Milwaukee Launches First Innovation District in Walker’s Point
Public-private partnership between City leadership and community innovators aims to drive inclusive growth and new opportunities
Common Council President José G. Pérez has introduced file #250660 – a resolution creating a Milwaukee Innovation District. The file designates a portion of the Walker’s Point neighborhood and surrounding areas as a Milwaukee Innovation District – a place where creativity meets strategy, allowing for the convergence of people, ideas, and resources in ways that drive sustainable growth as characterized by new models of entrepreneurship, research, design, technology development, and collaboration between public and private sectors.
The resolution also establishes a public-private leadership model. President Pérez is partnering with Steve Glynn, Chief Milwaukee Officer of Experience Milwaukee and operator of the Wantable Café, to guide the Innovation District’s launch and ongoing development. Glynn notes, “After years connecting people, ideas, and opportunities in Milwaukee, I’m honored to help launch our first Innovation District.”
The file will be heard at the next meeting of the Community and Economic Development Committee at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 1 in room 301-B at City Hall, 200 E. Wells St. The meeting will also be streamed live on the City Channel (channel 25 on Spectrum Cable and channel 99 on AT&T U-Verse in the City of Milwaukee) and via streaming video on the city website at city.milwaukee.gov/Channel25.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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Recent Press Releases by Common Council President Jose Perez
Milwaukee Launches First Innovation District in Walker’s Point
Sep 29th, 2025 by Common Council President Jose PerezPublic-private partnership between City leadership and community innovators aims to drive inclusive growth and new opportunities
Oh good another “creative space.” 2006 called and wants its “innovative idea” back.
Ha! @AttyDanAdams… I hear you. There’s a lot of jargon and mushy language in this. It left me asking: “Is an innovation district an actual thing?” “If so, what is it?!”
Well, here we go:
https://giid.org/articles/what-are-innovation-districts/
Says they require economic, networking, and physical assets.
Think wanting to create the synergy of Silicon Valley, but, at least in the case of Walker’s Point, with the vibe of San Francisco’s South of Market and Dogpatch districts when SV companies started moving up there 20 years ago.
More to the point, all the models mention things like government labs, R&D facilities, academic institutions, advanced manufacturing centers of excellence and sophisticated prototyping facilities. Basically, little to none of which exists in Walkers Point currently. And, is this really what Walker’s Point aspires to be?
I personally thinks it’s a heavy lift. I’d be thrilled to be proven wrong—it would be a real feather in Milwaukee’s cap but, in recent decades, Milwaukee has excelled at losing companies, corporate HQs, manufacturing, and industry ready talent.