The Utah Rural Summit, currently the longest running rural economic and community development summit in the nation, will return to the campus of Southern Utah University on Oct. 6-7, 2020 bringing business, education, government and politicians together to collaborate and innovate.
Making its way back to the conference stage is the Southern Utah Speed Pitch competition, where rural Utah entrepreneurs pitch business ideas and compete for prize money, resources and business support.
Utah Rural Summit announced a new partnership this year between Southern Utah University, the Larry H. & Gail Miller Center for Entrepreneurship, Utah’s governor office, State Bank of Southern Utah and Snow College to expand entrepreneurial development throughout more rural areas of the state.
“I’ve challenged our state to work in a unified way to ensure we added 25,000 new jobs in rural Utah,” said Utah governor Gary Herbert. “The Utah Rural Summit has shown that it’s the place where we are seeing innovation towards this goal. The Southern Utah Speed Pitch is just one of those innovations that will support Utah’s rural communities with economic growth.”
The Southern Utah Speed Pitch competition was created at last year’s summit to encourage and support local business ideas and innovations that are in their early stages. The competition helps to identify and support high-potential early-stage businesses and business ideas. With cash prizes and additional awards, all entrepreneurs who meet the criteria are encouraged to consider entering the competition to have their ideas heard and evaluated, as well as receive feedback from professionals.
With the new Snow College partnership, SUU’s Business Resource Center, Small Business Development Center, The Larry H. and Gail Miller Center for Entrepreneurship, and SUU’s Entrepreneur Leadership Council will be joining forces with the Snow College GRIT Center for Rural Entrepreneurship and the State Bank of Southern Utah who provides branches and resources for small businesses in every participating county.
To read about the Utah Rural Summit visit suu.edu/urs. For more information on the Southern Utah Speed Pitch competition, visit suu.edu/speedpitch.
To read the full article posted on June 12, click here.
Story by: Haven Scott
