Utah 'economic dynamism' No. 1

He said the dynamism ranking is not surprising when the underlying components are considered. "We've long known that the Inc. 500 high-growth companies have underscored Utah's success," he said. "In fact, the Inc. 500 highlighted Utah as the epicenter of high-growth companies just three years ago."

The "dynamism" ranking was among five core categories that incorporated several indicators. Others were "knowledge jobs," where Utah was 15th; digital economy, 18th; innovation capacity, 18th; and globalization, 32nd.

Perry said Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has been talking about globalization as a need to be filled in Utah.

"We've got to start tapping into the global economy and take our business more to those environments," he said, noting trade missions, the establishment of an international trade office and world trade center developments among the initiatives. "That one key area shows the gap we've been trying fill the past couple of months. That's one area where we can really improve."

Among the 26 indicators from various sources used for the index score, Utah's top 10 rankings included second for e-government and inventor patents; third for job churning, online population and Internet domain names; fourth for fastest-growing firms; fifth for venture capital; and 10th for high-tech jobs and high-wage traded services.

Regarding venture capital, Nelson said Utah's "fund of funds" "is working now that it's been open the past year in attracting additional substantial new sources of capital to the state."

Utah finished in the middle of the pack in several categories and dead last for computer and Internet usage in schools. But the report noted that one surprise was that several states with strong technology economies — California, Maryland and New Hampshire among them — have generally scored near the bottom on that measure.

Perry said that ranking might be offset by Utah's third-place listing for online population. "Our state is very well-connected already in our homes in every capacity ... so, by itself, it (the school technology ranking) is not particularly alarming. If you had very low technology in our schools and a low measurement of connectivity in our population, that would be much more concerning," he said.

Among Utah references in the report was one noting that top-ranking states tend to be wealthier. "Some states with higher per capita incomes lag behind in their scores (for example, Alaska, Illinois and Wyoming), while other states with lower incomes do relatively well (such as Texas and Utah)," it said.

Among other statistics and comments about Utah in the report were:

• Utah and Michigan were listed as "states with a tradition of 'good government."'