operates international trade offices. Efforts are focused on companies of 500 employees or less.

Attracting high-tech

The state that topped the ranking of US Automotive Power Centers again this year is acknowledged as the “brain centre” of the world’s automotive industry. At $10.3bn, the state continues to account for the lion’s share of the nation’s auto-related R&D expenditure. In the past 30 months, Michigan has welcomed an influx of automotive R&D, testing, engineering facilities and expansions of companies, including BorgWarner, Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, Akebono and Saab. The state’s burgeoning presence in the new nanotechnology sciences was underlined by the 4th International Dendrimer Symposium at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, the first time the event has been held in the Western Hemisphere. Dendrimers (polymer molecules) were discovered at Dow Chemical in Midland. In the renewable energy sector, some 130 companies in Michigan are exploring alternative fuel sources.


Incoming investment

An increasingly business-friendly climate offering a streamlined permitting process and revolutionary tax incentives makes Michigan a top magnet for European business. Expansion Management magazine’s 5th annual survey of European capital investment in the US manufacturing sector ranked Michigan second, citing the nearly 30 European companies investing in the Detroit-Warren-Livonia metro area over a two-year period. The Great Lakes State is now home to more than 3,760 divisions, affiliates and subsidiaries of firms representing more than 40 countries and all industry and service sectors, with more than 512 UK-based.

UK firms already here

Among the British-based firms thriving here are Smiths Aerospace, Pilkington North America, Automold, Hawtal Whiting, Bodycote, GKN Sinter Metals, Ricardo UK Ltd. and TI Automotive.

For more information, visit: www.michigan.org

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