It felt straight out of Top Gun – hype reels of fighter jets, cinematic lighting, and a soundtrack of American ambition.
But behind the spectacle was something far more consequential: a playbook for how to build an industry.
At the Zero Gravity Summit – a two-day convening that drew more than 2,500 leaders from government, business, and national security to Salt Lake City last week – Utah’s 47G: Aerospace & Defense showed what modern economic development looks like.
The production matched the ambition.
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and NFL legend Peyton Manning headlined alongside Gov. Spencer Cox.
Curated dinners connected investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers on the edges of the event.
Before Haley’s fireside chat even began, the former governor looked out at the crowd and remarked:
“Every state should be doing this.”
What is 47G?
The group doesn’t fit neatly into the usual economic development parlance – and that’s part of its effectiveness.
47G formed through a series of mergers with related industry groups over the past two years to consolidate Utah’s aerospace and defense ecosystem under a single brand.
Part trade association, part investment catalyst, and part public-private campaign, 47G aligns companies, universities, investors, and government to grow Utah’s aerospace and defense industry – currently 20% of the state’s economy.
One way it has done that:
“Last year, 47G helped raise $30 million for companies and startups in the hardware space who are looking to innovate and work with investors,” 47G CEO Aaron Starks said in his opening remarks.
S&W’S TAKE
Utah’s approach demonstrates a new paradigm in economic development: sector-specific, brand-savvy, and execution-driven.
This week’s Standard & Works newsletter draws on 50+ conversations, panels, and keynotes at the Zero Gravity Summit to unpack Utah’s blueprint in six-parts.
🚀 Let’s go.
Zach Silber
Editor-in-Chief, Standard & Works
1. 🤝 Working Together
To build an industry or region, start with structure.
In Utah’s Southwest Corner bordering Nevada and Arizona, that structure is the Southern Utah Economic Alliance (So.Utah).
Less than a year old, So.Utah aligns five counties that once competed for projects.
“We had to check our guns at the door,” said Todd Brightwell, a veteran site selector who now leads the group.
🧭 At Utah’s northern edge, Shawn Milne of the Bear River Association of Governments (BRAG), manages cooperation across three counties stretching from Nevada to Wyoming and up to the Idaho border.
It’s an impressive balancing act across:
Resources – The Bear River, the region’s namesake, is the largest source of freshwater to the Great Salt Lake
Industries – The region is anchored by aerospace and defense as well as food production and processing
Borders – BRAG’s jurisdictions all touch state lines
The approach:
“Just like a sports team – a quarterback isn’t going to be great on your O-line, and vice versa. But both are incredibly important to move the ball down the field.”
“If I look at the economy that way, everybody has their part.”
👉 S&W’s Take: 47G, So.Utah, and BRAG’s structured collaboration shows how Utah is aligning its economic-development ecosystem – from focused state-level industry leadership to regional alliances that execute on the ground.
2.⚡ Power Is the Product
Governor Spencer Cox addresses the Zero Gravity Summit
Every economic development strategy needs an energy strategy.
Utah’s is Operation Gigawatt – a statewide plan to double generation and modernize transmission to accelerate energy abundance, with emphasis on next-generation nuclear and geothermal power.
“ It's just become so impossible to do the very things that made America the greatest country in the history of the world, but not here,” Gov. Spencer Cox said in his keynote.
“We work very closely together and in Utah, our mantra is built here. That's what we're doing. We're building again.”
That ambition is a major reason Valar Atomics is building its first nuclear test reactor in Utah at the state-owned San Rafael Energy Research Lab.
Valar CEO Isaiah Taylor explained the company’s site selection calculus:
“We’d been talking with states who have massive financial programs, but you can’t get the decision-makers all to sit down at the same conference table and make a decision.”
“We found this is something that happens naturally here. It almost feels like government is more like business, where you want to get things done and move quickly.”
Joel Ferry, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, explained the intention of moving fast:
“Governor Cox says, ‘just because something takes longer, doesn’t mean it gets better’ – if we can make a decision, let’s make a decision and move on.”
Paving the way for the state’s agenda is a network of new groups – including Beehive Energy and Unleash Utah.
Each plays a role.
“We set up Beehive Energy almost as a heat shield,” the group’s chairman Joe Ross told us.
“We can take the heat from Rocky Mountain Power and other lobbyists, and still push through to create opportunities where we can generate power, create jobs, bring more people to Utah, and build more homes.”
Operation Gigawatt + Valar Atomics + Beehive Energy + Unleash Utah = a complete energy ecosystem aligned around speed, abundance, and industrial growth.
3. 🏖️ Utah’s Sandbox: Regulation as an Accelerator
Rep. Mike Kennedy speaks with Standard & Works
Utah’s growth philosophy is simple: if regulation slows innovation, remove it.
