< Previous56 C O L O R A D O: B U S I N E S S C O M E S T O L I F E olorado’s march to the top ranks of the aerospace industry began as a fl uke of geography. In , the pioneering Glenn L. Martin Co. proposed a plan to the U.S. Air Force to build a factory south of Denver to make Titan I intercontinental ballistic missiles. At the time, California and Florida had a lock on most of the aerospace industry. “ e reason for making rockets here in Colorado is that it’s far away from the coasts, and at that time it was out of the range of enemy missiles,” says Jay Lindell, Aerospace & Defense Industry Champion for the Colorado Offi ce of Economic Development and International Trade. As the Titan program ramped up, says Lindell, “a lot of defense dollars started fl owing into Colorado.” Today, Colorado boasts the nation’s second-largest aerospace economy. In all, more than space-related companies and suppliers provide by GA R Y DA U G HTE R S C AE R O S P A CE The Final FrontierFinal Frontier It all begins in Colorado.58 C O L O R A D O: B U S I N E S S C O M E S T O L I F E aerospace products and services across the state, including manned and unmanned spacecraft, remote sensing, ground control and navigation services. According to the Colorado Space Coalition, the state ranks fi rst in the nation in per capita aerospace employment and third in NASA prime contracts. Lindell says the industry brings in $. billion a year into the state economy. “Aerospace is such a catalyst here in Colorado,” says Lindell. “ e aerospace industry underpins our national security and really drives our economy.” Lockheed Martin’s Colorado facility is on a winning streak. In November , the company’s InSight lander, built in Littleton for NASA and boosted into space by the Centennial-based United Launch Alliance (ULA), touched down softly on the country’s fi rst mission to Mars in six years. Within fi ve minutes, InSight was sending back the fi rst- ever pictures from the Martian interior. Only a week later, Lockheed Martin’s OSIRIS-REx, built and operated in Littleton, rendezvoused with the tiny asteroid Bennu million miles from Earth. OSIRIS-REx is to collect samples from Bennu and return them to Earth. Lockheed Martin is but one of nine major aerospace companies that enjoys a presence in Colorado. Others include Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Ball and Boeing. With more than , employees, ULA is the nation’s most experienced space launch company, with more than consecutive successful launches. In addition, Colorado has an abundance of smaller space companies such as Denver- based Blue Canyon Technologies, which supplies spacecraft components as well as small satellites to meet skyrocketing commercial demand. Blue Canyon doubled its workforce in and plans to do so again in . Colorado is actively cultivating aerospace innovation and commercial opportunities. In August, , federal regulators granted an operator’s license to SpacePort Colorado near Denver, envisioned as a base for ferrying satellites and tourists into suborbital space. It’s the th such facility in the nation. “It’s huge for us,” says Lindell. “Now, we can market and brand ourselves as a space port state.” Colorado’s aerospace industry also receives support from four military commands, including the Air Force Space Command, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). All are based in Colorado Springs, home of the U.S. Air Force Academy, which off ers the country’s number-one undergraduate program in aerospace engineering. Strong university aerospace programs, says Lindell, have become a key to the industry’s growth. e University of Colorado receives more NASA funding than any other public university and is a leading trainer of astronauts. e Colorado School of Mines, located in Golden, off ers a Space Resources Program focused on educating scientists, economists, entrepreneurs and policy makers. Metropolitan State University in Denver furthers multiple disciplines to answer the workforce needs of aerospace ventures. “One of the things that sets us apart,” Lindell says, “is the ability of our university system to provide that skill and talent. Our ability to produce talent really helps propel this industry.” Lockheed Martin’s InSight lander, built outside of Denver, currently sits on the surface of Mars. Photo courtesy of Lockheed MartinB I O S C I E N CE & H E A L TH TE CH A I, meet AI. Sure, artifi cial intelligence is the next big thing. But advanced industries are where that AI is best put to use. at’s why the Colorado Offi ce of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) invented the Advanced Industries (AI) Accelerator Grant program, launched in . Since its inception, more than AI Accelerator Grants have been awarded — and of those (%) have gone to bioscience startups. e Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA) says the AI program has the state’s Advanced Industry Grant Program overall (including the Accelerator program) has awarded life science-related grants, which have led to new life sciences companies, direct jobs and $. million in follow-on grants and investments in bioscience companies. In May , the CBSA saluted companies recently recognized as valuable investments for the entire state by OEDIT and congratulated new AI grant recipients in the bioscience space. Among the revolutionary ideas being hatched in Colorado, Sana Health’s ranks near the top when it comes to