KUSA - Aim for the stars Colorado. A new Brookings Institute study suggests aerospace will play an even greater role in local economic activity and job creation in the years ahead.
The study's authors say Colorado is home to one of the most "multidimensional space economies in the nation." They say aerospace directly employs over 66,000 workers across the military, civil, and private sectors.
Brookings says the full space enterprise in Colorado contributed some $8.7 billion in 2011, and was responsible for some 3.8 percent of Colorado's private-sector gross domestic product.
Three major findings about the Colorado space economy from Brookings:
• Colorado possesses one of the most diversified, multidimensional, and high-potential space economies in the nation.
• However, while significant opportunities are emerging, a set of disruptive forces at work in the global space market have exposed a number of competitive challenges for the Colorado industry.
• Given these challenges as well as its many strengths, Colorado should commit itself to preeminence in the space through a collaborative partnership of industry and government along six dimensions.
Full Brookings Institute Report:
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