Utah's technology industry: a history, a legacy and the growing lifeblood of our state.

• Author: Nelson, Richard R.

Utah's technology and life science legacy has thrived for generations, but the booming industries we currently know and enjoy have been emerging in earnest over the past two decades. An arena that started on the tech side with Novell, WordPerfect and several legacy companies including Evans and Southerland has exploded into a vast collection of companies that, in many respects, make Utah a region that is second to none. Utah also has a very rich legacy of life science companies such as Myriad Genetics, Merit Medical, Nelson Laboratories, the Sorenson family of companies and many other industry standouts.

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When WordPerfect and Novell emerged, these two companies created a pivotal moment. Seemingly overnight, these two firms became giants and Utah came to be regarded as a serious contender in the technology world. At the same time, life science pioneers such as Dale Ballard, Jim Sorenson, Dinesh Patel, Pete Meldrum and others were developing companies that employ thousands of people and generate billions of dollars in revenue for the state.

These firms, coupled with Utah's great universities and strong entrepreneurial bent, have resulted in an incredible explosion in the growth and number of our technology firms. Information technology (IT), life sciences, and, most recently, an emerging sector in clean tech now account for well over 6,000 companies in a region that has been acknowledged as one of the most dynamic and fast-growing business regions in the entire United States.

Building Critical Mass

In the 1990s, WordPerfect was acquired by Novell. Within the last year, Novell was acquired by Attachmate. Evans and Sutherland has now become Rockwell and continues to play an innovative and vital role in our state. Similarly, in the life science industry, we've had large national concerns such as BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), Abbott Laboratories, Edwards Life Sciences, Bard, Thermo Fisher and Watson Pharmaceuticals, to name some notable examples that are thoroughly invested in the Utah community.

In many respects, Governors Michael Leavitt, Jon Huntsman and Gary Herbert have been highly focused on making Utah a business-friendly environment. As a result, we see technology companies not only opening up but also staying for the long term in our state. For example, 10 years ago Adobe would have taken Omniture to Silicon Valley after its acquisition. No more--that division and company are now accelerating growth right...