inspiration to go with the innovation. Sana Health’s revolutionary technology, on the cusp of FDA approval, could change the face of pain management across a number of therapeutic areas. Image courtesy of Sana Health C O L O R A D O: B U S I N E S S C O M E S T O L I F E 59 Advancing the Field AA by ADAM B R U N S There’s nothing arti cial about Colorado’s life sciences intelligence.60 C O L O R A D O: B U S I N E S S C O M E S T O L I F E Company founder and CEO Richard Hanbury in 1992 suffered multiple injuries after he was forced to crash a jeep off a bridge in Yemen. He was in a coma for six weeks, spent 14 months in the hospital, and was given a bleak prognosis for lifespan because of extreme chronic nerve damage pain. But, inspired by the “flow state” brought on by watching a film, he began experimenting with neuromodulation patterns and bio- metric sensors which normalized how his brain processed pain signals. Today, the Sana device combines an intervention lasting 16 minutes with cloud-based and proprietary algorithms that restore balance in the brain and induce that therapeutic flow state. It’s been tested by the British Special Air Service, U.S. Air Force, Richard Branson Virgin Challenger flights, and the first Solar Impulse solar- powered flight around the world. In addition to its use by elite athletes, among others, the device is being tested in such areas as fibromyalgia and opioid use disorder. “Sana’s mission is to redefine the way pain is treated,” says the company. “Approximately 100 million adults in the U.S. live with chronic pain. Opioids are still the most effective treatment for most severe pain states, but they are hampered by side effects, abuse and addiction. Sana is the first non-invasive bio- therapeutic device that provides lasting relief for severe chronic pain sufferers. We have the potential to reduce or eliminate severe pain, at the touch of a button, anytime, anywhere. “We are planning our FDA submission in July with a possible launch in early Q4,” says the company, “and we are starting active planning of commercial activities and logistics/ shipping.” Reached by email, Hanbury, a Boulder local, says the company landed in Lafayette, Colorado, on the outskirts of Boulder, due to the proximity to key employees and the availability of workforce. “Sana also found a sublease in Lafayette that was perfect for our needs,” he says. Colorado is our preferred location. We are not searching for another site at this time as our current space is adequate for the near term. Up to this time, “we have received no assistance from state, region or area institutions” obtaining about half of its funding through venture capital,” he explains. The AI program grant “will help us grow going forward,” he says. Among other new AI grant recipients: • ImmunoMolecular Therapeutics is developing immuno-therapeutic drugs to treat autoimmune diseases. • Eximis Surgical is working to improve patient outcomes after surgery by reducing the size of incisions required. From 2014-2016, the number of Colorado bioscience firms grew by 20%, with a 5.3% increase in jobs. Source: Colorado BioScience Association 20% “We have the potential to reduce or eliminate severe pain, at the touch of a button, anytime, anywhere. ” — Richard Hanbury, Founder and CEO, Sana HealthC O L O R A D O: B U S I N E S S C O M E S T O L I F E 61 • Arpeggio Biosciences analyzes the cellular activity of medications to better understand how they work and improve outcomes for patients. • Respirogen, Inc. has developed a technology to deliver oxygen into the body without employing the lungs to treat patients with lung injuries. • Aspero Medical focuses on improving gastrointestinal balloon endoscopy. • Triple Endoscopy is developing a medical system to enable uns edated endoscopy procedures. • Fisher Imaging is developing technology that doubles the resolution and contrast of today’s mammography with less than half the x-ray dose. • And in a true meeting of the two AIs, Sopris Health off ers AI medical scribe technology to serve as an accurate and effi cient digital assistant. STARTUPS AND THEIR BACKERS FLOURISH e AI program received around applicants in its most recent round — a sign of plenty of innovation yet to be fully cultivated and harvested. But as Hanbury suggests, the venture capital community is as robust as the bioscience fi eld. And Small Business Trends in June identifi ed Denver as No. in the country for serial entrepreneurs, defi ned as those who have started at least three companies other than the one they currently lead. In , e Innosphere Fund announced its investment in one of the new AI grant recipients, Boulder-based Aspero Medical, whose unique intellectual property for endoscopy procedures was developed at the University of Colorado by Dr. Mark Rentschler, Aspero Medical CEO. “Innosphere has worked with many impressive university faculty over the years, and the Fund found Mark Rentschler to not only be an impressive CU faculty professor and researcher, but also a technologist with a great sense of the real clinical needs in the GI space, and he understands what’s required to commercialize technology to address those needs,” said Mike Freeman, Innosphere CEO. According to the CBSA, more than bioscience companies are located in Colorado, including agricultural, biotechnology, diagnostic, digital health, medical device and pharmaceutical companies. 