Despite a floundering national financial situation, representatives of a relatively new state program to promote and strengthen Utah's "knowledge economy" are seeing stars.

The Utah Science Technology and Research initiative, or USTAR, is a long-term investment in in-state, innovation-based companies and technology research efforts created by the Utah State Legislature in 2006.

Steve Roy, director of USTAR's Central Utah regional outreach center based at Utah Valley University, said one of the main missions of the program is to draw world-class researchers to Utah "in areas that we think we have a competitive advantage."

Those have been identified as biofuels, biomedical innovation, diagnostic imaging, nanotech biosensors and personalized medicine, he said.

Its second mission is to act as a resource and incubator for science and technology companies in Utah and connect them with USTAR research coming out of its primary research universities -- the University of Utah and Utah State University, he said.

"Our long-term goal is creating high-paying jobs and starting new businesses based on technology development," Roy said.

One of five regional USTAR outreach centers, the Central Utah outreach office at UVU in Orem is tasked with helping local companies and entrepreneurs commercialize the intellectual properties they've developed and provide them access to cutting-edge research "to help them leap from the competition," he said.

Utah County and the Orem-Provo area in particular, Roy said, have served over the years as a traditional home to a wealth of entrepreneurial start-ups, personal health companies and software media giants. For example, his office has worked with several metro-area companies related to natural health supplements in getting them access to some of the latest research coming out of USU's Center of Advanced Nutrition. They've also consulted representatives of Aribex, an Orem company that manufactures portable X-ray devices, and Direct Controls, a business that creates software for special robotics applications.

"There are entities in Orem, Provo and Utah County that match up very nicely against these things USTAR is doing," he said. "Those companies are wonderful examples of the entrepreneurial nature of this valley and the good things going on."

The office also coordinates research and incubator resources with officials at UVU, the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum, the Small Business Development Center and others, Roy said.

"We don't play favorites," he said. "Everyone is invited to the party and we see what we can do to connect the dots to all of the groups."

USTAR receives $15 million annually to fund research teams and recruiting efforts to bring the top scientists and researchers to facilities at the U of U and USU. Its regional outreach centers get $4 million a year for commercialization efforts. The state also gets money for the program through federal research grants applications.

"We've got $66 million in grants applied for," Roy said. "We may not win them all, but it's a significant amount of federal tax dollars that wouldn't otherwise be there."

Michael O'Malley, USTAR's marketing and communications director, said its outreach offices are typically working on sizable projects with eight to 12 companies each at any one time.

"And that project might be a market assessment (if that enterprise is considering going into a new market), helping an inventor build a prototype or it might be helping a company in the early stages seek funding for investors," he said.

Roy said the financial crisis is making it more difficult for companies to access loans and funding and is affecting the state's entire economy. Yet technology- and science-based start-ups and inventors in Utah remain active.

"So far in Utah, we haven't seen a dramatic slowdown ... in terms of technology and new ideas," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, the sky is not falling yet."

For more information, contact USTAR's Central Utah outreach center at 863-7933 or by e-mail at ustarc@utah.gov.

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