TARGETED ECONOMIC CLUSTERS Clusters are groups of related businesses and organizations within industry whose collective excellence, collaboration and knowledge base provide a sustainable competitive advantage. Strong Clusters translate directly into tangible benefits for Utah’s businesses, citizens and educational institutions. In Clusters, businesses have shared access to suppliers, services, resources, technology and workforce. In addition, related businesses work together to achieve new economies of scale, distribution channels and, ultimately, increased profitability. Universities benefit by direct engagement with industry.
TARGETED ECONOMIC CLUSTERS Focused development on leading Utah industry strengths: Aviation & Aerospace • Advanced Composites Defense & Homeland Security • Unmanned & Autonomous Vehicles • Cyber Command • Falcon Hill Life Sciences • Biotechnology • WIRED Outdoor Products & Recreation Software Development & Information Technology • Digital Media • Open Source Information Energy & Natural Resources
Financial Services The Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) established the Economic Clusters Initiative as a catalyst Upcoming Competitive Accelerators • Advanced Manufacturing to focus people, ideas and resources on our greatest op• Logistics & Distribution portunities for success. The initiative allowed us to align • Nanotechnology industry, research universities, capital, talent, technology and government around emerging or mature industry sectors that possess the greatest sustainable competitive advantage. The net effect is these factors combine to create higher paying jobs, strengthen education and raise the standard of living in Utah.
Within Utah we initially established six economic clusters and have since added a seventh. They are: Aviation and Aerospace; Defense and Homeland Security; Energy and Natural Resources; Financial Services; Life Sciences; Outdoor Products and Recreation; and, Software Development and Information Technology. While all cluster areas demonstrated growth this past year, this report will specifically focus on four of our them. Software Development and Information Technology With the help of GOED and the State of Utah, Disney Interactive Studios, Inc., will be expanding its interactive media studio capacity in Utah with the enlargement of its companies, Fall Line Studios and Avalanche Software, in Salt Lake City. Disney intends to focus on Utah, despite other location options such as Shanghai, China and Vancouver, Canada. With this development comes more than 500 new jobs with wages higher than average in Salt Lake County by 240%. This expansion is considered a big step in building Utah’s digital media industry which is included in the Software Development Cluster.
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Governor’s Office of Economic Development • Annual Report 2008
