Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. on Wednesday said he wants to know why Utah's high-technology sector has lost employment and "our competitive edge" the past few years.

Speaking at Novell Inc.'s annual BrainShare user conference at the Salt Palace, Huntsman noted that the state last year had about 56,000 high-tech workers, down from a peak of 66,000 in 2001. For its part, Massachusetts-based Novell has about 2,800 workers in Utah.

"Now, what have we done to lose our competitive edge, and who is gaining on us? Those are the questions I want answered as governor," he said.

Utah has about 2,500 tech firms, but their percentage of the state's overall payroll also has slipped.

"We need to look at all of the areas that one would consider part of a competitive environment, and one thing that has become crystal clear to me as chief executive of this state is we don't create jobs," Huntsman said. "We shouldn't be creating jobs. Our responsibility is to create an environment — a competitive environment in which the private sector, which is many of you, decide who the winners and losers are."

He said Utah needs to make changes to its tax policy and do a better job of attracting tourists in order to be "competitive and relevant." An $18 million fund to help with tourism promotion will lead, he said, to an "unprecedented branding campaign for the state."

Huntsman said Utah has a great work force, "an entrepreneurial zeal that doesn't end" and technical competence and literacy, but the state needs more capital and advisory services.

The metropolitan area and entire state are seeing major changes in their economies, he said.

"While a third of exports are copper and steel, they come from the land, which is traditionally what the economy has been based upon. Now, more and more our exports are based on the brain, the mind, on technology and productivity. We're living in changing times where in this area we have about 2,500 so-called high technology companies, and many of them are seeing their revenues derived not from the marketplace here."

To be competitive in the global marketplace in the future will require that Utahns know different cultures, languages and technology, he said.

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