Brice Wallace
Utah's technology industry may be in line for an annual checkup.
The Unified Economic Opportunity Commission is developing the idea of an annual assessment of existing and future technologies and the role of state government in advancing them.
“This idea is really to help us get our hands around technological changes that are happening. They are continuing to sort of upend industries at this ever-increasing pace,” Margaret Busse, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce, told the commission during its most recent meeting.
“The idea is that this annual sort-of tech analysis [is] to ensure that the advantages that could come from the technologies are fully and safely leveraged by all Utahns — business, consumers, government — without unnecessary friction.”
Busse acknowledged that the idea was “a little bit half-baked right now” but would be refined. The most recent commission meeting was “not for solidified proposals” but instead a discussion of the various working groups’ ideas, according to Gov. Spencer Cox. Those groups will take commission input and have firm proposals for possible legislation or the governor’s budget at the commission’s September meeting.
As discussed at the most recent meeting, the annual report would weigh technologies’ ramifications on the economy, plus current and future resources that technology advancements would need, including those related to workforce, capital and natural resources.
Government’s role also would be assessed, including its activities to promote, attract and develop new technologies; ensure a trained workforce; and the formation of regulations, such as removing barriers and establishing a regulatory framework.
The forecast of emerging technologies would determine the role, if any, that Utah companies and universities have played in the development of existing technologies. The study would allow the state to “know what went well, what worked well, what didn’t work well,” Busse said.
As envisioned, the study would be published in collaboration with state agencies, the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, academic/university innovation centers, technology industries and Silicon Slopes, and news publishers.
Having the annual study, Busse said, would allow Utah to have a heightened reputation as a technology hub, be attractive to companies developing technologies with high potential, and “become a national leader in understanding and forecasting what really is on the ‘bleeding edge.’”