|
|
|
| MATR Newsletter - Fri Aug 21, 2015 |
This MATR newsletter sponsored by: 
Add an event... Upcoming Events
New Events
MATR supporter: To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page |
Be a reflection of what you'd like to see in others.
7 Montana Companies on the 2015 Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies List http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
2014 Montana Politics & 2015 Legislature
Early Edge Montana
- Legislative committee stalls new campaign disclosure rules
Republican Sandy Welch, an outspoken proponent of disclosure, said there's members of the Legislature who would like to protect "dark money" and referenced a discussion by conservatives on how to rebrand dark money as "anonymous free speech money."
Montana Department of Commerce
- Governor Bullock, Superintendent Juneau Encourage Congressional Delegation to Restore Preschool Funding to Budget
"The Preschool Development Grant is critical for our state to build, develop, and expand high-quality preschool programs so children from low-and moderate-income families have the opportunity enter kindergarten ready to succeed in school and in life," Bullock and Juneau said in the letter. "We urge you to stand with Montana's earliest learners, their families and their teachers, and work to fully fund the Preschool Development Grants."
- A Campaign to Raise Early Education's Wages
In other words, many of America's young children are in preschool settings being taught and cared for by staff members who earn so little that they're among the working poor.
- The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Awarded Early Education Grant
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes receive a $100,000 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to support early education efforts.
Come Home Montana
- "It's All About Partnerships" 8th Annual Montana Downtown Coalition Meeting - 9/23-25, Kalispell
This conference will be a great opportunity for collaborating, sharing and developing best practices.
- **FINAL REMINDER** FY 2016 Montana Main Street Grant Application Cycle Update
This is a FINAL reminder that the Department of Commerce Community Development Division will begin accepting Montana Main Street project grant applications for the FY 2016 application cycle on September 1, 2015.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Montana Career Opportunity - Bureau Chief-AGR Development and Marketing - Montana Department of Agriculture
Seeking a candidate that is looking for a challenging position that is involved with promoting, commodities and agriculture business.
- Montana Career Opportunity - Senior Vice President Home Lending - Missoula Federal Credit Union
Missoula Federal Credit Union (MFCU) is a best-in-class organization, and has been voted "Best Financial Institution" for 21 consecutive years by the local community in the Missoula Independent newspaper and as "Missoula's Choice" for 15 years by the Missoulian.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Beyond Silicon Valley: Top emerging startup markets in the U.S. includes Montana
The Kauffman Foundation Startup Activity Index shows especially strong activity this year in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Colorado and Vermont.
Montana Business
- Montana Based Frontier Angel Fund 2 Closes - Turns Focus to Investing, Education and Mentoring
With 48 investors in 10 states, the fund will be turning its attention to investing, communications, education and mentoring for Montana startups that aspire to be high growth companies.
Montana Economic Development
- Montana Restaurants makes national wine list
Wine Spectator says 13 businesses made the cut as Montana's best places to wine and dine.
- 2016 SBDC Invest in Success - Call for Presenters
Invest in Success is a two-day conference that includes local business tours, a networking reception, a renowned keynote speaker and multiple breakout sessions.
- Consumer Direct to construct 'national headquarters' building in Missoula
The Montana Department of Revenue estimates the Consumer Direct building would generate roughly $235,000 a year in tax increment once constructed. The company currently claims 275 local employees and expects to add another 120 over the next four years.
- 7 Montana Companies on the 2015 Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies List
Congratulations to all and those Montana companies who will join them on the list next year.
TEDx Events in Montana
- Missoula County ready to launch industrial lands inventory
Missoula County is ready to unveil a new industrial lands mapping project intended to make it easier for businesses to find the right property with the right services, from railroad spurs to broadband.
- How Local and State Governments Can Best Support Entrepreneurship
State and Local Governments Should Stop Supporting Two Bad Ideas - Public Venture Funds and Incubation Centers
- USDA Announces $31.3 Million in Funding for Montana
$11.4 million in businesses and infrastructure and $19.8 in housing assistance in Montana, all in just the last 30 days.
Careers
- Today's TED Talk Tony Wyss-Coray: How young blood might help reverse aging. Yes, really
Tony Wyss-Coray studies the impact of aging on the human body and brain. In this eye-opening talk, he shares new research from his Stanford lab and other teams which shows that a solution for some of the less great aspects of old age might actually lie within us all.