The Regulatory Sandbox is designed to do just that.
Ryan Starks, executive director of EDCUtah, explained it to us:
“If a company says regulation is inhibiting growth, we can say ‘apply to be in the sandbox.’ The state will waive regulations for up to 24 months. During that time, the company can demonstrate what it’s doing is safe, good for the economy, and good for the country.”
If successful, the waivers can become permanent, transforming red-tape reform into an engine for competitiveness.
U.S. Rep. Mike Kennedy – who helped create the sandbox as a state legislator – described its role in supporting innovation from artificial intelligence:
“The sandbox deferred regulations that didn’t exactly fit for something that was new like artificial intelligence.
“Instead of squelching it, we created a state program that actually allowed it to flourish.”
4. 🛰 “Spaceport in Utah. 2026.”
A graphic from Utah’s 1970s campaign to be NASA’s spaceport.
“Spaceport in Utah. 2026.”
👆🏻That’s what 47G CEO Aaron Starks commented on my LinkedIn post this week about Utah’s revival of a 50-year-old plan to build a spaceport.
In the 1970s, Utah was a top contender to host NASA’s Space Shuttle program.
A major advantage: High elevation and thin air meant 4.5 million more pounds of payload could be launched than a sea-level spaceport over the program’s lifespan.
Cape Canaveral ultimately won – deep water was needed for booster splash-down recovery and the Great Salt Lake was too shallow.
Now, the state is revisiting that dream – and using it as a strategy.
“It’ll bring a lot of economic development, a lot of companies, a lot of venture capital,” said Starks.
Utah’s formidability helped draw Brett Loubert, head of Deloitte’s space practice, to Zero Gravity.
“This doesn't happen in every state. Just the amount of effort and the visible leadership in the state has been very inspiring,” Loubert said.
“I think Utah has a real big chance to own a big piece of this growing space economy.”
5. ✈️ From Crossroads of the West to Highways in the Sky
Source: 47G
Movement has always defined Utah’s economy – going back to the Golden Spike that created the transcontinental railroad here.
“It sounds cliché, but we really are the crossroads of the West,” 47G CEO Aaron Starks told us.
“About 40 percent of the nation’s freight flows through Utah,” in part because I-15 intersects I-70 and I-80 in the state.
Ben Hart, executive director of the Utah Inland Port Authority, discussed his agency’s role catalyzing a modern freight and logistics network:
“We can play a role in between a lot of other modes of transportation.”
Proof points include an $18 million Delta cargo hub at Salt Lake City International Airport, statewide expansion of BNSF Railway intermodal access, and using tax financing to attract large businesses like a new distribution center for education supplier Lakeshore Learning.
“Inland states are unique. We can really bridge the gap between what we want economically and what we want transportation and freight movement wise,” Hart said. “No one else is doing it quite like this.”
And now, movement is going vertical.
Project Alta: Utah’s Advanced Air Mobility Strategy
Housed within 47G, Project Alta is building a statewide system for electric aviation.
“Aviation is at a critical stage of changing – we've been the same for 70 years,” said Chris Metts, executive director of Project Alta and a former FAA official. “It’s time for us to move to the next generation of aircraft.”
“We're working with electric aviation manufacturers to build an ecosystem in Utah that brings them to this state, that allows us to connect rural Utah with urban Utah, that allows our ever increasing population to be supported by a commuter type system of aircraft.”
When Utah hosts the 2034 Winter Olympics, spectators will be able to travel to competitions by air taxi.
“ We plan on giving you a pretty incredible ride,” Gov. Spencer Cox told the audience.
6. 🧭 The Utah Difference
Demonstrating the state’s unique kindness, BRAG’s Shawn Milne picks 47G sweatshirt lint off Zach’s face before starting our interview
Utah’s residents and culture are a competitive advantage – a blend of patriotism, faith, and community rooted in the state’s pioneer heritage.
“This place was built by pioneers with great determination,” U.S. Rep. Mike Kennedy told me. “They did really hard things and that's the American spirit. That's how people operate around here.”
Leaders call it an “ethical workforce” that shows up, passes every test, and takes pride in its craft.
That work ethic scales globally.
More than 130 languages are spoken in Utah – the highest per capita in the U.S. – thanks to a generation of young Utahns who spend formative years abroad before returning home fluent in the world.
Goldman Sachs saw this early and built one of its largest U.S. hubs in Salt Lake City.
Combine that with:
The nation’s youngest median age (30.1)
A rising fertility rate
A diversified economy
… and it becomes clear that Utah’s workforce will have a major role in America’s next economic era.
We’ll be back to visit soon.
