Utah is back in the technology game, experts say

That attitude is reflected at the state government level through "a new attitude and a new feel" among economic development officials about technology, plus the Legislature's funding of the Utah Science, Technology and Research, or USTAR, initiative, he said.

USTAR has been predicted to eventually lead to more than 100,000 jobs and $5 billion in new state tax revenue. "Even if 50 percent of that is true, it's still a pretty good thing," Edwards said.

On other topics during the luncheon:

• Edwards said Utah can be strong in the medical devices field, although many companies are under constant pressure to off-shore operations. While their products are commodities, they often require high-skill labor to produce them, he said.

  "I think that's a niche for us — a really great niche where we can take advantage of our lower cost base, our lower labor costs, yet compete very favorably with companies that are under pressure to off-shore or near-shore or whatever," Edwards said.

• Ken Krull, associate of vSpring Capital, noted that Utah's access to venture capital has improved during the past decade, but the state still lags behind neighbor Colorado, "which is two to three times our size and its venture infrastructure is maybe a little bit more mature." -->
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• Bertoch expects several Utah companies to have initial public offerings. "There's probably a total of six in the state that may go out in the next 12 to 18 months. . . . It depends on how they get things together and how the stars align," he said.

• The IM Flash facility in Lehi will be a boon to the economy, according to Edwards.

"I've heard, 'Well, it's that old Micron place. It's just that old facility down there, and wasn't the state stupid to give them the incentives?' When I hear that, it just drives me nuts," he said.

But the plant will eventually have 1,800 high-paying jobs. "I'm really excited about it," Edwards said. "It's broad-based employment across a lot of salary ranges and job types. It will make a difference."

Utah County technologists have an "unbelievable churn," Edwards said. "There are a bazillion little start-up guys down there that want to do this or that with software or IP Web support or so on. A lot of them are tremendously undercapitalized, but there are some great ideas inside these little companies, and we've got to figure out a way to capture them and help them become more mainstream."

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E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com

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