US (MI): 12 Dutch investments in Michigan in past decade;

Michigan government and economic development leaders continued their visit in the Netherlands on Wednesday with a trip to a Dutch company that grows bumblebees for crop pollination. Koppert Biological Systems is headquartered in the Netherlands but employs about 25 people at a facility in Livingston County's Hartland. It's one of about a dozen major Dutch investments in Michigan in the last decade, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Lt. Gov. Brian Calley is visiting several Dutch business leaders and government officials as he promotes Michigan as a place to invest and do business.

He's leading a group of more than 40 people on a six-day investment mission to the Netherlands. They plan to return on Friday. The trip was organized by the West Michigan Global Initiative, a business-led organization that fosters partnerships between Dutch and Michigan business leaders.

Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, right, speaks with Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Calley met Prime Minister Mark Rutte and rang the gong at the New York Stock Exchange/Euronet in Amsterdam.

"We're telling the story about what's changed in Michigan; why it makes sense to look at strategic investments in our state compared to all the other options," he said in a phone call from the Netherlands.

Calley said he feels at home in the Netherlands, where there are already deep cultural ties to West Michigan.

The Netherlands is Michigan's seventh-largest country for direct investment in the state in terms of projects.

But overall, Michigan ranked 47th out of 50 states in terms of foreign direct investment growth in 2011, according to a new report on entrepreneurship released by the Small Business Association of Michigan on Wednesday.

"Attracting more growth from external investment which will definitely happen as this economy picks up, is something I think you need to pay attention to," said report author Graham Toft, president of GrowthEconomics Inc.

Trip participants also focused on learning from the Dutch, said Jamie Clover Adams, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

On Wednesday she met with industry leaders in Food Valley — which she described as similar to the Research Triangle in North Carolina — where food companies and research institutions are clustered. She hopes to foster similar collaboration here between Michigan State University, government and the agriculture sector.

Clover Adams and Calley also made connections for potential exporting opportunities to the Netherlands and elsewhere through the country's ports.

"In the past, most of our efforts centered around how do we get better investment in Michigan, we certainly look for better or more investment in Michigan, but we're also looking to establish new opportunities or markets for Michigan companies looking to sell their products abroad," Calley said.

Michigan companies exported $332.8 million in merchandise to the Netherlands last year, down 12 percent from 2011. Chemicals accounted for nearly a third of Michigan's exports to the Netherlands last year, followed by computer and electronic products, transportation equipment and machinery.

Source: mlive.com