Letter to Crain’s Chicago Business Editor: Invest in R&D

Written by: John A. Carpenter, President & CEO | Choose DuPage  Recent headlines don’t boast many positives when it comes to our state’s rising unemployment rate, now at 6.4 percent (“Illinois unemployment rises slightly,” March 24). Yet in comparison, DuPage County has remained a hub of economic activity and maintains one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state.

 

So what is DuPage County doing so differently versus the state of Illinois?

 

Due to our insight at the Choose DuPage Economic Development Alliance, we have continuously advocated on behalf of innovative industries. In contrast, the state is limiting itself by pushing pro-innovation reforms to the wayside. Illinois has failed at protecting R&D industries by allowing the tax credit to renew and expire four times over the last 13 years, and currently we are one of the only states without the credit in place. Choose DuPage, along with the Advance Illinois Manufacturing Coalition, stands ready to work with lawmakers to support a modern and permanent R&D tax credit, because it would be a shot in the arm to our ailing state economy. Innovation can be the key to Illinois’ economic growth, and I encourage legislators to support a permanent R&D tax credit as the means to do that. View on Crain’s Website