FOURTH QUARTER | SUMMER
2014
Utah Site Selection Quarterly
A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E E C O N O M I C D E V E LO P M E N T C O R P O R AT I O N O F U TA H
The Salt Palace has been a staple of conventions in Utah since its construction in 1969. It has undergone two major revisions, the latest being in 1995.
Another Strong Year for
Economic Development
We just completed our
2013-2014 fiscal year,
and the preliminary
results indicate another
exceptional year for
economic development. We won’t
report our final numbers until our
annual meeting in October, but it looks
like we have added 8,326 new jobs to
Utah’s economy and retained another
733 jobs for the 12-month period. That’s
more than 9,000 new jobs added to
our economy that otherwise wouldn’t
be here.
2013/14 Fiscal
New Convention Hotel Will Help Keep
Salt Lake Viable as Convention Destination
In 2013 Salt Lake City cracked Cvent’s list of
top 50 U.S. cities for meetings. Cvent is the
largest online event management and
registration company and its ranking is based
on booking activity, such as RFPs received
and room nights booked.
“It’s exciting to be ranked among the top cities
for meetings and events in the United States,”
says Scott Beck, president and CEO of Visit
Salt Lake, the county’s convention and
visitors’ bureau.
Two of the major shows held in Salt Lake
City that likely helped it crack the list are the
world’s largest outdoor gear shows: the
Outdoor Retailer Summer and Winter
Markets, which have been staged here since
1996. The 2014 Summer Market is set to take
place Aug. 6-9 in the Salt Palace Convention
Center and August 5 at the Open Air Demo at
Pineview Reservoir in Weber County. This
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year’s Summer Market is expected to be
bigger than ever. Average attendance has
grown 13 percent over the last four years and
the number of exhibitors has also expanded
significantly.
In the 18 years since the markets moved to
Salt Lake City, direct delegate spending by
Outdoor Retailer attendees has totaled more
than $468 million and generated approximately $43.6 million in city, county and state
taxes, according to the University of Utah’s
Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
Research show the average Outdoor Retailer
delegate spends $923 while attending the
Summer or Winter Markets in Salt Lake City.
Outdoor Retailer (OR), produced by the
Nielsen Expo Outdoor Group, is booked in
Salt Lake City through the end of 2016. As
the state’s largest convention event, keeping
OR in Salt Lake City has been a huge priority.
For more information, and Site Selection, please visit edcutah.org.
Year-End Numbers:
The new jobs
New Jobs
8,326
represent 36
new companies
Jobs Retained
733
bringing
Companies
operations to
locating in Utah
36
Utah, seven of
Capital
which were
Investment$677M
headquarters
relocations. As for jobs retained, those
are jobs that were headed out of the
state through acquisitions or transfers,
which we were able to keep in Utah by
working with the companies and
helping them see the benefits of remaining in Utah. We will also see more than
$677 million in new capital investment in
the state through business expansion
and new construction.
Meanwhile, Oracle recently announced
plans to open a new technical
support center in Salt Lake County.
The company will make a $6 million
investment and add another 350 jobs
to its Utah workforce over the next
10 years.
We are currently working more than
200 open projects and continue to
add new projects every month. Our
business development team brought
on 16 new projects and hosted six site
visits during June. Here’s a breakdown
of our open projects by industry:
(Continued on page 5)
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But it hasn’t been easy. With more and more
exhibitors and attendees, the shows out grew
the available convention space, prompting
the Salt Palace to expand twice.
City, county and state leaders are now
working on the development of a 1,000-room
convention hotel, not just to make Salt Lake
got behind the endeavor. HB 356 passed,
creating a post-performance $75 million
tax-rebate incentive for the hotel and set up a
mitigation fund for existing downtown hotels
to tap for financial assistance should their
bottom lines be harmed by the hotel. The cost
of the tax rebate will be shared by Salt Lake
City, Salt Lake County and the State of Utah.
