Salt Lake Chamber launches Wasatch Innovation Network to promote tech industry in Utah
Derek Miller, President and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber, speaks about the Wasatch Innovation Network during a press conference at Colliers International in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, July 13, 2021. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – The Salt Lake Chamber met Tuesday to launch the newly formed Wasatch Innovation Network, which includes Utah technology companies, state universities, venture capital, local governments and chambers working together to collaborate on innovation efforts in Utah.
The network has been in operation since late last year and aims to bring together the best minds from Utah’s leading sectors and work to bring strength and insight into Utah’s cutting edge technology industry.
Since innovation can be a word without a clear definition, Paul Ahlstrom, CEO and co-founder of TechBuzz News, defined it as “the interface of invention and market knowledge to do something good”.
“Innovation is at the core of our economy. It’s some kind of innovation or this,” he said.
The network will push for guidelines that encourage innovation, provide national and international marketing for Utah as an innovation and technology leader, support startups with capital and mentoring, meet regularly to address member needs and interests, and with committees working together in each of the major genres of innovation in Utah.
The network will be aligned around four values: membership, growth, innovation and acceleration.
Innovation technology drives trade both in Utah and around the world. In 2019, the tech industry accounted for $ 18.5 billion of Utah’s overall economy, which is over 10%. There is global competition at a speed and scale that is unprecedented, particularly from China, said Brandon Fugal, chairman of Colliers International, a leading professional services and investment management company.
Brandon Fugal, Chairman of Colliers International, speaks about the Wasatch Innovation Network during a press conference at Colliers International in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, July 13, 2021. (Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
“There are many moving parts in any innovation ecosystem, and it is time to connect them across the Wasatch front,” said Derek Miller, President and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance.
Utah is known for a diverse economy, public-private partnerships and a dynamic pioneering spirit with a large number of successful startups and entrepreneurs.
“Utah plays a key role as a leader and innovator,” said Fugal. “Our potential in this state is unlimited.”
Utah’s life sciences industry is one of the fastest growing in the country, and the state’s biotech companies export medical products and services worldwide. Utah was the first state to develop an artificial kidney, heart, and arm.
Last year, BioUtah, Utah’s independent life sciences trade association, launched BioHive, an industry branding initiative to unite Utah life science companies and highlight the industry’s innovations and contributions around the globe.
Kelly McAleer, Account Executive at The Kenney Group and former President and CEO of BioUtah, speaks about the Wasatch Innovation Network during a press conference at Colliers International in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, July 13, 2021. (Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
“Let me stress that the life science and healthcare industries in Utah are excited to attend,” said Kelly McAleer, Account Executive of the Kenney Group and former President and CEO of BioUtah.
Utah has a large number of successful startups. One of them, Owlet, started out in a garage in Provo. Now it’s the best-selling baby monitoring system connecting 1.5 million parents with their children.
Although most startups fail, a supportive community can help this new generation of entrepreneurs do everything right by giving them the network of people who believe in them, said Owlet CEO and Co-Founder Kurt Workman.
“It takes a village to raise a baby and it definitely takes a village to start a business,” he said.
The Wasatch Innovation Network in Utah will provide this type of support by building an inclusive, mentor-supported network to help entrepreneurs get started. And through this foundation, its members hope to bring a diverse group of people together to create and innovate.
“Innovation will only come when we figure out how to nurture a diverse workforce,” said Greg Manuel, vice president and general manager of the Strategic Deterrent Systems Division at Northrop Grumman.
“Defending freedom and advancing the discovery of humanity is our job,” he said. “We are free, we are safe as a nation because of the things we produce.”
But a diverse workforce doesn’t exist without a job, added Astrid Tuminez, president of Utah Valley University. People of Color and first generation college students who bring this diversity to the workforce are being developed and grown and given opportunities in universities.
Now that the network has been formed to bring these bright minds together, what’s next for the innovation technology industry in Utah, and the Wasatch Innovation Network in particular?
“The next step for all of these stakeholders is to come together and turn this habitat into an ecosystem,” Miller said. “Today marks the beginning of a process.”
As the meeting ended, the members of the network in attendance stepped forward to sign its brand new charter.
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