Utah Business and Economic Development

The Governor’s Office of Economic Development Board on Friday approved a $250,000 Industrial Assistance Fund grant for Delta, which the company would receive after a maiden flight between the capitals of Utah and France.

"Basically, as we have $100 million at work, we sure want to see that $100 million come back in Utah companies," Neilson said. "And we’re already 50 percent there, and we’ve been doing this about a year and a half, so we’ve already had some great successes."

FastTrac connects entrepreneurs to the best resources available to help them pursue and realize their entrepreneurial dreams. The program provides small business owners with business insights, strategic visioning guidance, professional networking connections and other resources, preparing them to create a new business or expand an existing enterprise.

The alliance works with the Service Corps of Retired Executives, the Small Business Development Center and Grow Utah Ventures, a local venture capital firm, among others, to provide training, development and counseling opportunities to new companies.

“We felt like this needed to be a regional strategy, not something that stops at the county line,” says Ann Millner, president of Weber State College. “We are trying to take people that are already here and create and develop growth.”

Utah has sweetened the pot as it tries to get filmmakers to shoot more productions in the state.

Incentives approved for 28 companies ultimately could lead to 10,000 new jobs, new state revenue of $476 million, capital investment of $2.7 billion and new wages of $4.6 billion over the next decade.

In December, after Barnes Aerospace hinted it might expand its Singapore plant rather than grow in Ogden, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development Board approved a $10.1 million incentive to entice the company to stay in Utah.

The company has said its new jobs will pay an average of $42,172, about 225 percent of the Iron County median wage, according to board documents.

Utah was behind only Michigan, Virginia, Colorado and Arkansas. Utah had 4.83 percent of all traffic to the 50 state tourism Web sites during the month.