PA G E 2
conventions, which were courted last year by
four other cities. For that reason, Beck says
Visit Salt Lake never stops talking to its
customers about what is next.
“We begin negotiations for the next contract
the day after the last contract was signed,”
Beck adds. “It is inherent in every relation-
“It’s exciting to
be ranked among
the top cities for
meetings and
events in the
United States.”
Horse-drawn wagons beginning construction of the Hotel Utah at the top of
Salt Lake City’s Main Street. Completed in 1911 at a cost of almost $2 million.
more viable for OR shows, but for all
convention and event customers. “If we are
to continue growing Salt Lake City’s
convention and meeting industry, we need a
convention hotel,” says Beck. “We need to
improve the mix of full-service, convention
center hotel rooms to our center.”
A convention hotel, Beck notes, would make
Salt Lake City “infinitely” more desirable as
a location for all conventions and would
ensure the city remains relevant as a meeting
and tradeshow destination. The idea for a
privately-built convention hotel has been
kicked around for decades, but it wasn’t until
the 2014 legislative session that state leaders
Approximately $8 million in mitigation funds,
spread over four years, would be available for
distribution, according to a short-term
formula. The funds would come from
proceeds from the new hotel.
The convention hotel project is now in the
RFP stage. A developer and location have yet
to be defined. And whether construction will
come soon enough to entice OR to stay in
Salt Lake City beyond 2016 remains
unknown. The competition with other host
cities is fierce, not just for OR but for all of
the major conventions Salt Lake City is
hosting, such as the USANA and NuSkin
ship. We talk to them about all of the things
that keep them here, the infrastructure we
have and the things we don’t have. We
analyze how the event went. We look at
performance of the hotels and performance of
other industries like taxis, restaurants, airport
and the convention center. And, each time,
we try to make improvements or change
directions to make sure we meet the needs of
our customers. It never stops.”
Selling Salt Lake City to the convention and
meeting industry is easy because Beck’s team
is so passionate about it. “Salt Lake City is a
great product. It has authenticity and a
particular alignment between the direction of
our elected officials and the enormous
amount of investment that has been made by
the private sector,” he says. “And our citizens
take in where they live. Together, all of those
things make a pretty lethal combination. It’s a
wonderful time to be in Salt Lake.”
2014 Fourth Quarter Rankings
Triple play: Utah No. 1 for Business for
Third Straight Year Pollina Corporate
Utah Ranks Third in U.S. for Most SelfEmployed Women
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s
Center for Women in Business
Utah Transit Authority Named Transit
System of the Year
Mountain States Construction
Utah has More Top 10 Economic Rankings
Than Any Other State The Pyramid
Utah No. 3 in “America’s Top States For
Business” CNBC
Utah No. 1 for Economic Dynamism in the
“2014 State New Economy Index” ITIF
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Utah Cities Rank High in
“U.S. Metro Economies Report”
United States Conference of Mayors
Utah No. 3 for “10 Best States
for Retirement” Bankrate
Utah No. 1 for “Most Likely to
Donate Money and Time” Gallup
Utah No. 3 for “Best Places
to Live” Gallup
Utah No. 5 in “Best Places to
Make a Living” MoneyRates
Salt Lake City No. 1 in
“10 Least Stressed Out Cities”
CNN Money
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PA G E 3
USU is the Epicenter of Small Satellite Industry
Unless you’re a techno geek or involved in
the aerospace industry, you probably haven’t
heard that the largest small satellite conference in the world takes place in Logan
every August.
Consider it the biggest small conference most
Utahns have never heard about. Nonetheless,
it’s a huge deal, says Dr. Pat Patterson,
chairman of the annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites.
“The average Utahn may not know that Utah
State University has been home to world’s
largest small satellite
conference for 28 years,
but there is an enormous
percentage of people in
the global small satellite
industry that have either
heard about or attended
the conference,” he says.
“People in the industry
are keen on knowing
what goes on here.”
“This year’s conference will look at the
exciting entrepreneurial endeavors that are
enabled by small satellites, including the
technical and business challenges of this
worldwide phenomenon,” says Patterson.
