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Invest in Colorado
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Over 80% of Colorado’s inhabitants live in the region known as the Front Range Corridor, which compares well in terms of size, economy, tourist attractions, and population to the Rhône-Alpes region. For the Rhône-Alpes investor, Colorado offers comparatively low taxes and business costs, a fair regulatory climate, exceptional science and technology assets, strategic location, access to excellent rail, road and air transport, and an unparalleled quality of life, important to attracting qualified personnel.
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Colorado Facts:
Population: 4,753,377
Land Area: 104,718 sq.mi.
Population Denver: 566,974
Population Metro Aera: 2.6 million
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Renewable Energy
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Colorado ranks high among U.S. states in renewable energy potential, primarily in solar, wind, and biofuels. This has made the state extremely attractive to U.S. and foreign investors. Danish company VESTAS, will soon have completed four production facilities for wind turbines which will employ over 3,000 workers. Siemens is establishing its U.S. wind turbine R&D center in Colorado. Conoco Phillips is constructing its Global Biofuels Technology and Corporate Learning Center near Denver. SunEdison, the country’s largest solar energy services provider, has constructed a utility scale photovoltaic plant which is the largest in the U.S. Xcel Energy recently announced plans to build the world’s largest solar plant in Colorado.
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IT & Software Industry
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Number Employed: 53,200
Major Companies: IBM, StorageTek, Agilent Technologies, Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems, EDS, First Data Corp, PeopleSoft, Ciber Inc.
Colorado is a major center in the U.S. for software development. The state ranks fifth in the U.S. in software employment. Software accounts for over 50% of Colorado exports. Approximately 120,000 people work directly for IT/software companies. Software development is broad-based, but is particularly important in energy, bioscience, aerospace (Colorado is the second state after Texas in aerospace) and business. As well, the University of Denver has world-class programs in animation and game development. The state is also home to major regional operations of global companies, including Sun Microsystems, IBM, Microsoft, and Hewlett Packard.
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Bioscience
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Number Employed: 17,681
Major Companies: Amgen Inc, Thermo Biostar Inc, Sirna Therapeutics Inc, Atrix Laboratories Inc, Dharmacon Research Inc, GeneThera Inc, FeRx Inc, Microphage, Roche-Colorado
In bioscience, university-based research organizations rank at the top in their fields in the U.S. For example, Colorado State University has an international center for research in human and animal infectious diseases. The University of Colorado is one of the top ten recipients in the U.S. in bioscience research funding, and is developing a $4.2 billion Health Science City which will be the second largest such campus in the country when completed. Nationally, Denver ranks at or near the top in research and treatment of respiratory and pediatric illnesses.
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Micro & Nanotechnology
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Major Companies: Metafluidics, NanoProducts Corp., ZettaCore Inc
Anchored by the presence of NREL and NIST, Colorado ranks third in the U.S. in nanotechnology research. Universities and private sector research and development activities benefit from NREL’s Incubator Alliance and access to state-of-the-art nanofabrication facitlities and nanomeasurement tools.
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Research & Development
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With Colorado’s strengths in research and development, there are significant opportunities for collaborative research in every sector with universities and Colorado-based national research laboratories.
Colorado is the top state recipient of federal research funds. National research organizations based in Colorado include the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
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(NREL), the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)and one of two National Centers for Disease Control.
In Colorado, the economic development of these sectors is promoted by membership-based organizations, including six major regional chambers of commerce and several industry associations. CSIA, Colorado’s Technology Association, serves the IT/software industry, has 300 members and presents a comprehensive series of periodic programs and major conferences. The Colorado Nanotechnology Alliance serves organizations involved in research and commercialization of nanotechnologies. CORE, Connected Organizations for a Responsible Economy, serves companies ranging from start-ups to multinationals in promoting sustainability.
The Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory is a research partnership among the NREL, Colorado State University, the University of Colorado, and the Colorado School of Mines. Together, they comprise the world’s most powerful renewable energy consortium of its kind. The Collaboratory unites world class researchers with industry partners. Shared research projects are selected by industry members from proposals offered by all four Collaboratory institutions. Research centers include the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels, the Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion, and the Center for Research and Education in Wind.
Anchored by NREL, clusters exist for solar energy, wind power, smart grid and grid development, fuel cells and biofuels.
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Other Major Industries
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Aerospace / Satellite
Number Employed: 40,000
Major Companies: Ball Aerospace, Boeing, EchoStar, Hughes Space & Communications, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon/TRW, DigitalGlobe, Space Imaging, Boulder Imaging, Merrick & Company
Agriculture & Food
Number Employed: 39,969
Major Companies: Molson Coors, Leprino Foods, Whitewave Foods, Swift Co., Cargill, Longmont Foods
Energy / Mining / Natural Resources
Number Employed: 14,900
Major Companies: RAG American Coal Company, Cotter Corporation, Newmont Mining, Forest Oil Co., Tom Brown Inc; Transmontaigne Inc, Bowie Resources, Climax Molybdenum, Titanium Metals, Anglo Gold North America, Gold Fields Exploration, The Denver Gold Club, Behre Dolbear; Knight Piesold, Orica US
Manufacturing
Number Employed: 166,495
Major Companies: CoorsTek, Atmel Corp., Ball Corp, Geneva Pharmaceuticals, Hunter Douglas, Ingersoll-Rand
Photonics
Number Employed: 5,000
Major Companies: Ball Corporation, Agilent Technologies, Research Electro-Optics, Colorlink Inc., Meadowlark Optics, ILX Lightwave, Rocky Mountain Instrument Co.
Telecommunications & Digital Media
Number Employed: 49,446
Major Companies: Qwest Communications, EchoStar Communications, AT&T Corp., Avaya Communications, Time Warner Telecom, Level 3 Communications, Adelphia
Transportation
Number Employed: 61,834
Major Companies: United Airlines, Frontier Airlines, RTD, Union Pacific/Southern Pacific Railroad, FedEx, UPS
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