What Center for Growth and Opportunity does
The Center for Growth and Opportunity (CGO) is a university-based, 501(c)(3) research center at Utah State University. CGO’s stated mission is to produce policy-relevant research and related communications that help explain and address how institutions and policies affect economic growth and opportunity, with programmatic focus areas that include technology and innovation, immigration, and environmental stewardship. CGO also runs student research fellowships and integrates students into its research workflow, describing a model where fellows develop research skills by working on projects that may result in publications and policy-facing output.
CGO’s institutional role is primarily academic and policy-oriented: it conducts and publishes research (including working papers and policy papers) through a network of affiliated scholars and contributing scholars, then disseminates findings through public-facing writing and other outreach. A distinctive element of CGO’s approach, based on its published materials, is its combination of (1) research output on economic policy questions tied to its focus areas, (2) student fellowship training and participation in projects, and (3) public commentary that connects research to active policy debates (for example, immigration policy, AI governance, and economic competitiveness).