Opportunity, demand and emerging markets
have sparked the imagination of entrepreneurs seeking to capitalize on the reality of
small satellites to develop new businesses or
government services. Supporting these
exciting endeavors is increasingly available
investment funding from many sources such
Keynote speaker Steve Jurvetson, a partner
in the venture capital firm Draper Fisher
Jurvetson, is one of the commercial space
industry’s most successful investors. He
serves on the boards of Planet Labs, SpaceX,
Synthetic Genomics and Tesla Motors and
was the founding VC investor in Hotmail and
the public companies Interwoven, Kana and
NeoPhotonics. A self-described techno geek,
Jurvetson is looking for financial returns from
small satellite systems and as this year’s
keynote speaker will highlight how he came
to the conclusion that investing in the small
satellite arena is a wise
investment strategy.
The small satellite market
shows that good things do
come in small packages.
In the 1960s, during the
genesis of the satellite
industry, communication
satellites were typically
the size of a Volkswagen
Beetle. In the 90s, and
Evidence of the confereven up to today, large
ence’s success? Just try
satellites are often the
to book a hotel room in
size of a school bus. The
Logan, Tremonton or
size and weight of these
Brigham City from Aug.
massive spacecraft add to
2-7, when the conference
the overall cost of
takes place. Most of the
building and launching
1,200 attendees from 33
them. Thanks to advancecountries and about 400
ments in science and
different organizations
engineering, many of the
have likely booked their
same capabilities that
hotels a year in advance.
were the sole domain of
Space Dynamics Laboratory’s Thermal and Optical Research (THOR) chamber
at Utah State University. Photo: Donna Barry, Utah State University
During the conference
large, complex satellites
they’ll spread out in Utah
can be provided in
as high-tech venture capital firms, angel
State University’s Taggart Student Center for
smaller, less expensive packages. Depending
investors and even crowd-sourcing, he
a variety of technical sessions and a trade
on the needs of the user, small satellites can
explains. The new funding sources have
show featuring more than 100 booths.
be about the size of a loaf of bread–or smaller,
Attendees include representatives from NASA allowed innovative companies, government
up to the size of a dorm room refrigerator,
administrators and researchers from within
and the European Space Agency and many of
says Patterson. Today’s smaller satellites
the small satellite community to aggressively
the global companies that support those
offer a variety of benefits, and because of
pursue diverse concepts such as providing
organizations. They’ll be in Logan this year
their size, weight and power requirements,
low-cost remote sensing data products at
to learn about “The Commerce of Small
they are less expensive to build and easier
unprecedented revisit rates, prospecting
Satellites,” which is the 2014 theme.
to launch.
near-Earth asteroids for precious mineral
The primary markets for small satellites are
Small satellites can often piggyback on other
deposits and manifesting novel sensors as
within military, civil/commercial remote
launches. For example, a small satellite may
hosted payloads.
sensing and civil/commercial communication
piggyback on a hosted payload already set
Proving there must be big money and big
applications. According to a 2012 report by
to launch, making the mission only slightly
opportunities in small satellites, Google
Futron Corporation, world satellite industry
more expensive. “With small satellites, you
purchased Skybox Imaging for $500 million.
revenues totaled $177.3 billion in 2011,
can launch multiple missions with a little
while overall space industry revenues totaled “That’s a big deal,” Patterson notes. “Skybox
extra cost rather than multiple missions
$289.8 billion and global telecommunications Imagery is a commercial venture building
with a bunch more costs,” Patterson explains.
small satellites in the 150-200 pound range
industry revenues totaled $4.23 trillion. The
“Piggybacked missions are a byproduct of
that will likely transform Google Maps.
satellite industry is a subset of both the space
the efforts being made by the small satellite
Skybox will eventually image the entire Earth
and telecommunications industries and is
industry.” (continued page 5)
three times a day at very high resolution.”
growing at a faster rate.
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For more information, and Site Selection, please visit edcutah.org.
