This Week’s News From the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity

* Message from Dave

* Economic Development Strategies That Will Reach More People
and Places

* Building Bridges: The Governor’s Office of Economic
Development Wins Grant to Build Tech-Based Businesses

* Gibson Addresses MMEC Compete Smart Conference

* USDA Gives $291,000 to Co-op Center at MSU-Northern

* Upcoming Events

A printable version of this newsletter is available at:
<http://www.discoveringmontana.com/gov2/content/econdev/OEONewsletter1.pdf ========================================================================Message from Dave "Montana's economic future is important to us all. Interest in my office's efforts to improve the economy is high. This newsletter will communicate our initiatives and the implementation of our plan. If you would like to talk with us in person, please check out the "Upcoming Events" section to see when we will be in your community" - Dave Gibson************ Economic Development Strategies That Will Reach More People and Places Montana Cluster Study: Focusing our Resources Successful businesses must have access to markets & capital, suppliers, research and development facilities and educational institutions. Companies also look for access to a pool of skilled workers and skilled workers usually want more than a single options in a given area. This is why many businesses that provide high paying jobs tend to locate near other, similar businesses. The term for this phenomenon is called "clustering." Understanding the existing or emerging clusters in our state's economy is a critical first step in developing effective strategies to create more high-paying jobs. To help us take this new look at Montana's economy, the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity has engaged Regional Technology Strategies, Inc. (RTS, Inc.) <<http://www.rtsinc.org/ RTS, Inc. builds and accelerates regional competitive advantages by encouraging higher value-added commerce performed by highly skilled people.RTS has an incredible track record of creating successful strategies for economic growth in communities around the world, with particular focus on how to improve rural economies. During the past month RTS started work in Montana holding discussions with business, academic, and government leaders to identify opportunities for strengthening our own clusters. Better networks of growing businesses in identified industry clusters will allow Montana to focus our limited resources on attaining world-class technology, worker skill training, and promotion activities -- necessary ingredients for creating sustainable high paying jobs and true economic improvement. *************Building Bridges: The Governor's Office of Economic Development Wins Grant to Build Tech-Based BusinessesAn opportunity to create more high-tech businesses in Montana came in early September in the form of a new federal grant aimed at home-growing those companies rather than recruiting them from outside the state. The Partnership for Innovation program creates a strategy for sprouting new technology companies here and nurturing them through private-public partnerships.The three-year grant, awarded Sept. 5, is funded by the National Science Foundation. "Partnerships between the public and private sector including the Montana University System will be a key component to improving the state's economy.My office is continually working to build those bridges," the state's chief business officer David Gibson said. "Our universities are tremendous - they do a great job of educating our next generation of leaders and providing the technology our businesses need for true global competitiveness.We want to partner in as many ways as possible to leverage each other's strengths and ensure a better economic future for all Montanans." The program creates a partnership among the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity, Bozeman's TechLink Center http://techlink.msu.montana.edu/, the College of Business at MSU Bozeman http://www.montana.edu/cob/, and the Technology Venture Center in Bozeman http://www.techranch.org/cgi-bin/techranch/index.html. "One of our top priorities is to find ways to drive more innovation and technology into industry in this state," said Gibson. "So we hope with this project to demonstrate best practices and get a foothold on how we can best drive technology from the universities and from the federal system into Montana businesses."***************Gibson Addresses MMEC Compete Smart Conference Last week Dave Gibson, Montana's Chief Business Officer, spoke to an audience of 200 people attending the Compete Smart Conference about improving Montana's economy through expanding our "primary sector" businesses.Gibson stated that we need to about double the number of primary industry jobs -- which includes almost all manufacturing--in the next 10 years. To accomplish this we need to leverage the capabilities of organizations like the Montana Manufacturing Extension Center to get businesses to achieve world-class capabilities and collaborate more with each other around the state.Compete Smart, Montana's premier biennial Manufacturing Conference was held in Missoula Thursday and Friday of last week.The conference, hosted by the Montana Manufacturing Center http://www.mtmanufacturingcenter.com/PDFs/summer02.pdf, provides an opportunity for business leaders to share learnings and attend training aimed at improving competitiveness.*************** USDA Gives $291,000 to Co-op Center at MSU-Northern The USDA recently awarded the Montana Cooperative Development Center, located at MSU-Northern a $291,562 grant to aid in further economic development programs within rural communities in Montana.Mark Lindberg, Agriculture and Energy Officer, Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity, addressed the group stressing that teamwork is essential in developing economies in rural communities."We need to do things individually, but at the end of it, we all need to pull together and see what we have as a team," Lindberg said. Lindberg went on to stress the importance of economic leadership from the Governor's Office, "It is not the mission of state government to dictate to communities what they should do, rather to link the successes and expertise of people and business who are getting the job done. We bring the big picture to communities and regions to work with others to build a better and stronger Montana.We must make sure that our current business infrastructure is solid and growing before we set out and attract new business and industry."**************** Upcoming Events Involving the Office of Economic Opportunity: 2-Year Education Task Force The 2nd meeting of the Task Force, focusing on how to improve the organization and delivery of our 2-year education system. Where: Room 142 Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, Helena When: Monday, October 7; 10:30am - 3:30pm Investing as a Team Sport This interactive seminar, co-sponsored by the Office of Economic Opportunity, introduces prospective seed investors to the ins and outs of technology business investing. The seminar is presented by the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds (www.nasvf.org http://www.nasvf.orgWhere: Riverside Country Club - 2500 Springhill Rd, Bozeman, MT When: October 11th , 8am to 5pm, reception to follow For more information, contact the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity at (406) 444 - 5634 or email us at [email protected] The Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity's mission is to provide a vision and a direction through the development of strategies and initiatives to ensure that the expansion of the state's economy takes place in an efficient and orderly manner.