Denver south’s predominance in technology and software

“It doesn’t matter what industry you are in or what aspect of your life you can think of,” said Vic Ahmed, co-founder and chairman of the Innovation Pavilion. “The fact is that technology is changing everything, everywhere, about our lives.”

As an industry cluster IT-software and electronics, it strengthens its partnerships and enhances growth opportunities within the talented workforce to keep success coming within this entrepreneurial ecosystem. While technology is changing every facet of every single thing we do, IT-software and electronics employment also represents 24 percent of all employment in metro Denver. As of 2014, the industry accounted for some 15,600 metro-area jobs. And they are good jobs, as of 2013 averaging around $94,800 in annual salary.

By definition, this cluster supports business activities in all other sectors of the economy. The range of products and services is growing and includes computers, electronics and components, virus protection and other security programs, as well as off-the-shelf software, custom computer programming, computer facilities management, computer systems design and data-processing services. It is both technological and what is called a “high-knowledge and human-capital-based industry.”

Within the nine-county metro area, businesses are involved in the design, manufacture, wholesale and repair of electronic equipment, ranging from computer peripheral equipment, semiconductors, electronic components, and audio and video recording equipment, including magnetic and optical recording media.

The area doesn’t just provide network solutions, web-based applications and operating systems, it is also a high-tech manufacturing hub fotr optical instruments and lenses, and navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments. The Denver south area has a higher concentration of all this activity than the rest of the nine-county metro and northern Colorado region.

Growth examples 

Some Denver south companies highlight the dominance of technology as a driver of our regional growth:

• I 2015, OneNeck IT Solutions, an Arizona-based IT firm, opened its $20 million, 35,000-square-foot 3+ data center in unincorporated Douglas County.

• Agilent Technologies Inc. completed its separation into two publicly traded companies through a spin-off of its electronic measurement business, renamed Keysight Technologies Inc. The company has a significant employment base in the Denver South region and the split will allow both Agilent and Keysight to maximize growth.

• Arrow Electronics, an Arapahoe County-based electronics distribution and services company, was recognized by Fortune as one of the world’s most admired companies for the 15^th consecutive year in 2015. It supplies about 40 percent of the electronic components and services globally. It is Colorado’s largest-revenue-generating company.

• Arrow Electronics relocated its headquarters from the north end of the Inverness office park to a 128,000-square-foot building near Interstate 25 and Dry Creek Road in Centennial. The move consolidated some 500 employees from existing buildings to a central location.