Industry Leaders Say Colorado Must Upgrade Facilities, Infrastructure To Remain Aerospace Leader

Colorado’s aerospace industry may be booming, but the state’s infrastructure and regulatory hurdles risk slowing its trajectory.

That’s according to panelists at Bisnow’s Colorado State of Aerospace event Thursday, who warned that Colorado’s position as the nation’s No. 2 aerospace economy won’t hold without serious investment in flexible, cost-effective facilities and smoother permitting.

“Power is a big deal. Water is a big deal. Hyperconnectivity is a big deal,” Colorado Air and Space Port Director Jeff Kloska said at the event, held at The Inverness Denver. 

He pointed to the challenges of developing aerospace facilities southeast of Denver. 

“We’re partnering with energy companies to look at what we could do for small solar-powered microgrids or natural gas-fired power plants,” he said.

Astroscale U.S. Senior Vice President Becky Yoder said her company, headquartered in Denver, needs facilities that can shift quickly between projects. 

“You might need a lab for one project and then you need some kind of fluid inversion table for something else. … We really need suite space, super flexible, reconfigurable,” Yoder said, adding that permitting headaches make the situation worse.

Startups at the Catalyst Campus Colorado Springs accelerator also demand adaptability, Catalyst Senior Executive Director Dawn Conley said. 

“Our goal is to get these companies up and out,” Conley said, citing Bluestaq and other firms that launched from the campus. “All of these companies are supporting government contracts, and we’re supporting them.”

Kloska said the state’s reliance on quality of life as a selling point isn't enough, as other states spend heavily on incentives to attract companies. 

“These other states are writing zeros on the check — ‘tell me when to stop and you’ll move to my state’ — we need to pay close attention,” Kloska said.

Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. Director Morgan Alu, who moderated the discussion, said states like Texas, Alabama and Florida are building “war chests” to compete with Colorado and attract aerospace and defense companies.

Yoder said while Colorado has recruited “great companies,” she questioned “whether we’re going to be able to keep them.”

Fewer skilled workers are moving to the Centennial State, making it harder for businesses to hire and grow. Rising wages, tighter labor markets and slower productivity across major industries like aerospace could make Colorado a less attractive place to launch new businesses as competitors ramp up incentives. 

Colorado’s population growth has slowed sharply over the past decade, dropping by nearly 53%, according to a recent study from the Common Sense Institute, a nonpartisan research group. The report analyzed net migration — the balance between residents moving into the state and those leaving.

In 2025 alone, about 40,000 fewer people relocated to Colorado compared to prior years, the CSI study found.

National Cyber Security Center CEO Greg Oslan said the state’s challenges go beyond incentives and into culture. 

“We face a really, really big cultural challenge,” he said. “We need to think differently in order to drive this innovation.”

Oslan pointed to challenges in grant sizes and what he sees as a need for a large fund to drive innovation and draw entrepreneurs to the state.

Universities and industry must align more closely to attract talent and capital, Oslan said.

Schools like the University of Colorado and Metropolitan State University of Denver have made major steps in recent years in working closely with industry, especially manufacturing and aerospace, but the panelists said it likely isn’t enough.

Conley pointed to another path: funneling capital into emerging technologies like quantum computing. 

“Quantum is obviously an emerging technology,” she said. “It’s important that we really build around it … to advance our ecosystem.”