l 3,000 new, high-tech jobs added in state over the past two months

l New Utah Technology Council (a merger of Utah Information Technology Association and Utah Life Sciences Association) has leadership role in helping plan for state's economic future

l China, India, Brazil and Indonesia will be major global economic powers soon, and potential Utah trading partners

The age of Utah's isolation has long since passed, a message Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. says is underscored by something far more precious than dreams of economic growth.

This week, that truism was written in blood.

"The call I had to make before coming over here today was to the father of Specialist Ty Johnson, who died [Tuesday] in Iraq," Huntsman said at Thursday's inaugural luncheon of the Utah Technology Council (UTC), an amalgamation of what used to be the Utah Information Technology and Utah Life Sciences associations.

Johnson, a 28-year-old 101st Airborne Division soldier, was killed by a roadside bomb. He became the 26th soldier with Utah ties to die in Iraq or Afghanistan in the past three years.

"We have 1,000 men and women who are serving in Iraq," Huntsman reminded a somber crowd of about 300 information and biological technology executives, “If you know anyone in uniform . . . tell them 'thank you.' ”

From honoring the life of one soldier, the governor, who recently toured Iraq, moved to the perspective of political and economic historian to preach about Utah's important role in a future global economy.

Huntsman spoke of his flight in a Blackhawk military helicopter over the ancient ruins of Babylon, and how the southern Mesopotamian plains between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers saw the world's first known city states rise and thrive some 3,500 years ago.

"Now, 2006, is the first time in history that the world's population [has grown to be] half urban," Huntsman said, noting that Utah's 19th century pioneer farmers also produced a culture in which 2.2 million people, or 90 percent of the state's population, now live in cities.

Utah's booming economy has made it the nation's fifth-fastest growing state. More than 80,000 newcomers call it home every year, hoping to cash in on a 4.5 percent job growth rate.

The state's new jobs increasingly include higher-paying positions. Thanks to the Micron-Intel partnership in the newly launched IM Flash Technologies, a long all-but-mothballed computer chip-making plant is hiring nearly 2,000 in Lehi, while Qwest recently announced 600 new telecommunications jobs in Logan.

In all, Utah has added 3,000 higher-paying jobs in two months' time - but Huntsman warned today's prosperity won't continue indefinitely without careful planning and aggressive marketing of Utah's highly skilled, well-educated work force and quality of life.

"Let's fast-forward history to 2026. China's economy . . . will be bigger than ours [in the United States]," the governor said, adding that rising Asian giant, along with India, Brazil and Indonesia, will play increasingly larger roles in the global economy.

To seek out those future potential trading partners, Utah is studying representation through the new World Trade Center organization rising in New York.

Groups like the Utah Technology Council will play a critical role in making sure Utah's next generation is ready to compete in the technology, research and development and innovation arenas still owned by American intellect, Huntsman said.

"In many ways," the governor told the group, "You are driving the ship of state for the next 20 years."

bmims@sltrib.com