|
|
Area firms continue to invest jobs and capital in region
The companies below announced expansions or new locations in the region this past month:
-
PENTAX Imaging Company, a leader in the worldwide photographic industry, announced this month the location of its national headquarters to downtown Denver. The company will locate 40 employees in its leased space in the Colorado Plaza Towers.
-
Intrado announced expansion in Longmont in July, adding 70 employees in a range of positions. Intrado--which helps manage 911-emergency networks for telecommunications companies--is growing as it deploys a new emergency contact system with photo, video, and text message capability.
-
Leprino Foods, headquartered in Denver, announced this month that it will open the first phase of its 500,000-square-foot plant near Greeley in November 2011. The $270 million facility is expected to create 500 new jobs in Weld County.
-
Cummins Rocky Mountain opened its new $13.5 million, 88,000-square-foot Rock Mountain Master Rebuild Center this summer in Commerce City. The facility, Cummins' largest diesel engine remanufacturing plant in North America, will add more than 70 new jobs in the city.
Learn more:
» News and Deals on metrodenver.org
|
|
|
|
Gov. Hickenlooper unveils statewide economic development plan
Gov. John Hickenlooper announced a statewide work plan on July 20, to spur Colorado's economy, help businesses grow, and attract new jobs to the state. The Colorado Blueprint: A bottom-up approach to economic development is the product of an unprecedented effort to engage every county in Colorado on how best to improve the state's economy.
"Colorado has turned the typical economic development efforts on its head and created a plan with real benchmarks, measurable goals, and concrete solutions to help every community create jobs and help businesses thrive," Hickenlooper said. "We want to thank the thousands of Coloradans who showed their spirit for innovation and contributed to this comprehensive and collaborative approach to economic development."
The work plan includes specific benchmarks to encourage economic development, including improving access to capital through a new grant program, encouraging broadband Internet connections across the state, developing a one-stop-shop for business resources, and requiring every department in state government to undergo an audit to reduce red tape.
The Hickenlooper administration launched the Bottom-Up Economic Development Plan immediately after Inauguration Day to ensure people and businesses throughout Colorado could be involved in encouraging growth in their local communities and have a voice on how best to help businesses succeed.
Hickenlooper's plan received national attention in the August 6 edition of The New York Times. The article entitled "In State Capitals, Officials Take Recovery Into Their Own Hands," talks about Colorado's bottom up economic development plan, as well as what other states are doing to take the recovery into their own hands.
The complete
Colorado Blueprint: A bottom-up approach to economic development can be viewed at www.colorado.gov/coloradoblueprint.
|
|
|
|
|
Colorado is closer to the next frontier of space exploration
As other leading aerospace states reel from significant job losses due to the end of the Space Shuttle program, Colorado is hedging its bets on the next frontier of space exploration.
 Colorado is a key player in all of NASA's remaining 2011 program launches.
On August 5, Centennial-headquartered United Launch Alliance sent the Juno spacecraft on its five-year journey to study the planet Jupiter. Built by
Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Jefferson County, faculty and students from the University of Colorado Boulder's
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics will contribute heavily to the mission's science objectives.
Below are details on
NASA's next three space exploration missions and their key Colorado connections:
- Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) -
This twin spacecraft, also built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, will hitch a ride to the Moon aboard ULA's Delta II rocket in early September. Using high-quality gravity field mapping, GRAIL will determine the structure of the lunar core and advance scientists' understanding of the thermal evolution of the Moon.
- NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) -
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
in Boulder built this next generation Earth-observation satellite, scheduled to launch on a ULA Delta II rocket in late October. NPP is the bridge between the older Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites and the forthcoming series of Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). Orbiting the globe 16 times per day, NPP will pave the way for a complete U.S. climate monitoring system, which is critical for global climate change science.
- Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) - Set to launch in November, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity Rover, is the catalyst for the next decade of Mars exploration. Lockheed Martin Space Systems designed and built the
aeroshell system for the MSL. Lockheed Martin has designed and built nearly every capsule flown by NASA for space exploration since Apollo. The MSL aeroshell is the largest to date at 15 feet in diameter. Again, United Launch Alliance will provide the Atlas V launch vehicle and launch services for the MSL.
Learn more:
» Colorado Space Coalition Website
»
2011-2012 Aerospace Colorado Brochure
»
2011 Colorado Aerospace Industry Cluster Study |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
