UTAH

Those lawmakers concurred that a $1 million incentive program approved last session was helpful, but still inadequate to keep Utah competitive with other states for film business.

Von der Esch said for every $1 incentive given to a film production, the state captures $6 back in taxes, yet the limited dollars prevented the film commission from going after bigger productions.

Jake Garn, a former U.S. senator from Utah who flew aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1984, said he is "amazed at how uninformed the people of Utah are, that how many people do not know every solid rocket motor for every shuttle flight was manufactured here in Utah? What sandhill have they had their heads stuck in?"

"The business community came to the universities and said, ‘We would like to pump up the number of technology businesses in Utah,’ " Brittain said. "They’re calling on the research universities to hire these teams to create the technologies."

A possible life science angel network would bring together potential investors and life sciences companies, network supporter Andrew Laver told the commission. Both angel investors and companies exist, "but there’s no formal infrastructure on how they can meet," he said.

The Centers program began in 1986 to help mature research technology into products. The $49 million in overall funding since then has been for more than 100 centers. More than 175 companies have been spun out, and 61 remain in Utah, she said.

Desire for Beaver or some other community to be a "poster child" for economic development programs so that other rural communities could better know what programs and projects work.

Nonprofit entities are eligible to apply for $2 million appropriated by the Legislature for the current fiscal year.

Leigh von der Esch, managing director of the state’s Office of Tourism, and Aaron Lee Syrett, director of the Utah Film Commission explained the way the incentives work. The state has one million dollars in incentives to award each year. No one project may get more than $500,000. "The World’s Fastest Indian" was actually reimbursed before the new law went into effect, as part of a pilot program to demonstrate to the legislature how the 10 percent incentive would work.