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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Aug 14, 2015 |
The answer may not lie at the bottom of a bottle of wine but you should at least check.
11th Annual MT Ambassador Business Open - So Much More Than Golf!, 8/19-20, Anaconda, Montana http://www.matr.net/ev ... =5504
Big Sky Economic Development
Montana Technology Innovation Partnership
- Big Sky Business Healthcare Forum, 9/9, Billings, Montana
Please join us for this exciting and innovative business healthcare forum: Making your Company Healthy, Wealthy and Wise Featuring local business owners talking about how business and healthcare intersect every day and how to make that synergy work for you.
- Big Sky Economic Development Staff - How Can We Help You?
The organization's mission is to sustain and grow Yellowstone County's vibrant economy and outstanding quality of life, by providing leadership and resources for business creation, expansion, retention, new business recruitment and community development.
Northwestern Energy
- Less than a week until the Greater Yellowstone Regional Entrepreneurship and SBIR/STTR Summit August 17-18, 2015, Bozeman, Montana
Featuring dozens of leaders from government, industry, academia and the legal fields collaboratively supporting small business success, this summit is designed for innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and business owners looking to grow their businesses.
Sustainable Business Council
- Missoulian Editorial: Exhaustive response to massive storm - Thank you Northwestern Energy
Kudos to the police, firefighters, NorthWestern Energy crews, American Red Cross volunteers, urban foresters and many others who worked tirelessly to help our neighbors recover as quickly as possible.
Great Falls Development Authority
- SBC Member Energetechs Introduces Glo European Windows
Our most recent project in the Bitterroot Valley features high performance thermally-broken A-5 lift and slide doors, super insulation and solar panels.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- GFDA Top 13 for August 11, 2015
13) We are challenging you to get more people helping to move Great Falls Forward! Get five people to sign up for the Top 10 updates and energize Great Falls. Make sure your team, your banker, attorney, accountant, vendors, customers, family and friends are signed up to get the Top 10! Send them this link to a quick and easy sign up: http://bit.ly/1PbOD0m Economic growth is a team sport!
Hellgate Venture Network
- Every city wants to create its own Silicon Valley. This is bad for innovation.
Start-ups are competing with each other, rather than working together.
Montana Business
- Hellgate Venture Network Meeting - Lolo Peak Brewing At The Old Sawmill, 8/20, Missoula
Our next meeting will feature Patrick Offen owner and founder of Lolo Peak Brewing Company http://lolopeakbrewery.com/ who will speak about plans for their new brewpub in Missoula's Old Sawmill District. Ed and Leslie Wetherbee will also be joining us to update on the broader plans for the Sawmill.
Montana Economic Development
- Beer glut in Montana? - Spreadable Beer Is a Real Thing ... And Delicious
Montana's craft brewing industry has exploded over the past five years. With more new breweries and expansion projects on deck, is there a point where it becomes too much?
- Montana High-Tech Companies Increasing Footprint in State, Hiring University of Montana Students
Montana has quietly increased its footprint in high-tech businesses, growing at a pace that exceeds statewide growth and providing high-paying jobs for University of Montana students and graduates, according to an article published this summer in Montana Business Quarterly.
- Oil price downturn may not be as negative to Montana economy thanks to low cost oil producers
A report from the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources showed that for most companies, the "break-even price" of oil, or the point at which new drilling would cease, is still well below the price of oil per barrel.
- First Interstate Bank: A story of growth
Although company stock is sold on the Nasdaq, "We call ourselves a publicly-traded family company," said Jim Scott, the executive vice chairman of First Interstate BancSystem. His brother Tom is the chairman. There are great grandchildren of Homer Scott, Sr. and his wife Mildred working for the company today.
MSU Leadership Institute & UM Global Leadership Initiative
- Innovate Montana Economic Development Partners
Our network of economic development partners across the state is key to the success of many Montana businesses. With offices in counties and cities that represent Montana's diverse demographics, these economic development professionals can answer your specific questions about what their area has to offer - and many of them have programs uniquely tailored to meet your needs.
TEDx Events in Montana
- Montana's Conrad Anker - "Meru" - How a Failed Mountain Climb Spawned an Epic Documentary
And we get Conrad Anker's redemption story. After losing his best friend and climbing partner, Alex Lowe, to an avalanche in 1999, Anker married his widow, Jenni, and adopted her three sons. She has several of the film's best lines.
Careers
- 40 travel tips from hard-traveling TED staffers
TED staffers travel a lot -- to TEDx events all over the globe, to TED conferences in Canada, Brazil, the UK .... so we love to trade travel tips for making the most of work and fun trips. Here are 40 of our best -- including some oddball but practical ideas for vacation travel (to use up those miles).
Rural Communities
- 'We need the support of the business community': Internships offer students a hiring advantage
"We need the support of the business community in order to prepare our students, so the perfect partnership is universities working alongside the business community," said FIU Director of Career Services Fernando Figueredo.
- Top MBAs spurn Goldman, McKinsey internships, opt for early stage startups instead
"I would say it's more of a 10-year phenomenon that continues to increase. We are still in the process of gathering this summer's data but I think about 600 out of 900 MBAs went to work at a startup this summer."
Government
- Rural Voices: More than Singing the Blues
EDITOR'S NOTE: Today we're starting a series of interviews with a few of the people who will attend next month's National Rural Assembly, September 8-10, in Washington, D.C. The national gathering of rural advocates focuses on rural America's place in federal policy making.
Idaho Business
- Montana Legislative Fiscal Division -Chart of the Week! General Fund Expenditures by Major Governmental Function, FY 2015
We are committed to enhancing the legislative process through understandable and objective fiscal policy analysis and information.
