State of the State: New Milestones in Utah’s Technology Growth

By Richard R. Nelson

It’s official: Utah growth is continuing to set state and national milestones. The Utah Technology Council (UTC) has recently released new data on Utah’s technology industry growth. Using data from the Utah Department of Workforce Services and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for a set of 50 NAICS (Northern American Industry Classification System) codes defined by UTC as the technology industry, we note the following highlights:

	There are currently more than 4,300 Information Technology and Life Science companies in Utah, an increase of 400 over last year’s data, and comprising more than 62,000 high-paying jobs (an increase of 5.1 percent, comprising some 3,000 new technology jobs).

	The average technology salary continues to be 66 percent higher than the statewide average annual nonagricultural wage.

As the top industry in the hottest economy in the nation, Utah’s technology industry grew by 10.4 percent in net new companies from 2005 to 2006 (up from 7.3 percent growth the prior year. The greatest one-year growth occurred for Electronic Shopping/Auctions and Internet Publishing and Broadcasting (a 34.3 percent and 35.9 percent increase in the number of companies, respectively).

Additionally, the 2007 Kauffman Foundation State New Economy Index named Utah in the top five in nine categories, including:

	1.		Number One in Economic Dynamism

	2.		Number Two in Inventor Patents (929 awarded patents in 2006)

	3.		Number Four in Fastest Growing Firms

	4.		Number Five in Venture Capital.

Forbes recently highlighted Utah as one of the Best States for Tech Jobs.

As we consider the “state of our state,” UTC continues to fill an essential role in supporting state legislation to advance the technology industry. In the past year, UTC played a significant role in legislative issues including USTAR, substantial new funding for the Engineering Initiative, new tax credits for research activities, capital gains tax credit resolution to individuals and businesses who reinvest at least 70 percent of capital gains back into Utah companies, and increased funding for the Centers of Excellence.

Utah’s technology industry is clearly growing. Even more exciting is that our growth continues to set new milestones within the U.S. as a whole. Utah is rapidly advancing its prevalence and presence on a national scale.

These new companies are essential to Utah’s tax base. We are also extremely pleased that Utah companies are becoming increasingly able to attract and retain the executive talent they need in order for our growth to continue and our technology industries to continue to thrive.

Richard Nelson is president and CEO of the Utah Technology Council (UTC) and chairman and CEO of the national Council of Regional Information Technology Associations (CRITA). For more information about UTC, readers can visit www.uahtechcouncil.org.