The U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration announced a $1 million grant to the Ogden City Corporation of Ogden, Utah, to help fund the creation of a lab that will train workers and provide space for business startups in the growing field of software applications for mobile devices. The lab is expected to create 750 jobs and generate up to $4.6 million in private investment over a 10-year period, according to grantee estimates.

"The United States is experiencing an explosion in the use of mobile devices, along with a growing demand for new applications to run on them. The Obama Administration is committed to helping workers get the education and skills needed for jobs in the growing high-tech industry that support a 21st century workforce," said Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Matt Erskine. "This $1 million EDA grant will help the city of Ogden to enhance an existing information technology cluster in the region and will bring opportunities for new businesses, enabling them to flourish and create new jobs."

"The mobile apps initiative is an important element in our efforts to continue with the positive economic momentum of our community. This project will create jobs for Ogden's techforce and increase the economic opportunity in our downtown core; as well as leverage the City's existing IT-industry clusters," said Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell.

The initiative will be operated by a consortium of partners that includes Ogden City, Weber State University, Weber State University Research Foundation, and private-sector industry leaders. It will include a code shop operated by Weber State University Research Foundation, a training center, and office space from high-tech startups.

Last month, the Obama Administration launched a new initiative to accelerate efforts to make new and useful services available to consumers on their mobile devices. The Administration is also ramping up its ongoing efforts to make large amounts of government data more easily accessible to the public to spur entrepreneurs to develop innovative new services and mobile applications that take advantage of this data, thus creating new opportunities, businesses and jobs in the process. These actions are part of a larger digital strategy being implemented by the Administration---a roadmap that will guide the Federal government as it makes the most of new sources of digital information.