Eastern hosts Economic Summit

   Utah State University Eastern is going to be hosting an Economic Summit on Monday, Sept. 25 and Tuesday, Sept. 26 in cooperation with Congressman John Curtis. Leaders and entrepreneurs from across the state of Utah will come together over the course of the two day summit. The first day being panels and conferences, and the second being the Business Pitch Competition.

   “[Discussing] energy is a part of it, business is a part of it, money and start ups are a part of it, grant money,” Director of Community and Campus engagement Brad Watson said. “We’ve had people from federal grants come and present so that people are aware of what’s available to them, as they may be starting or looking to grow a business.”

   The summit is similar to a conference. The first day will consist of experts in the energy and business field coming and giving lectures in their expertise about various subjects and topics. It will also consist of a series of panels given by groups of people. Questions for speakers both prepared in advance and from the audience will be answered on stage.

   “The second day event is for businesses looking to scale upwards,” Watson said. “This isn’t for new businesses, it’s for businesses that currently exist and need to scale and grow. It’s an investment growth.”

   The second day of the Summit will still host panels in the morning, but is going to be run by the Kinect Capital. They are a company who is looking to invest into businesses in the Eastern area, and will be running a pitch competition.

   “We are always excited to host this event, and to have seen it grow over the years as Congressman Curtis’ premiere event for Eastern.” Doctor Doug Miller, Associate Vice President at Eastern said. “This event is moving to be an event that’ll stand as one Utah Summit across the state.”

   Though the Economic Summit has taken place at Eastern the last three years, it’s not a new event. Before it was sponsored by Eastern, it was still held in Carbon county.

   “The economic summit happens yearly, it’s been happening now for five-ish years,” Watson said.

   The keynote speaker of the event is Pamela Dupin-Bryant, Vice President of the Huntsman School of Business. Dr. Dupin-Bryant’s research and scholarly writing primarily focuses on long distance education, information systems, and data and information in business. Other notable speakers include James Davis and Michael Glauser, also from the Huntsman School of Business. Davis is the Marketing and Strategy department head, and Glauser is the Executive Director of The Center for Entrepreneurship and Marketing and Strategy.

   “We’re very much at a tipping point in this area,” Watson said. “Coal and coal extraction and energy is changing dramatically. Carbon and Emery counties have relied heavily on coal extraction and coal fire plants for years and years. Power companies have said by 2032 they can no longer have it be profitable because of new policies put in place. We need other businesses, we need any way we can employ these people in the future, so [holding this event] is significant and wise of Congressman Kurtis.”

   For more information, visit eastern.usu.edu/economicsummit/index. The website only contains basic bullet points of the event at the time of writing, but will be updated to hold the full Summit Program.