8th3,125 $ 1.2 B Metro Denver’s medical device sector is ranked as the eighth largest in the nation. In that same span of time, inventors in the state were issued 3,125 patents in bioscience- related technologies. From 2014 to 2017, Colorado bioscience companies received $1.2 billion in venture capital investments and were awarded $1.35 billion in NIH grants from 2014–2017. A F EW M OR E FA C T S62 C O L O R A D O: B U S I N E S S C O M E S T O L I F E eidi Hostetter (pictured above), vice president of Faustson Tool in Aravada, Colorado, is a self-styled evangelist for Colorado’s manufacturing industry. In addition to her work at Faustson, a highly regarded machine shop within the aerospace industry, Hostetter is CEO of H2 Manufacturing, a consulting service for advanced manufacturing. She is a founder and board chair of Northern Colorado Manufacturing Partnership and founder of the ADAPT Center at the Colorado School of mines, an industry- academia consortium that works to support the widespread adoption of additive manufacturing and metal 3D printing. In an interview with Business Comes to Life, Hostetter discussed her wide-ranging work with 3D printing and the rise of advanced manufacturing in Colorado. Heidi Hostetter is a superstar of Colorado’s advanced manufacturing sector. by GA R Y DA U G HTE R S H AD V AN CE D M AN U F A C T U R I N G Photo courtesy of Colorado School of MinesC O L O R A D O: B U S I N E S S C O M E S T O L I F E 63 How will 3D printing change the world? HEIDI HOSTETTER: In , GE had to use diff erent metal parts to assemble a particular aircraft fuel nozzle. Now, they D print a single, fi nished nozzle. By doing that, they’ve cut out all the assembly needs. ey’ve cut out all the welding needs. ey’ve reduced the weight by % and increased the effi ciency by %. With additive manufacturing, the entry to market is much more rapid. You’re taking a concept and making it reality in hours, not days or weeks or months. is technology allows us to manufacture parts that we absolutely could not make before. Such as? HOSTETTER: Just as one example, you can now customize parts for the human body. You can customize a knee joint or a hip joint. You’re taking measurements from the human body and building the part accordingly. You can absolutely replicate what’s being replaced. And that customized knee joint is going to last about three times longer. What is the ADAPT Center doing to further the advance of additive manufacturing? HOSTETTER: Right now, you can print a metal part and get what you think you want from a visual standpoint, but it’s harder to get the material characteristics right because this is a whole new process. e ADAPT Center has created a database that leverages the latest developments in materials characterization, so that if a design engineer wants to make an aerospace thruster, for example, the ADAPT Center can run some algorithms and produce all the specifi c data needed to know about the necessary material characteristics. Our data gives industry the confi dence it needs to make the pivot into what’s going to be the fourth industrial revolution. We haven’t had a major shift like this in our manufacturing processes since the Ford era. is is a major disruption. Does ADAPT primarily partner with companies in Colorado? HOSTETTER: No, it’s an international center. Faustson, where you serve as vice president, claims to have an instrument either on or orbiting every planet in the solar system. Could you go into detail about that? HOSTETTER: We’ve built parts for the Kepler space telescope, the James Webb space telescope, Hubble, the Mars Rover and lots of satellite projects. Basically, any aerospace project that you might have heard of. What part does Faustson make for the F-35? HOSTETTER: We make two critical antenna housings. ey’re sole sourced and cannot be duplicated. We’re pretty proud about that. What does the company do better than anyone else? HOSTETTER: We provide solutions. ere are things our competitors look at and conclude they can’t be done. We’ll look at it and say ‘we accept the challenge. We can do it.’ We’ve also become a really strong voice for manufacturing in Colorado. In your work as a consultant, you help solve other manufacturers’ problems. What’s the biggest challenge you’re hearing about today? HOSTETTER: It’s absolutely the workforce gap. As a manufacturing company you can innovate all day long, but you still have to have the people, and there’s a real people shortage. On that note, Colorado is probably better known for ski instructors than engineers and manufacturers. Should we change how we think about that? HOSTETTER: Absolutely! We are number-one per capita in aerospace and defense manufacturing. A lot of critical manufacturing occurs here. We are defi nitely a manufacturing state. Coloradans seem pretty serious about work/life balance. Does that change the way a business operates in Colorado? HOSTETTER: Sure. You have to get creative with things like a four-day work week. It’s a retention issue. You have to fi nd ways to hang onto the workers you have, and you do that by actually promoting the work/life balance. We like to have fun in Colorado. is is a state where it’s almost required. We have a huge millennial population for that very reason. And you? HOSTETTER: Like everyone here, I love the outdoors. I snowboard. I mountain bike, all those things. I defi nitely bleed Colorado. 