MADISON, Wis. — The United States needs more startup companies and innovation to compete with the rest of the world, General Electric Co. chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt told the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents on Friday.
Immelt, who has helped reshape GE to focus on its more traditional operations, said in order to more rapidly grow the country's economy the U.S. needs more risk capital to help fuel startups, less government regulation, a greater emphasis on research and development and more cooperation with higher education.
"The country only has one problem. We're not growing fast enough," he said in a nearly hour-long address before the UW regents. "Everybody in the world's moving fast and if we're not moving fast, we're going to fall behind." New companies fuel job growth and that's why they need to be nurtured, he said.
Immelt, the chairman and CEO of GE since 2001, told the UW regents that it's time to rethink what a college education means.
"Instead of thinking about a four-year school think about a six-year school where you're going to spend two broad periods working," said Immelt, who also is a member of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees.
While the U.S. graduates about 135,000 engineers annually now, Immelt said there is a capacity to employ 500,000. He urged universities like Wisconsin to find specific growth areas where it can focus and become a national cluster for innovation and development.
He cited Wisconsin's emphasis on health care startup companies. About 6,500 people work for GE Healthcare in southeastern Wisconsin.
Worldwide GE employs about 50,000 engineers and about 40,000 sales people, and sells its products in 160 countries, Immelt said.