- Today's TED Talk - Patience Mthunzi: Could we cure HIV with lasers?
In this passionate talk, TED Fellow Patience Mthunzi explains her idea to use lasers to deliver drugs directly to cells infected with HIV. It's early days yet, but could a cure be on the horizon?
Next Generation Broadband in Montana
- The crippling problem restaurant-goers haven't noticed but chefs are freaking out about
Good cooks are getting harder to come by. Not the head kitchen honchos, depicted in Food Network reality shows, who fine-tune menus and orchestrate the dinner rush, but the men and women who are fresh out of culinary school and eager.
- Business cards: The technology Silicon Valley can't beat
Business cards have the advantage of being universal. You don't need to install an app or have a given type of phone to connect with someone. Just stick out your hand, and take their card. It's easy and friction-less.
- 10 Ways the Big Data Wave Is Changing Your Job
But how did we arrive at this point? Here are 10 factors driving change across the IT, business and data landscapes.
- How Harnessing Temptations Can Cure Procrastination
Bundling What You Want With What You Need
- Job duties fail to tell who you are, what you can do for your employer
Here is what listing job duties will do to you on your resume - it makes you like everyone else. Sounding like everyone else does not necessarily make you memorable and that's what created angst with the hiring decision-maker, job duties have little personality and characteristics attached to them.
Government
- Missoula broadband initiative hires Design Nine for master plan
The plan, under development by Design Nine, will suggest ways to pay for the system, how it should operate and who will claim ownership. A draft is expected by October and the early steps of implementation could begin the following year.
Idaho Business
- Los Angeles County Jail Gets Positive Results From Democracy Experiment
Having an outlet for their complaints may make them less likely to erupt against one another or jail staff _ or so he hopes.
Incubators and R&D
- Micron plans $200 million expansion in Boise
A similar research and development expansion at Micron in 2011-12 added about 200 jobs. Micron employs more than 6,000 people in Idaho.
- Macys.com to double Treasure Valley workforce
The Treasure Valley offers the company tech talent, said Mike Robinson, Macy's.com executive vice president of digital technology, customer experience and site merchandising.
University of Montana & Montana State University Tech Transfer
- Montana State University awarded research funding to spur state's economy
The two MSU proposals that were announced immediately included a proposal to put into production the state's fallow agricultural land, and a proposal that will help pinpoint precision agriculture using laser optics.
- University of Montana Earns Two Research Awards in State's First Large-Scale Research Initiative
"Today represents a transformative day for the Montana University System as it embarks upon a systematic strengthening of research," Engstrom said. "Research has never been more vibrant at the University of Montana than it is right now. Our faculty members and our researchers who are teacher-scholars deserve the credit for making it as prevalent as it is."
- After 60 years of research, McLaughlin faces new challenge
Longtime director and researcher George Carlson and McLaughlin board chairman Randy Gray say MRI is preparing to launch a fundraising campaign for a new type of endowment fund that can help support the research institute more substantially each year while it adjusts to changes in federal and private funding.
Wyoming Business
- University of Montana University of Montana grows portfolio of patents to 100-plus
"Obviously, these technologies, inventions, have the possibility of solving valuable problems in our society, so we typically try to engage some external business or business entity to take that patented technology ... to the marketplace as a product or service," Fanguy said.
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- University of Wyoming seeks more public input in presidential search
The committee to select the next president of the University of Wyoming is considering holding public meetings in communities around the state.
Missoula Schools Excellence
- Should students learn coding? Students, schools disagree, poll finds
Parents across the U.S. are eager for their children to learn coding and other computer science skills, but their message hasn't yet hit the in-box of school administrators.
Montana Education Excellence
- It's time to fix all of our schools - to invest in our kids, Missoula and our future. It's the responsible thing to do.
Technology in our schools is old and outdated Let's make sure our kids have up-to-date technology in their classrooms.
Community
- Montana Tech students, profs irked over Gianfortes as speakers; Some plan to skip commencement ceremony over religious, social views
"I think (the Gianfortes are) a bad choice," said Henry Gonshak, a professor of English in the liberal studies department. "For one, their very active affiliation with Focus on the Family, which is an extremely homophobic organization. It claims to be able to cure gay people, which can't be done and just makes them miserable."