64 C O L O R A D O: B U S I N E S S C O M E S T O L I F E ant to know why so many technology and information sector companies choose Colorado as their home base of business? Consider the story of Switchfly. A California Bay Area-based tech company that provides solutions to a broad range of firms in the travel industry, Switchfly provides the technology that you probably use every time you redeem loyalty rewards points when booking a flight or a hotel room. The firm started out as a small tour booking company in Hawaii in the early 2000s, but two rounds of venture capital funding prompted Switchfly to move its headquarters to San Francisco a few years ago. by R ON S TA R N E R W Silicon Valley firms are not the only ones choosing Colorado. The Tech Wave Meets the Mountains TE CH N O L O G Y & I N F O R MA TI O N Denver’s high quality of life continues to attract a young, talented workforce. Photo courtesy of Visit DenverC O L O R A D O: B U S I N E S S C O M E S T O L I F E 65 When it needed to access a lower-cost technical hub, the fi rm considered both Utah and Colorado. e company was interested in Colorado due to Denver’s reputation as an attractive city with a talented workforce. In addition, several current and potentially future clients in the travel industry had their headquarters and/or major operations in Colorado. ey also liked the coworking amenities that are available in the Denver market. Project Magellan, as the deal was called, moved swiftly. Switchfl y’s project lead, Amy Shat, reached out to OEDIT in June of and the project was approved for a Job Growth Incentive Tax Credit at the July EDC meeting, which took place at Coors Field in Denver. During that meeting, Project Magellan was approved for a $.-milllion JGITC award over years. Switchfl y estimated at the time that the project would lead to the creation of net new full-time jobs paying an average annual wage of $, — the equivalent of % of the average annual wage in Denver County. e positions were projected to be in software engineering, quality assurance and product management. On July , , Switchfl y informed OEDIT that the company planned to move forward with the Denver expansion. Success stories like this are not rare in Colorado. A combination of location assets not found elsewhere in the Mountain West makes Colorado a beacon for tech fi rms. “Beyond our state’s wealth of economic opportunities and talent, and friendly business climate, people come to Colorado because of the quality of life and local atmosphere,” says Michelle Hadwiger, director of global business development for OEDIT. “In our conversations with company leaders, and in our interviews and surveys that we send out to CEOs and founders, we talk about why they choose to move to or expand their business in Colorado. Time and time again, it comes up that people choose to be in Colorado because of the quality of life and local atmosphere. We’re fortunate enough to be so close to the mountains. People instantly think about the Rocky Mountains, skiing, resort towns, world-famous marathons and cycling. Main streets across Colorado are thriving with restaurants, coff ee shops, breweries and art galleries.” Plus, Colorado has experienced a high level of growth in its STEM workforce, where Colorado is outpacing the nation, % to %. Statewide, some , technology and information companies employ roughly , workers. e state’s top employment occupations in this sector, by total number of jobs, are software and application developers, systems software developers, computer systems analysts, computer user support specialists and customer service representatives. Major employers statewide include IBM, AT&T, CenturyLink, Comcast, DISH Network, HP, Level Communications, Oracle Corp., Sprint and Verizon. Colorado launches a digital technology company on average once every hours, and Colorado has four of the top cities for technology startups, according to the Ewing Marion Kauff man Foundation. A slew of successful tech startups can be found around Colorado, including ProtectWise, Sphero, AMP Robotics, CANVAS Technology, FareHarbor, Maxwell, rivePass, THreatX and Swimlane. Many of these fi rms are investing capital into expanding their space and hiring workers in Colorado. Astroscale, a Japanese company that is designing a satellite to track, capture and destroy space debris, announced earlier this year that it will locate its U.S. base of operations in Metro Denver. e company plans to create jobs at an average annual wage of $,. Last year saw sizable expansions from Facebook, Spire Global, Slack Technology, JumpCloud and LocalWise, among others. Facebook opened its fi rst Denver offi ce last November. e space spans , sq. ft. in the LoDo district of Downtown Denver and has room for more than employees. Boulder tech fi rm JumpCloud secured $ million last September to expand its headcount by and has hired three new executives. About of these new jobs will be engineering positions. And LocalWise, an HR tech startup from the Bay Area, moved its sales and marketing employees to Denver last summer, and announced plans in September to expand again in . LocalWise plans to hire to people this year. Besides the JGITC program, Colorado also off ers the Advanced Industry Program that is designed to help companies in knowledge- based industries create jobs and access capital. e Angel Investor Tax Credit Program, the Colorado Venture Capital Authority and the Strategic Fund are also available to support expanding tech fi rms. Next >