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PA G E 4
New Database Helping Manufacturers
Find Local Supply Chain
The missing link isn’t missing any more, at
least in terms of supply chain management in
Utah’s manufacturing sector. And the
implications could be a game changer for the
Beehive State.
A little more than two years ago, the Utah
Manufacturers Association convened a
contingent of about 30 prominent manufacturing executives in the state to answer the
question: “How do we improve Utah’s
certifications, capacities and much more. The
platform offers Utah manufacturers the
ability to query the database using key words,
industry segments or regions, NAICS codes,
capacities, machinery, equipment and
certifications to produce lists of possible Utah
companies that might meet their needs.
Bingham says Utah companies can search for
in-state manufacturers of parts, components,
processes, sub-assemblies–including
Highly specialized dials awaiting placement
within the ATK parts warehouse.
manufacturing industry?” The meetings
involved executives from companies like
Autoliv, ATK, L-3, Rio Tinto, Mighty-Lite,
Merit Medical and Boeing. One of the
outcomes of that process was the development of the Utah Capabilities Assessment
Network (UCAN), an online portal that
connects Utah’s manufacturing companies to
bring work back to the state.
“Utah manufacturers are eager to determine
whether they can reduce costs, shorten lead
times and increase quality in their supply
chains through more local partnerships,” says
Todd Bingham, president of the Utah
Manufacturers Association. “They want to
keep more business in Utah, rather than
outsourcing it to other states or foreign
countries. Our big manufacturers are looking
for companies in Utah that can do the type of
work they are currently outsourcing.”
The challenge, however, was that many Utah
manufacturers didn’t have the time to search
for local suppliers. It’s too laborious a
process. Outside of word or mouth, networking events or Google searches, tracking down
local suppliers was difficult.
That, he says, is why UCAN was developed.
Initially called the Virtual Industrial Park,
UCAN is a secure, online portal launched in
April to connect and align manufacturers.
Through UCAN, individual manufacturers
and suppliers can identify capabilities,
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capacities, certifications, equipment and key
contacts–through the online portal.
“It’s all there at their fingertips,” he adds. As
for populating the database, Bingham says a
company can input its data in about an hour.
The more data entered, the more searchable
the company will be to the other companies
in the database. Companies can update data
as needed, so it is always current. UCAN also
provides the ability to upload project bids,
communicate with other manufacturers and
manage and track the bid process. A metric
page in development will allow companies to
know who has visited their pages and
requested information.
The Utah Manufacturers Association worked
with manufacturers of all sizes and industries,
their customers and other industry constituents to methodically determine what
company-specific information should be
collected and inserted into the database,
along with the criterion necessary to identify
potential opportunities for Utah manufacturers. Even before the online portal went live it
had paid off in terms of bringing work back
to Utah. Bingham says during portal
development meetings, leaders from a large
Utah manufacturer discussed their need for a
local supplier of defense-related antenna
arrays. Leaders from a structural steel
company, also in the meetings, said they
could fill that need.
For more information, and Site Selection, please visit edcutah.org.
“A $70 million contract was the result,”
Bingham notes. “During another meeting,
leaders from a large defense contractor
expressed difficulty in finding a local cable
company. Another leader in the room knew a
Utah company that provided the exact
product and had the necessary certifications.
Before we rolled the system out, by simply
having 20 supply chain managers in one
room, we generated more than $100 million
in projects that are coming back to Utah.”
UCAN, he says, connects Utah’s manufacturers, and that in turn will mean hiring more
employees, paying more taxes and creating
more economic development. From that
perspective, the UCAN portal can show what
the supply chain is like in Utah. For example,
a company looking to locate here could use
the database to find out if there are enough
local suppliers for the products it needs. The
company could generate a list of possible
suppliers, see the certifications and equipment they have and determine if it will have
the supply chain it needs to be successful.
