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| MATR Newsletter - Fri May 18, 2007 |
"A gentleman is a man who can play the accordion but doesn't." -- Unknown
Come Home Montana
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Montana Career Opportunity - Computer and Network Technician - Computer ER | CER Networks
- Outstanding Montana Career Opportunities - Systems Administrator, Product Manager, Customer Care Specialist, Web Production Assistant, Web Developer - Modwest.com
Modwest is proud and fortunate to be located in Missoula, Montana, a beautiful college town nestled in the Rocky Mountains.
Montana Education Excellence
- Keys to success / Montana High School Senior has already established a thriving business
in a small town like St. Regis, the best way to find a job doing what you love is to create your own job, and that's just what Nick did.
- TiE conference celebrates emerging entrepreneurs
The theme of the 14th annual TiE conference is "The New Face of Entrepreneurship" because baby boomers, college kids from Generation Y, mid-career transitioners and new mothers alike are now launching their own Internet-based businesses thanks in part to technologies offered by Silicon Valley companies.
Education
- Economic education council offers scholarships to Montana teachers for June 18-20 workshop
Full scholarships are available that provide housing, meals, materials and the full cost of one graduate credit. There is a $25 refundable registration fee.
- No-barrier nerve center: New University of Montana Skaggs addition boasts four stories of labs without walls to promote cooperation
“Our pharmacy school is presently ranked No. 7 among U.S. pharmacy programs in total research dollars awarded by the National Institutes of Health and No. 5 in terms of NIH research dollars per faculty member,” Forbes said. “This addition will help maintain the standard of excellence we have established here in Montana.”
2007 Montana Legislature
- Study Finds College-Prep Courses in High School Leave Many Students Lagging
Only 26 percent were ready for college-level work in all four core areas. Another 19 percent were not adequately prepared in any of them.
- Governors promote high school redesign efforts during National Dropout Summit
“Do you know your school’s on-time graduation rate? What will you do about it?”
- Colleges Offering Campuses as Final Resting Places
For a few thousand dollars, the University of Richmond and a half-dozen other universities are giving alumni and faculty the opportunity to have their ashes maintained on campus in perpetuity.
Montana Business
- Montana State University Billings chancellor Sexton praises Legislature results
Among the major items that came out of the extended session that ended Tuesday were a two-year tuition freeze and money for building improvements, equipment and work force training.
Montana Economic Development
- Local Bozeman entrepreneur, Steve Titus, is one of 25 semi-finalists in the Sundance Channel’s Big Idea Contest. Vote Early, Vote Often
Titus’ invention, the Solar Bug™ http://freedrive-ev.com/ , marries an ATV frame, a fun body design and current solar panel technology to create a vehicle that can supply 10 – 25% of its own daily energy needs (or 10 – 20 miles per day with good sunlight).
- Sparky Superior Roping Machines moves from Conrad, Montana to Iowa
“This location is a better fit for our business,” said the Conrad native. “But it was hard to give up Montana.”
Funding and Building your Business
- Baucus, Tester announce major grants for Montana’s airports
FAA grants total nearly $16 million for 32 airports
- Montana Economic Summit A Huge Success. Your Input is Requested to Make the Next Even Better
To really build upon all the great things that happened at this Summit, as well as to help Senator Baucus prepare future Summits, please take a few minutes to complete a confidential survey from Senator Baucus' office.
- Affordable housing conference this week 5/17-18 - Aspen pays $5.4 Million for 1 acre of land for affordable housing
Owning a piece of Big Sky Country is becoming more and more out of reach for everyday Montanans. In fact, it's roughly $40,000 out of reach for many.
- Montana's Film Incentive Bill Signed by the Governor
"This is an important part of Montana's economy, and we aim to grow it," Governor Schweitzer said upon signing the bill.
Regional Economic Development
- Memo to entrepreneurs: Stay flexible
Customers don’t want what the founders expected. Does the company plow on with its original dream, or does it change strategy?
- Smart Questions: How to Vet a Board Member
Here's what to ask to get the right person in the chair.
- Recruiting the Top 1 Percent
There's a better way to find and hire the very best employees.
- Ripping up the rules of management
Meet Business 2.0 Magazine's contrarians, 11 business leaders who achieved success by zigging while the rest of the world zagged.
Government Technology
- Ground broken for Yakima Washington medical school
A new medical school will produce graduates to work in rural parts of the Pacific Northwest where doctors are scarce, its backers said Wednesday.
- Educating the economy. Western towns court colleges to boost economy, culture
"Economically, for a community, it is very attractive," says Dave Kellogg, president of LEADER Corporation, a Lander-based economic development group. "It's very clean, it's not a smokestack."
- Extreme sports: for some towns, a 'fiscal engine'
Welcome to the adventure sports town, circa 2007. In recent years, pursuits such as climbing, mountain biking, snowboarding, and surfing, once chalked off as "extreme," have become staples of mainstream American culture.
- Are Cities The Key To Success In The 21st Century?
