While Washington is gearing up for the presidential inauguration, Silicon Slopes is celebrating its own type of inauguration.

The first-ever Silicon Slopes Tech Summit kicked off Thursday morning at the Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City. Organizers celebrated the event, encouraging assembled business leaders and entrepreneurs to come together as a Silicon Slopes community to boost Utah’s marketplace.

“The word is ‘chance.’ That’s the word for entrepreneurs,” said Clint Betts, executive director of Silicon Slopes. “Along the way we’ve all been given a chance to grow and become better. As entrepreneurs, as a community, we need to actively seek out opportunities to give others a chance.”

The morning’s panelists continued in that vein, referencing the oft-quoted phrase “all boats rise with the tide.” Carine Clark, executive board member of Silicon Slopes and CEO of MaritzCX added that Utah’s business atmosphere is unique because those involved subscribe to the abundance mentality.

“We want people to feel part of this community, even if they aren’t super high tech,” Clark said.

She mentioned that the reason she is a part of the Silicon Slopes organization is because of its focus on education and service. Dave Bateman, Entrata’s CEO, agreed saying that companies around the state need to better advocate to ensure the future of Utah business.

Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox also addressed how important programs at the elementary and secondary education levels can and will be in training the state’s future business movers and shakers. A key component of that, he said, is work-based learning. Because technology and business methods are constantly changing, the next generation needs to be trained to be “constantly learning, constantly adapting.”

Work-based learning programs put students in hand-on work situations that teach them the skills, while also giving them career experience. Most of the high school students involved in the state’s Utah Aerospace Pathways program graduate high school with an aerospace manufacturing certificate, and are already highly employable, Cox said.

Citing the success of Pathways, Cox hinted that the governor will announce an expansion of the program, targeted to local business needs, next week during his State of the State address. Meghan Wills of the National Governors Association also announced Thursday the Talent Ready Utah initiative, a new organization enhancing work-based learning by furthering partnerships between businesses and schools.

“We’re just getting started in work-based learning,” Cox said.

InsideSales.com CEO Dave Elkington and Cydni Tetro, executive director of the Women Tech Council, encouraged all business leaders to also reach out and partner with the schools around them. Doing so will help prepare the students who will eventually fill those same leaders’ positions, and ensure Utah’s economy will continue to thrive.

“We won’t succeed if we don’t partner with our schools, if we don’t help them out,” Elkington said.

“If we, as an industry, aren’t committed to helping, we won’t have the workforce we need,” Tetro added. “I hope this becomes part of how we do education. When industry steps in and partners with schools, it exponentially changes things.”

Because Utah’s business culture has been very much one bootstrapped for many years, banding together as a business community in the state isn’t necessarily a novel idea. But summit organizers wanted to make sure those assembled remember that part of being successful in business means giving back.

“Even with just one person, one person who can pull people together who believe in what you do, and can make a group around it that is self-sustaining — you can change the world. That’s transformative,” said David Fialkow, managing partner of General Catalyst.

Thursday’s event included afternoon breakout sessions targeted to entrepreneurs, marketing and sales professionals and tech workers. The Silicon Slopes Tech Summit continues Friday with multiple presentations by local CEOs and out-of-state experts, and further targeted breakout sessions. More than 5,000 people are expected to attend the two-day event.