Silicon Slopes

Silicon Slopes is a Utah based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization led by predominantly Latter Day Saint technology and business leaders that promotes and advertises high tech real estate and technology ventures along the Wasatch Front. Silicon slopes is mainly centered north of Lehi, Utah at Thanksgiving Point, but now is also understood to encompass high tech companies anywhere along the Wasatch Front.^[1][2]

The Silicon Slopes area centered around Lehi, Utah is a major economic center for technology and innovation businesses. Between the cities of Salt Lake City and Provo and their surrounding suburbs, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Wasatch Front between Salt Lake City and Provo. Served by the Salt Lake City International Airport and less than a two-hour flight from Silicon Valley, California, Silicon Slopes has been recognized in news media as a growing hub for tech employment and startup formation.^[3][4][5]

Although often compared to Silicon Valley, Silicon Slopes lacks the workforce diversity and climate of equality and inclusiveness which exists in Silicon Valley. Some sources claim that due to the strong influence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the area, women, LGBT, and minorities face significant challenges in the workplace in Utah and discrimination in pay and other benefits. Salt Lake City is somewhat more inclusive than Utah Valley where Silicon Slopes is based, which is over 90% Latter Day Saint in terms of population. Incidents of antisemitism and discrimination of LGBT and women have been reported in the Silicon Slopes workplace. The Silicon Slopes job market is also reported to be over-hyped in comparison to Silicon Valley.^{[6][7][8] [9] [10][11][12]}

The term Silicon Slopes is attributed to Josh James (founder and CEO of Domo) who coined it as a branding campaign to promote Utah's growing technology community. The nickname is derived from "Silicon Valley," substituting Utah's mountains (slopes) for Northern California's Santa Clara Valley.^[13]

Historically, the region had been home to a state prison and farmland, and Thanksgiving Point real estate development projects.^[14] Utah's decades-long history of government contract work and innovative Utah businesses' early involvement in the tech industry include the creation of the Internet as the fourth node of ARPANET. These foundations were built over years, and established Utah's ability to become a leading technology center.

The Utah tech scene started with WordPerfect and Novell in 1979.^[15] Novell, Inc., a software development company founded in 1979 by Ray Noorda, produced software to connect desktop computers so they could share peripheral devices, like a printer (computing) and hard disks. As the price of desktop computers began to fall, Novell captured a large segment of the market with its Netware program.^[16] At their height in the early 1990s, Novell controlled 65% of the market for network operating systems in the high-tech industry.

Utah has a long history of partnerships with the U.S. Department of Defense that have contributed to laying the groundwork for the state's high-tech business environment and infrastructure. David C. Evans,^[17] a native of Salt Lake City, was one of the original pioneers of computer science in Utah and its groundbreaking work with the DoD. During the early 1960s, Evans worked as the head of the computer science department at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was also in charge of the university's work for the Pentagon's Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA). In 1965, Evans was recruited back to Salt Lake City to create a computer science department at the University of Utah, and brought DoD contacts with him, including Ivan Sutherland.^[18] Evans and Sutherland continued their work on ARPA for the DoD with their colleagues in California and helped to establish ARPANET, an "early packet switching network and the first network to implement the protocol suite TCP/IP." Both of these technologies form the technical foundation of the internet. In 1969, the University of Utah was one of the original four nodes of ARPANET, cementing its place in military and technological history.^[19]

Due to this early partnership with the DoD, Utah was able to encourage more joint ventures with the military. Not only was Utah capable of developing high-tech infrastructure, but many geographic and natural characteristics were appealing to the DoD. Utah is geographically isolated from both the east and the west coasts, providing higher security and less vulnerability to attacks. Utah also has a low probability of large-scale natural disasters and wide open spaces that provide enough room for chemical weapons testing and drone pilot training.^[20]

Some notable Utah partnerships with the U.S. military include Hill Air Force Base, Utah Test and Training Range, Dugway Proving Ground, and the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility.

In the recent years, Utah has also become home to a growing number of big data processing centers. Some of these are government partnerships, such as the largest NSA data storage facility in the United States, located in Bluffdale, Utah.^[21] In order to meet the demand and facilitate more partnerships, the University of Utah recently added a new Big Data certificate program^[22] within its School of Computing. The program began in the Fall of 2014. Utah is already ahead of the curve in the national trend on big data, and training students how to understand the technicality of big data analysis will continue to attract business and military operations to Utah.

Utah has often been ranked as one of the top five states for businesses.^[23][24] There is a continuous focus on creating partnerships between businesses, government, education, and communities. The Governor's Office of Economic Development is based on Governor Gary Herbert's commitment to economic development statewide. In the most recent State New Economy Index, performed by the Kauffman Foundation in 2010, Utah was ranked first in the nation for Economic Dynamism and inventor patents, while ranking third in fastest-growing firms.^[25]

Universities and high schools in the area have worked on expanding computer science programs in response to the growth of Silicon Slopes. In the early 2000s, the Utah Legislature allocated around $100 million to the state's universities in order to bolster their computer science programs and significantly increase the number of graduates in the field. The universities also provided matching funding and created many new courses and areas of technological study.^[26] In October 2021 the University of Utah announced a $15 million donation from the John Price family to construct a new $120 million computer science building.^[27] Around the same time Utah Valley University received a $25 million donation from Ryan Smith for its computer science program. Combined the University of Utah and UVU have about 3,400 computer science students. In fall 2019 UVU began offering a tech management MBA in partnership with Silicon Slopes.^[28]

• Places with "Silicon" names