Celebrating Utah's past, present and future innovators.

• Author: Francom, Sarah Ryther
• Position: From the Editor

Utah has a long and storied legacy of innovation, forged by industry leaders such as Alan Ashton and Bruce Bastian, co-founders of WordPerfect; Ray Noorda, co-founder of Novell; Edwin Catmull, president of Pixar Animation Studios; and Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari. And in the life sciences, the state leads the way in genetics, cancer research and even next-gen prosthetics stemming back to Willem Kohl's ground-breaking work with artificial organs up to today's healthcare innovators like Edwards Lifesciences, Merit Medical and Myriad Genetics, among others.

Utah's innovative and entrepreneurial spirit remains strong today despite the increasingly complex business and political environment, as evidenced by the state's many accolades and accomplishments. For example, the University of Utah has been a leading producer of startup companies, even ranking as the No. 1 startup launcher for two years in a row (the U came in second place this year, just below the Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Utah's record of entrepreneurialism is further solidified by the number of patents filed each year; according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Utah consistently ranks as one of the top patent-producing states per capita.

In this issue, we're excited to celebrate the latest and greatest innovations coming out of the Beehive State. As the 2013 Utah Innovation Awards program demonstrates, Utah has no shortage of innovation and entrepreneurialism. This annual awards program, which is presented by Stoel Rives and the Utah Technology Council, celebrates the state's top innovations in categories ranging from biotechnology to clean energy to consumer software, among others. Their inventions are revolutionizing the way the world works, and we applaud their accomplishments and contributions. Read their stories beginning on page 58.

Utah is borne to many...