Sometimes businesspeople eager for success choose to enter industries in which others have had noteworthy achievements and made fortunes. Sometimes those plans to replicate success are doomed because they focus on the industry rather than the types of innovations successful industries and successful entrepreneurs have in common.
However, according to a recent magazine article, a group at the Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program sought to identify traits that innovations share, and to look at places where innovative industries thrive. One of the places they found where innovation is encouraged and rewarded surprised them, but probably won’t surprise you: Utah.
The 88-page report found some common traits among industries performing well: heavy investments in research and development (more than $450 per employee) and a workforce heavy in people with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and math (the STEM fields). The innovative industries that share these traits comprise what the folks at Brookings refer to as a “super-sector”: a group that generates 17 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product, spends 90 percent of all R&D funding, employs 80 percent of engineers in America and ships nearly two-thirds of U.S. exports.
When they looked at a map to find where these kinds of companies and industries could be found, some of the clumps of innovation were right here in Utah. One of the researchers said that even though Utah doesn’t have a glitzy reputation, we are doing the things that allow businesses and entrepreneurs to become industry leaders, while other places are relegated to being followers.
For those contemplating starting a business in St. George, or perhaps expansion of an existing company, it is important that you reach out for help with important legal matters such as business entity formation that can help enable sustainable growth.
At Snow Jensen & Reece, P.C., we assist businesses with a wide variety of difficult issues, including litigation, employee contracts, acquisitions, leases and sales of assets. Please see our Business Contract and Transactions page for more information.Â