The ability of the U.S., or any nation, to compete globally and meet the great environmental and social challenges of our time rests largely on the health and vitality of major cities and metropolitan areas.
Idaho Business
- California State Executives on IT and the Future
"When the governor broke his leg," said Dunmoyer, "a lot of people thought he's not coming to Sacramento. What they don't realize is all his senior staff have these little videoconference things right on their desks. The governor calls you up. We would sit in the cabinet room and meet with him on a regular basis, and he'd be sitting at home or in his office in Southern California. And it was sufficient that he could continue to govern the state of California with a broken femur."
- Kansas and 15 other states working on are working on so-called spending-transparency initiatives to open books electronically to public
The idea of opening up a state’s accounting ledgers to computer-savvy public snoops is championed by taxpayer-rights groups and is gaining traction in other states, too. Both chambers of the Oklahoma Legislature agreed to the concept and now are ironing out differences between their plans. Fifteen other states also are working on so-called spending-transparency initiatives, according to Americans for Tax Reform, an anti-tax group.
Washington State Business
- Idaho Office of Science & Technology May 2007
Several Idaho metropolitan areas showed up on Inc. magazine's "Boomtowns 2007" list.
- Boise Startup Company, Caring Technologies/TalkAutism, Receives $1 Million Grant from NIH for Autism
Chief Executive Ron Oberleitner moved to Boise from the East Coast because "it's an excellent environment to run our technology-based company."
- Idaho Science & tech director, Karl Tueller says he will resign
Tueller said there's now a new awareness of technology in Idaho, and he's been pleased with how the office has helped bring many in the tech industry together even if there has been some criticism that the state hasn't been doing enough financially to help.
Wyoming Business
- Seattle startup i4cp gets $6 million
Formed from the assets of the non-profit Human Resource Institute, the i4cp already boasts more than 100 corporate clients who tap into the Web site for detailed research and analysis on workplace topics. The 64 topics -- anchored by the reports from the Human Resource Institute -- include offshore moves, executive compensation and employee retention.
- Venture Capital: Startup puts resumes side by side
Bryan Starbuck, a 10-year programming veteran at Microsoft, is introducing a new online service Friday called TalentSpring that allows job seekers to rank other candidates based on the quality of their resumes.
University Business Plan Competitions
- Bravo goes to Gillette, Wyoming Internet provider
Visionary Communications recently won the 2007 Bravo! Award for the northeast Wyoming region - an award given to those who demonstrate the best traits of entrepreneurship. Those traits include vision, drive, perseverance and willingness to take risks. Six winners were named statewide.
University TechTransfer
- Wharton Business Plan Competition 2007: The 'Eight Great' Make Their Pitch
The finalists, who recently competed for more than $70,000 in prize money as well as the prestige of a competition gaining national attention, offered an array of proposed business ventures.
- Medical Robotics and Sustainable Energy Take Top Prizes in MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition
Now in its 18th year, the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition serves as an economic barometer for emerging markets that are getting funded by venture capitalists.
- Stanford students vie to be 'Entrepreneur Idol'
One pitch: Software that sifts important e-mail from the rest. "E-mail interruptions reduce people's IQ twice as much as smoking pot,"
Energy
- MIT, Caltech—And The Gators? How the University of Florida moved to the major league of technology startups
The rise is the result of a change in strategy, which boils down to treating intellectual property like merchandise and then marketing these products to targeted customers. In a break from conventional wisdom, the university also shuns its own inventors when it comes to running startups, relying instead on hired guns who have proved they can make a go of business.
- Are Universities Patent Trolls? Commercializing University Innovations: A Better Way
In this paper, I argue that Universities should take a broader view of their role in technology transfer.
Connectivity & Communications
- The 17th Annual EPAC Conference On Biofuels, 6/10-12, Big Sky, Montana
Attendees will have many opportunities to network and visit with leading authorities and producers in the field of biofuels. Mark your calendar now and plan to join EPAC members and friends in beautiful Big Sky for this fun and informative conference.
- Ocean may be losing ability to soak up CO2
The buildup of carbon dioxide in the air since the beginning of the industrial revolution has raised concerns that it would trap solar energy and cause a warming of the climate. The oceans are believed to absorb about one-quarter of human-related carbon emissions.
Community
- MTA Commentary—State Telecom Network Upgrades
Among the many things the Montana State Legislature did was to ensure that Montana’s telecom providers will continue to invest in advanced telecom networks and broadband technologies that will serve well all telecommunications consumers, including state government.
- Conference calls: Cutting the cord. The wild world of online conference calling.
Old-school conference calling has quietly undergone a revolution. New online conferencing tools are cheaper and more powerful than ever. And they can add real value to your business.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer speaks to graduating class of one
"I think he shook hands with every person in the gym," Britton said. "It was probably one of the better commencement address we ever had _ and the guy did it without notes."
- Silicon Brains
Computer chips designed to mimic how the brain works could shed light on our cognitive abilities.
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