Bingham says economic developers would
also find the UCAN portal useful for
identifying gaps in the supply chain in order
to do strategic business recruitment. “If there
is a gap,” he says, “specific companies
meeting the needs of manufacturers could be
recruited to locate here.”
Now that the UCAN portal is online,
Bingham’s biggest objective is to get Utah
companies to populate their data and begin
using it. St. George-based Wilson Electronics,
he says, is in the process of uploading a bid
to the portal as the company searches for a
Utah company that can make injection-molded or die cast aluminum cases for its cell
phone boosters, which are currently manufactured in Shanghai.
“Wilson Electronics would love to obtain
those products in Utah,” he says. “From a
reshoring standpoint, we hope to bring some
of those jobs back to Utah. I think we can do
it simply by identifying companies locally
that might be interested and capable of
performing that work.”
Development for the UCAN portal was
funded through a Utah Cluster Acceleration
Partnership grant and from industry contributions. It was built in four months, he notes,
but will continue to be tweaked until it
completely meets the needs of Utah manufacturers. (continued page 5)
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PA G E 5
(Local Supply Chain Database, from page 4)
(President’s Message, from Page 1)
– Manufacturing: 49%
– Information | IT: 5%
– Distribution | Warehouse: 5%
– Finance | Insurance: 8%
– Professional: 3%
– Healthcare: 5%
– Mining: 1%
– Other: 24%
Utah’s economy remains one of the
strongest in the nation. Pollina
Corporate just ranked Utah the most
pro-business state in the nation for the
third straight year. It’s a great time to
be doing business here.
Jeff Edwards
President & CEO, EDCUtah
To promote UCAN, Utah Manufacturers
Association members are hosting numerous
events. Campbell Scientific will host an event
on June 30. Other events have been hosted by
Utah Industrial Supply, ATK, Mighty-Lite,
Wilson Electronics, Barnes Aerospace and L-3.
For the events, manufacturing companies are
asked to invite their supply chains and, where
possible, data from the companies is entered
into the portal on the spot.
Bingham is proud to say there is nothing else
like Utah’s UCAN portal. It is industry-driven
and industry-hosted. Ultimately, it was
designed to bring business back to Utah and he hopes Utah’s manufacturing businesses will
get on board and take advantage of the opportunity
to do just that.
Interior of the famous Rio-Tinto
Kennecott Copper Mine.
(USU Epicenter, from page 3)
Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) is likely the biggest long-term benefactor of the conference. Patterson says that
while SDL doesn’t have a direct role in hosting the conference, its credibility, reputation, experience and success add weight to the conference
and provide long-term name recognition among conference attendees. SDL has driven USU to the forefront of space research. Utah companies
like ATK and L-3 also add to the conference through their participation and support. While ATK focuses on launch systems, L-3 builds
miniature communication systems that fly on the small satellites.
The northern Utah economy also benefits from the conference, which brings in nearly $1 million in economic impact. The broader economic
impact is shared across the state. Patterson says many conference attendees bring their families and like to visit Moab and other parts of the state
while they are here.
“It’s hard to put a number on the total economic impact,” he continues, “but we know it is good for the community and for the state.”
E co n o m i c D e v e lo p m e n t R e s o u r c e s
EDCUtah Web Site
www.edcutah.org
Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED)
www.business.utah.gov
Utah Economic Developer Directory
www.edcutah.org/solutionproviders
EDCUtah Economic Review Weekly Newsletter
www.edcutah.org/newsletter
EDCUtah Custom Research
www.edcutah.com/customResearch
Important Contact Information
Jeff Edwards, EDCUtah President & CEO
801-328-8824
Val Hale, GOED Executive Director
801-538-8700
Theresa Foxley, GOED Corporate Recruitment and Incentives
801-538-8850
Todd Brightwell, EDCUtah Chief Operating Officer
801-323-4240
Kim Frost, EDCUtah Director of Marketing & Communications
801-328-9742
Please note: This newsletter is produced to give site selectors and corporate decision-makers the best opportunity to stay up to date on ED news in Utah. This publication is simultaneously e-mailed
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