User Interface User Experience (UiUx) Announces Expan
NEWS RELEASE: For Immediate Release
Contact: Kayla Ruiz
Idaho Commerce
208.334.2470
kayla.ruiz@commerce.idaho.gov
User Interface User Experience (UiUx) Announces Expansion in Ketchum
The company expects to add 88 jobs and $20.1 million to the local and state economy
BOISE, Idaho—Monday, June 8, 2015— Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter congratulated local officials and community leaders in Ketchum today on news that User Interface User Experience (UiUx-Solu) will expand its operations there. The company will lease office space in the Ketchum Innovation Center and is scheduled to begin operations by mid-summer.
“The direct benefit to UiUx-Solu of Idaho’s Tax Reimbursement Incentive program and the support from the city were huge motivating factors in our decision to locate in Ketchum,” said David Currier, CEO and a partner in UiUx. “But it was also the intangible of a balanced, outdoor-oriented lifestyle, and the confidence that we could attract and retain the best likeminded talent for all aspects of the business, that ultimately finalized our decision.”
“On behalf of the State of Idaho, I am proud to welcome User Interface User Experience as a new corporate citizen. We are excited to add to our growing list of innovative technology companies in Idaho,” Governor Otter said. “Expanding this key industry in Idaho is extremely important to continue growing our economy and keeping our state competitive on the world stage.”
User Interface User Experience (UiUx) is a start-up software company with three projects slated for development, the first of which is Solu, a Legacy Bridge personal archive creation and retrieval interface. It allows individual archive creators to upload or record and store multi-media content via prompts, building a generational autobiography that can be accessed forever by designated descendant family members asking questions of the archive.
“As the idea guy for our company, I feel lucky to have embedded in a place where being solidly grounded is a way of life,” said Stephen White, Chief Development Officer and partner. “My grandfather was a traveling Methodist minister and frequented much of north-central Idaho, so the Wood River Valley already feels like coming home. It is such a perfect fit for our Legacy Bridge archive project, Solu.”
“Personally, my creative abilities thrive best where my mind and body can be nurtured and inspired daily by such an incredible intimacy with nature and the gigantic scale of the vistas in Idaho,” said Joey White, Chief Creative Officer and partner. “I have to say I was surprised by the number of people who have already discovered it! The creative resources and the stimulation of the Ketchum Innovation Center are going to be so complimentary to our growth.”
UiUx is able to leverage Idaho’s Tax Reimbursement Incentive (TRI) as a result of the quantity and quality of jobs the company will bring to the state, along with the significant impact on Idaho’s technology industry and the local economy.
UiUx plans to hire 88 full-time benefitted employees with an average wage of $60,600 and a projected economic impact of $20.1 million.
The company is approved to receive a TRI credit of 18 percent for five years, which was matched by the local community with the City of Ketchum approving subsidized office space in the Ketchum Innovation Center valued at $8,623.
“Facilitating the TRI application process with UiUx-Solu, Commerce and Ketchum has been a fast-paced and rewarding experience for our organization,” said Harry Griffith, Executive Director for Sun Valley Economic Development. “We are confident that this newest relocation can become a significant contributor to the economic future of Blaine County.”
The UiUx-Solu interface facilitates creation of a personal multimedia Legacy Bridge of everything meaningful in a person’s life. There is a lot of interest in personal legacy and the importance of perpetuating generational contact. It ultimately is the democratization of the autobiography, brought into focus by aging baby boomers and their predecessors and driven by the urge not to let familial information go unshared. It also is heightened by awareness of end-of-life concerns related to memory loss and terminal disease. In addition to direct social media contact with individuals, UiUx-Solu plans to work with organizations and foundations that deal with aging, Alzheimer’s, cancer, etc., as well as home health service and hospice care.
UiUx-Solu was inspired and conceived in Las Vegas by a father/son product development and creative duo. CEO David Currier joined them to help establish and build the company and its other projects. Seed funding sufficient to create the opportunity to contract a media-development company has been initiated to oversee the necessary software code development of the interface and the storage and retrieval algorithms.
###