U.S. “advanced industries”—high-value engineering and R&D-intensive industrial concerns—make signal contributions to national and regional economic prosperity. Iconic American companies such as United Technologies, GE, Intel, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Ford, Caterpillar, and Medtronic comprise 10 percent of the overall economy but generate 45 percent of U.S. goods exports and support over 4 million high-skill jobs and several million more ancillary ones.
The space and aerospace industry is quintessentially emblematic of the advanced industry sector. And one of the deepest and broadest concentrations of space-related activity in the country lies in Colorado. There, the space cluster pervades the state’s industrial base; cuts across the public and private sectors; and enables a fast-growing telecommunications industry, dynamic GIS and earth observation enterprises, as well as more emergent energy, cybersecurity, and advanced materials segments of the economy.
On Tuesday, February 5, the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings presented a dynamic public forum focused on the significance and future of the Colorado space economy as an exemplary advanced industry. Part of Brookings’s new Advanced Industries Series, and anchored by the release of a new Brookings strategy report by Mark Muro, senior fellow and policy director of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, the morning forum explored the best ways to advance the competitiveness of the Colorado space cluster at a time of uncertainty and disruptive change.
Hosted in collaboration with the Colorado Space Coalition and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the event also featured comments from leading business, civic, and government leaders as well as a panel discussion and audience Q & A. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper concluded the event with keynote remarks.
Read the report, which was released at this event.
See also Mark Muro’s presentation » (PDF)
Panel Discussion (L to R): Tom Clark, Chief Executive Officer, Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation; Frederick Doyle, Vice President and Corporate Executive, Defense and Intelligence Community, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation; Walter Scott, Founder, Executive Vice President, and Chief Technical Officer, DigitalGlobe, Inc.; Stein Sture, Vice Chancellor for Research, Huber and Helen Croft Endowed Professor, College of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Colorado at Boulder; Dan Schmitt, Co-Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer, The Incubation Factory
Mark Muro, Senior Fellow and Policy Director, Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings
Governor John Hickenlooper, State of Colorado
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Mark Muro
February 5, 2013
Agenda
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February 5
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Affirming and Reassessing the Colorado Space Economy—A Classic Advanced Industry
9:20 am - 9:30 am
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Welcomes
9:00 am - 9:20 am
Tom Clark Chief Executive Officer - Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation -
Private Sector and Federal Responses
Ken Lund Executive Director - Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade -
Panel Discussion: Advancing the Colorado Space Cluster
Tom Clark Chief Executive Officer - Metro Denver Economic Development CorporationFrederick Doyle Vice President and Corporate Executive, Defense and Intelligence Community - Ball Aerospace & Technologies CorporationWalter Scott Founder, Executive Vice President, and Chief Technical Officer - DigitalGlobe, Inc.Stein Sture Vice Chancellor for Research, Huber and Helen Croft Endowed Professor, College of Engineering and Applied Science - University of Colorado at BoulderDan Schmitt Co-Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer - The Incubation Factory -
Keynote
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Introduction
Elliot Pulham Chief Executive Officer - Space Foundation -
Registration and Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am
Elliot Pulham Chief Executive Officer - Space Foundation -
Next Steps
Ken Lund Executive Director - Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade -
Industry Context: Trends and Forces in the Aerospace Industry
9:30 am - 9:40 am
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