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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Feb 6, 2009 |
Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says "Oh crap, she's up!"
"The Rural Broadband Challenge: Use It - E-commerce successes in rural Montana" http://matr.net/articl ... .html
Montana World Trade Center
Boomtown Institute
- The Montana World Trade Center at The University of Montana and the Montana Arts Council to help Artisans Participate in National Trade Market
The trip is designed to expose other regions of the country to the richness and diversity of Montana artisanship. The artists will receive business instruction before competing in the national marketplace.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Boomtown Institute - Business Startups Critical to Job Creation
Entrepreneurs will be in the forefront as our economy moves forward.
Leadership Montana
- Entrepreneurship Competency Model - Do you have the right foundation?
"In an economy that is becoming more competitive, workers in every career cluster need an entrepreneurial skill set that ensures success."
- Boot camp aims to draw young tech talent to West Michigan
"I see this as an opportunity to lay the right groundwork and create a very strong and vibrant industry here."
Montana Business
- 10 Ways to Avoid the Arrogance of Power
"The ability to understand another's point of view, and to put oneself in the other's place, is one of the most critical factors that affects ability to obtain influence and is a critical skill for everyone, including organizational leaders."
Montana Economic Development
- Heather Kempka at Simplify Home Staging, Inc. Helps Missoulians Sell Their Home in a Tough Real Estate Market
Staging has been around for over two decades with most buyers never knowing they have fallen victim to it. Have you ever walked into a home and said, this is it, this is the one!
- Small firms see green in pending stimulus package - There's assistance available to help your company.
The final economic stimulus package, priced at nearly $1 trillion, will funnel funds to infrastructure improvements ranging from bridges to schools and alternative energy grids.
- Yellowstone Club - Resort for ultrarich could sell for $100 million
The Yellowstone Club for the ultrarich had only been partially developed when it fell more than $400 million in debt last year. The nearly 14,000-acre club near Yellowstone National Park has 340 members, including Dan Quayle and Gates.
- Montana Governor Schweitzer visits Butte, touts energy options - Wind turbine plant discussed
Schweitzer said he is championing a collaborative effort between Montana and Saskatchewan where the Canadian province would pipe carbon dioxide into Montana.
- Aspen Air in Lockwood, Montana for the Long Haul
The Aspen Air facility has a life expectancy of 40-45 years, said Dahliwal, “So we are going to be part of the community for many years.”
- The staff of Hydro Solutions Inc. of Montana helps improve the water quality of small communities in Uganda
“We take water for granted so much in this country, and over there, one water well can save hundreds, maybe thousands of lives,” Osborne said. “You don’t really appreciate it until you’re there.”
Regional Economic Development
- Where imagination meets farming - Montana program helps future farmers find land - Land Link Montana
Local-food pioneer Pete Johnson's movable greenhouses have yielded a lettuce harvest in the dead of a Vermont winter.
- Mineral County gets $50,000 for economic development
Mineral County has a lot of public land—at least 87% of the county is either state or federally owned—and the County was recently awarded $50,000 to help the residents and public land managers look at economic development opportunities that benefit residents while sustaining these lands.
- Montana Lawmakers discuss jobs, economy for tribal nations at Indian caucus
"Each member of our caucus is working hard to create policy and to provide resources to help our respective communities' progress," said Sen. Carol Juneau, D-Browning. "We represent the communities of Montana with the highest unemployment rates, the poorest educational achievement, and many issues that need the attention of Montana. We are being asked to tighten our belts, but many families that we represent have tightened their belts as far as they will go."
Careers
- Billion-Dollar Decisions Depend on Rural Broadband
Broadband Internet service is being used for vital commercial purposes in rural America — whether it is assisting with remote irrigation in Nebraska or monitoring temperatures in livestock buildings around the nation.
- Advanced Manufacturing Opportunities
In today’s economy, communities that sit back and “wait to see what happens” will lose out to communities that adopt flexibility, develop new skills, and aggressively pursue new opportunities.
- City or County government - The 3 C's of success - Collaboration, Cooperation and Consolidation
I thought I'd share a few of these ideas, especially since they are applicable regardless of which department you're working in.
- The Rural Broadband Challenge: Use It - E-commerce successes in rural Montana
Broadband doesn't produce jobs, people do, and they need training in best practices and entrepreneurship and trusted networks of support.
Funding and Building your Business
- Construx Software Announces Complimentary Training Program for Displaced Software Workers
Construx 1-, 2-, and 3-day seminars cover subjects including Software Project Management, Software Estimation, Software Requirements, Software Design, Software Testing, and numerous other software development topics.
- Montana State University Hosts Fourth Annual Job And Internship Fair Feb. 26
The fair is open to employers and MSU students and alumni seeking jobs, according to event organizers.
- Dave Martin Promoted to Vice President of Product Management and Chief Technology Officer at Blackfoot Telecommunications Group
Over the last 13 years at Blackfoot, Martin has provided strategic direction and managed operational support teams for implementation of advanced services of some of the most advanced communications services available.
Montana Education Excellence
- Some pointers if you're under 30 and starting a business
Generation Y entrepreneurs have a few advantages here
- Innovation Lessons From and For Small Business - Understand Your Customers
Many small-business owners are highly innovative but don't realize it. The reason: They need to better understand their customers.
- Finding Out If a Business Name Is Taken
Are there resources to help figure out whether a business name is already taken? What do you do if the name you want is already claimed?
- Venture capital funding tight - Entrepreneurs » Startups are having a hard time getting money in economic downturn.
"If your business in not doing well right now -- if it operates in a down sector -- it will be difficult to raise capital," said Paul Ahlstrom of vSpring, a venture capital company based in Salt Lake City.
