Register today to attend the 10th annual Utah Innovation Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at the Marriott City Center. To register, click here by Tuesday, April 24, 2012. Twenty-seven finalists and honorable mention recipients will be honored, and a winner in each of the program’s eight categories will be announced.

The Utah Innovation Awards program, presented by Stoel Rives LLP and Utah Technology Council, is the first statewide innovation awards program of its kind, and is sponsored by Utah Business magazine, KUER 90.1, Webb Audio Visual Communication, and Stage 12.

More than 300 representatives from Utah’s technology, business and academic communities are expected to attend the Awards Luncheon to honor and recognize the finalists and winners.

• When:    Tuesday, May 1, 2012
• 11:00 a.m. – Noon:  Innovation Showcase
• Noon – 1:00 p.m.:   Awards Luncheon
• Where:    Marriott City Center
• 200 South State Street
• Salt Lake City, Utah

Registration:      Click here to register to attend by end of day on Tuesday, April 24, 2012.

• Cost:    $50 for UTC Members
• $70 for non-UTC Members
• $450 for a Table of Ten

Program Contacts:    

Nicole Kershaw
Program Manager
Stoel Rives LLP
(801) 715-6657
nkershaw -at- stoel.com

Melanie Williamson
Program Coordinator
Stoel Rives LLP
(801) 715-6662
mwwilliamson -at- stoel.com

“Cloud computing”—the concept of devices connecting to the internet “cloud” to access powerful applications to accomplish whatever they need, is a concept Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been foretelling for the past 10-15 years. Today it is a phenomenon even greater than the advent of personal computing, he says. Schmidt shared his remarks in a couch-side keynote chat with David Bradford, CEO of Fusion-io, with a sell-out crowd of nearly 900 Utah executives at the Utah Technology Council’s (UTC) 11th Annual Hall of Fame celebration event at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City Friday night.

In his remarks, Schmidt noted that Utah is the best place in America for starting a business. He also acknowledged Utah’s broadband initiatives in Provo and Salt Lake City as key steps in supporting a knowledge economy that will allow a tremendous new wave of business and technology innovation to occur.

At the event, UTC CEO Richard R. Nelson noted interesting data from a recent UTC survey of 172 current UTC member organizations. Of these 172 companies, 8 percent are currently thriving. More than half of the companies queried—58 percent—report they are currently growing.  Twenty-nine percent are holding steady.  And only 5 percent of the 172—a small minority—report that they are currently in a state of decline.

“Ninety-five percent of our technology companies are thriving, growing or holding steady—a success level that far exceeds the majority of the United States,” Nelson said. “In fact, several national publications have ranked Utah as the region best poised to emerge from the current recession quickly.”

Nelson noted the number of technology companies in Utah has risen dramatically, from several hundred companies in 1999 to more than 5,500 today.

Following the keynote discussion, the UTC formally inducted Greg Butterfield, Managing Partner of SageCreek Partners, and Peter D. Meldrum and Mark H. Skolnick, Ph.D., co-founders of Myriad Genetics, to its 11th Hall of Fame, which honors individuals with ties to Utah who have made key contributions to the technology and life science industries.

“We are extremely honored to recognize these tremendous individuals for their outstanding achievements and for the impact they’ve made on technology throughout the world,” Nelson said.

About Utah Technology Council
Utah’s premier professional association, the Utah Technology Council, has become the essential business resource for life science and high-tech companies seeking to achieve greater success.  At its core, UTC exists to foster the Growth of the state’s more than 5,000 technology companies, ensure Utah develops the highest Quality Workforce in the nation, and attract an ever-increasing array of Funding. Members join UTC to share insights with industry peers, counsel with government and academic leaders, and receive help from professional service providers and funding resources. To become a member of this “must join” organization, visit www.utahtechcouncil.org or call 801-568-3500 today.

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PR Agency Contact:

Snapp Conner PR
Cheryl Snapp Conner
T) 801-994-9625
cheryl@snappconner.com

UTC Contact
Judy Young
801-568-3500
jyoung@utahtechcouncil.org

To RSVP for the event, visit http://uvef.net

NOTE THAT THE VENUE HAS CHANGED: The event will now be held at Thanksgiving Point Gardens in The Garden Room.

Register for the UTC Public Relations Clinic.

Social media is all the rage, with people around us talking about Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, RSS, YouTube, DIGG, Linkedin, etc. How can you leverage these new vehicles for your company’s PR? Can a thoughtful, well-developed social media plan really enhance your PR? Come listen to guest presenter Jack Hadley, owner of Cowork Utah and founder of Utah’s new Academy of Social Media, talk to you about how you can put these strategies to use for any business—large or small.