Incubators and R&D
- Schweitzer gives UI $2 million for engineering chair
"Creating this endowed chair is a great way for us to help educate the next generation of power systems professionals."
- Micron, Intel boast a new way to store data
Micron Technology Inc. is on an innovation roll.
Other Economies
- University Scientists Work to Improve Solar Power
The Department of Energy hopes to reduce the cost of solar energy to make it cost-competitive with fossil fuels by 2020.
Regional Economic Development
- Hawaii Makes Big Push to Support, Grow Tech Industry
The island state of Hawaii is aiming millions of dollars toward its technology and innovation sector, and hoping for some big returns on the investment.
Workforce Development
- SBA Fostering Pacific Northwest's Entrepreneurial Economy
The world has its eyes on the Pacific Northwest's entrepreneurial economy and we need to ensure we're tapping into our full entrepreneurial potential. However, entrepreneurs have also expressed their frustrations with the permitting process, accessing capital, and receiving solid mentorship.
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- State of Montana chief economist Barbara Wagner takes a stab at humanizing wage gap
Kathy Boelter, Montana Chamber Foundation president and president of Arrow Solutions Group in Billings, who introduced speakers at the Butte update, said she wants to recruit more women for high-end tech jobs, but that it's a slow process since most men study science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), leading to higher-paying upper-end engineering-type jobs.
Montana Education Excellence
- Leadership coaching could help teachers boost student achievement
Study shows that mentoring and leadership coaching are helping teachers increase student achievement in some subjects
- A University gender-equality club, run by men
The new club at Wharton is just one of a number of ways that men who attend top-flight business schools are getting more involved in the support of gender equality.
- Say please and thank you, learn to cartwheel and never talk to strangers: Life lessons EVERY parent should teach their children revealed
New poll reveals 59 things every parent should teach their child
Community
- Montana Receives $3.75 Million Grant To Support Students With Disabilities
The Office of Public Instruction has been awarded a $750,000 annual grant for the next five years to continue improving professional development systems that help Montana students with disabilities.
- MSU Extension hosts National Extension Technology Community conference
NETC began in 1986 as an annual conference to support information technology professionals who work within and on behalf of the Cooperative Extension System and at land-grant universities throughout the U.S.
- MSU hires world leader in cereal genetics Hikmet Budak as first Montana Plant Sciences Chair
Budak will be the first endowed chair in the history of the MSU College of Agriculture and Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, or MAES.
Funding and Building your Business
- What a $15 Minimum Wage Would Mean for Your City
As the campaign for a $15 minimum wage has gained strength this year, even supporters of large minimum-wage increases have wondered how high the wage floor can rise before it reduces employment and hurts the economy.
Energy and Climate Change
- Google Shreds Bureaucracy To Keep Talent Loyal To The Alphabet
Essentially, Alphabet is the answer to Google's talent problem.
- Quest Montana - A Forum on Marketing Analytics September 17-18, 2015 University of Montana, Missoula, MT
Managers, decision makers, and others who wrestle with data analytics challenges and need actionable insights will learn the methods and tools of data science to generate new strategies. (http://www.questmt.co).
- Companies re-imagine the annual performance review
"The conference session on blowing up the traditional performance review was standing room only."
- Tech signals it wants to hire women
The message behind these expanded leave programs is clear: Women, please apply.
- Let's Expose the Gender Pay Gap
Here's a great idea: require companies to publish their gender pay gap.
- Here's why GE is replacing performance reviews with an app
Employees will have a concrete list of short-term goals to work towards, while managers are expected to hold frequent discussions about employees' progress. Employees can also use the app to request feedback at any time.
- 7 signs your business may need a CFO
When you have up-to-date information about the financial standing of your company, it becomes easier to make well-informed decisions along the way. Here are a few signs that it might be the right time to hire a CFO:
- A Beginner's Guide to Turning GIFs Into an Awesome Marketing Tool
A picture is worth a thousand words -- but in business, entrepreneurs don't like to leave much to interpretation.
Connectivity & Communications
- S.F. startup claims its misty shower uses 70 percent less water
Nebia, a South of Market company that launched Tuesday, claims its re-engineered shower head uses up to 70 percent less water than those installed in most homes.
- How has big data changed your utility?
Big data has provided a level of visibility into Avista's business and our systems that we've never experienced before now. At the same time, it's improving efficiency and reliability. That's exciting for both our customers and Avista!
- Community solar project in the Flathead to sell renewable energy
A community solar project outside Kalispell will allow residents to purchase renewable energy without installing their own solar panels.
- The human-driven spiral that might be making wildfires worse
Humans extinguishing smaller natural wildfires that have occurred for thousands of years might be why recent fires are more devastating
Non-Profit News
- Verizon's new, experimental FiOS service is 10 times faster than Google Fiber
Verizon has just finished testing a next-generation fiber-optic Internet technology that allows the company to transfer data at rates of 10 gigabits per second.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- 2015 Montana Nonprofit Association Conference - The POWER Of Story, 9/30-10/02, Billings, Montana
This three-day gathering brings together nonprofit professionals from across the region for learning, networking, and inspiration.
- One Montana's Latest Achievements
"It's amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." Harry Truman.
Transportation
- 'No Electricity Fridge' Keeps Fruits and Veggies Fresh
But don't ditch your refrigerator just yet.
- Another Study Shows That Narrow Is Safer Than Wide for Traffic Lanes
A clear body of evidence has accumulated that narrower lanes are safer on major urban thoroughfares that also include pedestrians.
- 'Electric Highways' Could Charge Electric Cars
The technology could enable EV drivers to travel longer distances without having to stop to charge their car.
- Photos: Black Tesla Model X
The all-electric vehicle, which is expected to be priced somewhere between $55,000 and $75,000, is supposed to be "revealed" in September, company founder Elon Musk told shareholders last week.
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