- Inside Entrepreneurship: If you're starting out, don't forget taxes
Here's a short list of business setup action steps and reporting responsibilities for new freelance entrepreneurs.
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- Montana Students Participate, Succeed in Advanced Placement
"Across the state, educators are helping students experience success in advance placement and we are seeing results. We have made significant progress in making AP available to more students but still have work to do to close the achievement gap. We want our students to be successful when they leave high school and AP classes contribute to their success," said Superintendent Juneau.
- Montana State University College of Business Students Offer Free Tax Help
Taxpayers whose income is $50,000 or less are eligible for the assistance.
Universities and Economic Development
- Tools of education in Missoula, Montana - Mentors turn their passion for automobiles into high school classes - Montana Automotive Technologies
What we're doing is giving them a skill that will actually translate into the job market,” said Ault. “We are tied in to most of the businesses in town that would employ mechanics and the like, and they are interested in the people we have here.”
University TechTransfer
- Utah's Student - Run University Venture Fund Invests In Widget Firm
The University Venture Fund is an independent venture fund that leverages the innovation of students from around the country. UVF promotes entrepreneurship by creating a forum of students to be directly involved in venture capital. It is a collaboration between students seeking an entrepreneurial education and professional venture capitalists to search out high tech and consumer trends with potential. Many of the budding businesses they research and back are founded by entrepreneurs the students age.
Idaho Business
- USC Stevens Institute for Innovation On Tech Transfer: Understand Venture Capitalists
Universities need to "get better at gathering, filtering, translating, and packaging new ideas."
Utah Business
- From 'Tent City' to the Lake Shore - Berg Companies expanding in North Idaho
"With the U.S. economy being as weak as it currently is, it is exciting to be working with a company that is defying the odds and thriving in this current economic climate," said Andy Barrett, president and co-owner of Berg Companies.
Washington State Business
- Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Accepts Post at Utah Storage Start-Up - Fusion-io
The three-year-old company, based in Salt Lake City, is expected to announce Thursday that Mr. Wozniak, already a member of Fusion-io’s advisory board, will become its chief scientist.
Wyoming Business
- Anacortes, WA business thrives after couple cuts hours
The Mercantile only opens for business every three weeks and for only two days, Friday and Saturday.
Montana Meth Project
- Wyoming Coal Gasification plant may have a home
The project will be a test plant that will study a gasification technology for Wyoming coal to turn it into syngas, which is then used in electricity generation or turned in liquid fuels or chemicals.
- National Composite Center partners with Wyoming firm - Manufacturing-Works
As a technology commercialization and manufacturing incubator, the center has acquired nearly $40 million of infrastructure and equipment for a wide range of composite processes and capabilities.
Connectivity & Communications
- Study pegs meth cost at $23.4B - Montana Meth Project - Montana meth-related crime dropped 62 percent from 2005 to 2008
A new study estimates that the price tag for methamphetamine abuse in the U.S. is $23.4 billion - for treatment, health care, foster care and the costs of crime and lost productivity associated with the drug.
Energy
- Business VOIP - Success Stories: A Case Study
Organizations with 100 or fewer employees account for about 98 percent of U.S. and Canadian businesses, so successfully marketing new, IP-based communications services to these organizations is a strategic imperative for many service providers and can be an important source of new revenue growth.
- Business VOIP - Success Stories: A Case Study
Organizations with 100 or fewer employees account for about 98 percent of U.S. and Canadian businesses, so successfully marketing new, IP-based communications services to these organizations is a strategic imperative for many service providers and can be an important source of new revenue growth.
- Google's 'Chief Internet Evangelist', Vince Cerf sees bigger, faster Web
Wherever you are, it will be faster. I would love to see normal access speeds ranging from 100 megabits a second to a gigabit per second.
- World's First Virtual Journalism Summit, 4/6, Pullman, WA
The day-long free event, held April 6 at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, aims to explore both commercial and citizen reporting efforts through a series of panels, presentations and workshops.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Montana's Nobel Peace Prize Scientist, Dr. Steven Running disputes 'clean coal'
"I think there are some well-funded professional deniers who are following the tobacco and cancer lobbies' model, in a broad sense," Running said. "They continue to say that in the broad sense, all the data isn't in. But in reality it is in and no climate scientist comes to any different conclusion. The world is warming up."
- Subsidize Green Neighborhoods, Not Green Cars - They Myth of the Efficient Car
DC writer Alec Dubro questions the pursuit of the green car, concluding we should cease its financial support. Though people may prefer the car culture, it would make more sense to pursue a ‘post car future’, citing Portland’s compact neighborhoods.
- Obama's energy secretary outlines dire climate change scenario - California Could Lose its Cities to Climate Change
Energy Secretary Steve Chu delivers a grim warning for California: Slow the pace of climate change or the state will lose its agriculture and cities.
Non-Profit News
- TED: MIT Students Turn Internet Into a Sixth Human Sense -- Video
Students at the MIT Media Lab have developed a wearable computing system that turns any surface into an interactive display screen.
- Town Pump raises $1.45 million for Montana's food banks
"In this time of tremendous need, we are especially grateful to the thousands of Montanans who contributed to Montana food banks through the foundation's campaign," said Maureen Kenneally of the Town Pump Charitable Foundation. "Together we have raised another record amount to help the many Montanans who do not have enough to eat."
- 6 Big Sky, Montana families receive help from community project - Big Sky Lift Fund
Contributions from Yellowstone Club members and others in the Big Sky community helped fund one-time "critical needs" grants to 26 families and individuals who live or work in Big Sky and who are struggling financially as a result of the area's economic downturn.
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