Welcome to Boulder, Colorado, for the Association for University Business and Economic Research’s 2022 Spring Conference. The Business Research Division at the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business is pleased to host the conference in our beautiful city.
If you asked 10 random people on the street what Boulder is best known for, I suspect you would get many (if not 10) different answers. Those of us more focused on the university, economy, and general business would likely respond the startup community, high technology and advanced science laboratories, natural and organic products, and outdoor industry apparel. Others might respond outdoor and fitness activities such as hiking, biking, and mountain climbing. Some would focus on the restaurants, craft breweries, and distilleries. And others would respond with the focus on sustainability, including 340 days of sunshine and an exceptional quality of life.
When asked to describe Boulder a common humorous response is that “Boulder is 27 square miles surrounded by reality.” While that saying may be true, the reality within those 27 square miles is nothing short of amazing. Beautiful views, outstanding bicycle/pedestrian paths and networks, highly educated and innovative citizens, high-quality restaurants, all with a heavy focus on the social and environmental quality of life.
The theme of this conference is “Relaunching the Decade: Supporting Innovation and Our New American Economy.” Although this decade started two years ago, the intervention of the COVID virus in early 2020 has transformed the way we live our lives and do business. We truly have a New American Economy where we use information sources and analysis techniques that didn’t exist, or at least weren’t commonplace, a scant 24 months ago. Examples of this include the use of high-frequency data and increased reliance on business analytics as a business economics research tool. We dramatically accelerated innovation and, in my view, will benefit from that innovation surge for many years to come.
AUBER members know that as economists and researchers, we are constantly confronted with showing the relevance of our research and communicating it in a relevant and understandable fashion. Our Spring 2022 conference focuses on the latest research and techniques in both data analysis and visualization while examining key topics in business, economics, and public policy.
Thank you for joining us in Boulder. We sincerely hope you enjoy the conference and everything our community has to offer.
Richard Wobbekind
Associate Dean for Business and Government Relations,
Senior Economist and Faculty Director of the Business Research Division
Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder
