Utah

EDA awarded eight grants totaling $1.4 million in the state of Utah during Fiscal Year 2012.  These grants support strategic economic development planning and job creation in the growing information technology industry sector. 

Investment Spotlight: EDA Project Boosts Opportunities in Mobile Device Software

While smartphones and tablets have only been on the market for a few years, these devices now dominate IT sales across the country. As demand for handheld computing has skyrocketed, so has the demand for applications, or “apps,” that run on them. The software industry is a bright spot in the U.S. economy, as well as a leading American export. Over the past five years, the software industry posted revenue gains in almost every year, and saw employment grow.

In FY 2012, EDA provided $1 million to the Ogden City Corporation of Ogden, Utah, to help fund the construction of a lab to train workers and provide space for business startups in the growing field of software applications for mobile devices.  The initiative is being operated by a consortium of partners that includes the city, WSU, the Weber State University Research Foundation, and private-sector industry leaders. This is a forward-looking partnership to provide mentoring, training, legal services and capital for entrepreneurs, high-tech startups, and small businesses in Ogden. The new lab space will also house a proposed Mobile Apps Accelerator where successful start-up businesses will receive an estimated range of between $2,400,000 to $4,600,000 in total in-kind training assistance and angel investment over a 10 year period. The lab is expected to create 750 jobs and generate up to $4.6 million in private investment over a ten year period, according to grantee estimates.