Jack and I have worked together pretty closely for over a year and I can honestly say there are few people around who ‘get it’ like he does. Jack combines an uncanny understanding of messaging with a remarkable aptitude for social media strategies to come up with ways you can actually use these new online tools to build your brand, get attention, and grow your presence on the Web. Coupled with the online prowess of Snapp Conner PR, this should be a must-see event. I’ll be there. —Cary

UTC clinics are reserved for members of the UTC only.
For more information on membership, please contact Mark Lehnhof at mark(at)utahtech.org or 801-568-3500.

Details:

When: Thursday, July 9, 2009 from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Where:  Snapp Conner PR, 1258 West 10400 South, Ste 301
Directions: From I-15 take the 106th South Exit #293 West. Turn right onto 1000 West. Turn left onto 104th South. Park.

Here’s a Map to Snapp Conner PR.

Cost: Free to UTC Members

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Butterfield addressed a sell-out crowd of more than 300 Utah executives at the Seventh Annual Utah Innovations Awards event in Salt Lake City yesterday.

Stoel Rives LLP and the Utah Technology Council (UTC) are co-presenting sponsors of the Innovations event that honored 9 winners among a record-setting 113 nominations this year. The event was sponsored by Issimo Productions and Webb Audio Visual Communication. “Utah stands out not only in the skill of our workforce, but in the fact that culturally, our executives are great people to work with,” Butterfield said.

Butterfield acknowledged that since his retirement from the position of Symantec Group President in 2008 and the launch of his new consulting firm SageCreek Partners, his team is recognizing more than ever that good technology in and of itself does not ensure business or market success. “More than 156,000 new technology products entered the market in 2005,” he noted. “A year later, only 30,000 of those products remained.

To succeed, a company requires a strong and impactful business model to make the technology truly relevant for meeting customer needs.” Butterfield provided a list of business plan guidelines that is also available from the SageCreek website.

Key points include emphasis on the collective strength of the company’s executive team; not on its individual players. Butterfield also noted that strong leaders should be preparing for even stronger successors, and cited the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him.”

“As the former Chairman of UTC, Greg Butterfield provided the early leadership that was critical in getting our industry in synch,” said Richard R. Nelson, president of UTC. “He has been truly instrumental in getting our current technology companies aligned.”

For a complete list of 2009 Utah Innovations Finalists and winners, readers can visit http://www.stoel.com/innovation/utah_media.asp.

For information on other UTC events, initiatives, or for UTC membership information, please contact Mark Lehnhof (801) 568-3500.

Yang addressed the record group of UTC members and guests at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City Friday night.

Yang noted that Yahoo was one of the groundbreaking companies that was actually conceived and founded because of the needs people had during a period of economic downturn. He co-founded Yahoo with David Filo in January of 1994 as a means of helping provide organization and structure to the information people wanted to find on the Internet.

Likewise, the extreme downturn in 2000-2001, coupled with the tragedy of September 11, spawned a time period in which many thought the tech and Internet industries were dead. Instead, another round of brilliant companies including Google was born.

Yang noted that the United States is a unique environment that has been essential to much of the technology innovation that exists today, and he acknowledged Utah in particular: “The energy, the excitement and the innovation that exists in the state of Utah is spectacular,” he said. “The people of Utah have a spirit about them that is perhaps unmatched, and is absolutely vital to the spectrum of life science and technology companies that make up this region’s ‘Silicon Slopes’.”

Yang noted that he is pleased that to the best of his estimates, there are some 1.5 million Yahoo subscribers in Utah, which would mean that Yahoo provides services to approximately 60 percent of the state’s population of 2.5 million.

At the event, UTC CEO Richard R. Nelson noted the great milestones and progress the technology industries have experienced and also that UTC has experienced over the past decade since the first Hall of Fame event. From an inaugural group of 150 attendees, the 2008 Hall of Fame Celebration welcomed more than 800 people at this week’s event. Likewise, the number of technology companies in Utah has risen dramatically, from several hundred companies in 1999 to more than 5,200 today. Following the keynote address, the UTC formally inducted Dr. Theodore H. Stanley and H. Raymond Bingham to its 10th Hall of Fame, which honors individuals with ties to Utah who have made key contributions to the technology and life science industries.
“We are extremely honored to recognize these two gentlemen for their outstanding achievements and for the impact they’ve made on technology that is relevant throughout the world,” Nelson said.

About Utah Technology Council
UTC exists to foster the growth of Utah’s 5,200 science and technology companies, attract a broader array of funding resources, and ensure Utah has the highest-quality skilled workforce. Members can connect and share insights with industry peers, government and academic leaders, professional service providers and venture capital firms. Visit www.utahtechcouncil.org or call 801.568-3500

Special Thanks to Cheryl Snapp for contributing this article.

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PR Contacts:
Cheryl Snapp Conner
Snapp Conner PR
801.994.9625 or
Cheryl (at) snappconner.com

UTC Contact
Judy Young
801.568.3500
jyoung (at) utahtechcouncil.org