- University of Montana Among World's Top 500, Nation's Top 125 Universities in Academic Ranking
"The Shanghai ranking is important to us as they identify, using publicly available information, the top 500 universities among more than 22,000 in the world," UM Provost Perry Brown said. "It is another statement about the quality of education and the stature of the University of Montana."
Funding and Building your Business
- How libraries became the front line of America's homelessness crisis
They are destinations "for people who have no place to go."
- How Autistic People Helped Shape the Modern World
As autistic people gain the ability to speak for themselves, many of them are calling for thinking about autism as one dimension of what they call neurodiversity. What does that term mean?
- Bozeman ranked 19th wealthiest small city in U.S
Feeling like there's a lot of money drifting around Bozeman lately? It's not just your imagination.
Energy and Climate Change
- Bill Payne - The Definitive Guide To Raising Money from Angels
The author is confident that this book will provide entrepreneurs with priceless insights into starting and funding new companies!
- 12 Tips for Hiring the Right Person for Your Start-up
Before making any big decisions, try to find out if the time is right to hire someone.
- Can Metrics Capture the Value of 'Innovation'?
Without nontechnical metrics, he said, "every time there's a cut, they lose the ability to innovate. They have to choose between maintaining things or trying new things. And obviously, they choose to maintain."
Government Technology
- Bozeman's Energy Smackdown going strong
For the city of Bozeman, It is a great way to help residents save money while reducing the overall carbon footprint for the city.
- Revolutionary new solar windows can generate 50 times more energy than conventional photovoltaics
While the claims seem lofty--SolarWindow Technologies also says that a "single installation can avoid 2.2 million miles of carbon dioxide vehicle pollution; 12 times more than [conventional] solar"--the company is planning to deliver on their promises soon. SolarWindow Technologies announced that they would commercialize their innovative and cost-effective technology within the next 28 months.
- New Operations Center Will Transform Nation's Electric Grid
This electricity infrastructure operations center is designed for research to help guard against threats ranging from natural disasters to international attack, and to make the grid more flexible, reliable and efficient.
Non-Profit News
- Making Better Use of Data Can Dramatically Improve Government Service Delivery
Instead of filling out the same forms over and over again, residents should be signed up for services based on information they have already provided.
- A Central Hub for Open Data
Designed by researchers at the University of Chicago, the Plenario platform gathers all available open data for a specific area. Then it presents the data in an easy-to-use format.
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- Montana NonProfit Association - 10 Best Blogs, an Invitation, and a Superb Speaker
Attention Montana's Nonprofit Leaders You Are In For A Treat!!
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- A Montana Goodbye for Ivan Doig
Doig is also a way into history. He invites us into a mythical Montana - maybe it really existed, maybe it didn't, but we want it to have existed, because it says something good about who we are that the rough beauty of those lives is our communal history. It makes us believe, as Doig told us, that "Life is wide. There's room enough to take a new run at it."
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Google Couldn’t Survive with One Strategy - Google's conversion to Alphabet highlights far-flung operations in biotech, venture capital funding
The move has been marketed as a means by which Google can remain more innovative insofar as it allows Page and Brin, who have a penchant for supporting idealistic research & development programs, to continue to make technological bets that have long odds while affecting search engine revenues less.
Transportation
- Airbnb for campers also lists every public campsite in the US
Hipcamp is an Airbnb for camping that enables private landowners to rent out their property, and lists every public campsite in the US.
- U.K. plans roads that charge electric cars as they drive
oday's "BWest Byte" is $779 million, for the amount of money the British government is committing over the next five years to construct roads that will wirelessly charge electric cars as they drive.
- The Protected Intersection for Bicycles Has Arrived
The city of Davis, California, a college town with extremely high commute mode share for bikes, made history last week as the first U.S. city to build a protected intersection for bikes.
- Preparing for the Impact of Driverless Cars
It's going to be a brave, brave new world...
- Uber's Plan for Self-Driving Cars Bigger Than Its Taxi Disruption
Uber expects its service to be so inexpensive and ubiquitous as to make car ownership obsolete. Such ambitious plans could make its disruption of the taxi industry look quaint in comparison.
- Hyperloop startup adds partners -- and inches closer to launch
Skeptics tend to view Elon Musk's proposed "hyperloop" high-speed transportation system as a beautiful dream, unlikely to become real. But apparently, it's a dream many share.
To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page