Where can innovation go before distance matters not? Utah Governor Spencer Cox asked in spirit as he began his address to the University of Auckland by saying “Tena koutou katoa” indicating both respect for the culture and an openness to spanning continents. His trip initiates a trade mission to Australia and New Zealand, focusing on aerospace, defense, strategic minerals, and advanced innovation partnerships.
The mission, hosted by World Trade Center Utah, comprises politicians, industry leaders, and university officials. They each follow one of three industry tracks: aerospace and defense, key minerals, or development and innovation. For aerospace and defense, Utah businesses are meeting with New Zealand’s Space Institute and advanced manufacturing companies making metal additive parts for the space industry. These meetings are not ceremonial and are meant to link Utah’s emerging launch capacity and satellite capabilities with New Zealand’s existing rocket capabilities, creating avenues for mutual satellite launch and communications infrastructure.
Critical minerals talks are just as strategic. Utah’s processing capabilities are complementary to New Zealand’s aims to lock down supply lines of crucial defense electronics, renewable energy technologies, and high-capacity battery rare earths. During the mission’s Sydney stop, Utah mining executives will be positioned at the International Mining & Resources Conference, where extraction technologies, sophisticated ore refinement, and responsible sourcing are discussed alongside geopolitical supply issues. With the role of rare earths growing increasingly core to manufacturing resilience globally, both states view mutual benefit for coordinated exploration, processing, and commercialization.
The innovation and development pathway has significant emphasis placed on university collaborations. University of Utah and University of Auckland are forging greater interaction through the ASPIRE consortium, a US$26 million NSF-funded program renewable to US$50.6 million, dedicated to reshaping transportation electrification. ASPIRE’s development of Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) roadway systems integrating high-power wireless charging coils into pavement has already achieved 50–100 kW/m light-duty vehicle charging rates, and off-road applications capable of transferring the level of power required by heavy-duty fleets at the megawatt level. This system would eliminate or mitigate the use of fixed charging stations, providing steady-state energy supply for public transit and electric freight, and is under development with material engineering for mechanical tolerance and cost-optimization.
In addition to electrification, the University of Auckland’s research profile covers technologies of the future through quantum and photonics. Delegates will tour the Sydney Quantum Academy, capitalizing on Australia’s expertise in quantum computing, to examine secure communications, next-generation sensing, and computation acceleration applicable to defense and energy. Embedding quantum devices in aerospace systems could improve navigation precision and signal interference resistance a capability of great interest to Utah defense contractors.
Commercialization of energy and biotech also comes into focus. Biotech products of the University of Utah are coming to market by well-capitalized start-ups, and collaborative energy initiatives with New Zealand now include geothermal partnership under “Operation Gigawatt.” To diversify generation portfolios, the initiative combines Utah’s renewable generation of solar and wind power with the geothermal expertise of New Zealand to simulate hybrid grids able to provide firm baseload power and intermittent renewables.
President of World Trade Center Utah Jonathan Freedman emphasizes the interactions are not just centered on the amount of trade. “Strategically, we’re going to align national security interests together,” he said, referencing Utah’s capabilities in the field of AI, cybersecurity, and quantum technologies. With the logistics infrastructure including the Salt Lake City International Airport expanding by $5 billion and the Inland Port Authority, the state of Utah makes the area a world hub and the airport has direct access to four continents. That physical connectivity reflects the digital and intellectual networks the mission is creating. For industry leaders and policy-makers, the mission previews the future of sub-national diplomacy, whereby states and regions develop direct relationships to address supply chain security, technological competitiveness, and resilience to the impact of the climate. “We believe that sub-national relationships do matter and that we can assist in forging and solidifying the ties between the United States, e.g., at the level of states or regions, which will serve us well for decades ahead,” Cox elaborated.
