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| MATR Newsletter - Mon Sep 14, 2015 |
"Don't bring negative to my door." -- Maya Angelou, poet, author and performer
TODAY: Seats Still Available: Invest in Our Schools, Featuring MCPS Superintendent Mark Thane 9/14 http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- QuestMT - A Forum On Marketing Analytics September 17-18th, 2015, Missoula, Montana http://www.matr.net/ev ... =5520
Big Sky Economic Development
Kalispell Chamber of Commerce
- Billings economy ranked in top 25 among nation's small cities
Billings is one of the nation's top 25 small cities for sustainable economic development and recession busting, according Area Development, a magazine specializing in corporate site selection.
Montana Department of Commerce
- Kalispell Chamber's 44th Great Chief Award applications due October 2
The Great Chief is one of the highest honors bestowed by the Chamber, given to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional civic and volunteerism over a lifetime.
Montana Technology Innovation Partnership
- Montana Downtown Conference Early Bird Extended
The theme for the 2015 conference is "It's All About Partnerships" with sessions on downtown planning, historic preservation, façade improvements and building design, alternative parks, agritourism, developing partnerships, and the utilization of downtown building second floors.
- Join Us At The Tourism Town Hall Meeting!, 10/5, White Sulpher Springs, Montana
The Montana Department of Commerce invites you to join us Monday, October 5, for a community meeting to learn more about marketing Montana!
Dorsey & Whitney LLP
- Montana Technology Innovation Partnership (MTIP) Rural Innovator Roundtable, 9/24, Great Falls, Montana
The Montana Technology Innovation Partnership (MTIP), a Department of Commerce program, is hosting a workshop covering topics related to moving your invention from idea to market.
Great Falls Development Authority
- Obama Administration Requires Federal Contractors to Offer Paid Sick Leave to Workers
The move is the latest in a series by the Obama Administration to bring about workplace changes in the private sector through actions that do not need congressional approval.
Come Home Montana
- GFDA Top 16 for 9/7/15
World Cup Soccer champion Abby Wambach was back in town this week to share her inspiration with Great Falls kids. Why does Abby keep coming back? "There's some sort of energy that is Great Falls for me, that attracts me to it, something wild and adventurous there," Abby Wambach. We couldn't have said it better!
- Rebecca Engum excited as she takes new Great Falls Tourism Alliance Tourism Alliance role
Marketing, recruitment and management professional Rebecca Engum is changing gears, switching from manufacturing recruiter for the Great Falls Development Authority to a new role overseeing the community's combined tourism promotion effort.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Montana Career Opportunity - Senior Accounting Position - Hi-Line Companies
The position is responsible for directing, managing and participating in the fiscal operations of the Hi-Line and related Companies.
- Montana Career Opportunity - Sales Representative - Montana Prairie Holdings
Owned by one of the largest conservation projects in the world, Montana Prairie Holdings is looking for a candidate with experience in Food Sales, specifically Beef who is a self starter and very results driven.
Montana Business
- 5 Kinds of Nonbusiness Books Every Entrepreneur Needs to Read
I've gleaned just as much business wisdom from nonbusiness books, whose reading list falls into five categories:
- 4 Ways to Spur Native American Entrepreneurship
Kauffman research has found that top-down approaches do not work best to promote entrepreneurial activity. Instead, an entrepreneur-centered approach is recommended, where the government still plays a supportive role, but avoids dictating specifics.
Careers
- New Cloud Startup IgniteFeedback in Bozeman, Montana Raises Over $300,000
The company focuses on giving business executives better insight into customer satisfaction. Its solution creates a scorecard showing company performance over time compared to their client's competitors.
- Building Developments Mean Expensive Fire Season - Why not require concrete log homes?
EverLog™ Systems family of concrete log cabin and log home products offer the exact look and texture of natural wood cabin logs while eliminating the problems associated with wood log home construction.
- Energy efficiency rules rile log home builders in western Montana except for one...
The new energy efficiency code requires log homes to have an insulation R value of 15. Assuming the average log has an R rating of about 1 point per inch, that would require logs at least 14 inches wide to meet code.
- Red Lodge residents launch US2twelve T-shirt business
"Our main goal, outside of selling T-shirts, is to tell the story of U.S. 212 as a lifeline to this area, what an unbelievable resource it is to Montana and how underappreciated and underreported it is," Langeliers said.
- Spika Design and Manufacturing expands - Commercial and industrial growth visible across Lewistown, Montana area
A case in point is the 6,000 square foot addition going up at the Spika welding plant west of town. Spika Design and Manufacturing makes specialty aircraft maintenance platforms which are shipped to clients around the world.
Rural Communities
- Why women leave game development and how to change things: Q&A
More girls and women are playing video games and more are helping make games, but they still face challenges in the video-game industry.
- Harvard MBAs say fighting wealth inequality is a top priority
The increased prosperity is not being distributed equally - a trend some business elites are saying is becoming a problem.
- Meet the 2015 Most Powerful Women in Business & Why powerful women love Google, and why they leave it
“The only way to correct diversity in tech is to make computer-science classes mandatory for all kids.”
Government
- The Impact of People and Institutions in Rural America
Child poverty, rural arts and culture, philanthropy, youth initiatives - Rural Assembly sessions get participants thinking about their own communities and beyond.
- Robots take root on smaller dairy farms, upping production
The cost of not automating the milking process may be greater for some farmers than shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars, experts say.
Oregon Economic Development
- The Benefits of Measuring Public-Sector Performance
Management report cards need to be more than a one-time exercise.
- One-third of felony DUI arrests in some Montana counties don't lead to convictions
According to a Chronicle analysis of felony DUI cases in Gallatin and nearby Montana counties, about one-third of felony DUI convictions are pleaded down to a lesser charge or dismissed, an amount advocates say fails to hold offenders accountable and weakens Montana's DUI laws.
Regional Economic Development
- Oregon Is Not Just Portland: Planning a Sustainable Economy in Peripheral Areas of the American West
Although at the cutting edge of the sustainability discourse and considered one of the hippest places to relocate, Oregon looked more like an underdeveloped, semi-peripheral country than the beacon of New West prosperity.
Workforce Development
- Missouri Career Opportunity - Vice President of Entrepreneurship - Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a $2 billion foundation that works with partners to advance entrepreneurship in America and improve the educational achievement of youth.
- Four Ways City Leaders Can Boost Entrepreneurship and Propel Economic Growth
In that survey, 47 percent of cities said the "number of new business starts" was a positive driver of local economic conditions. New business creation was viewed by more city leaders as source of local economic improvement than any other factor.
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- Tech firm recruits high-school students to prevent local brain drain
Executives hope the students will remember them when they begin their careers.
American Prairie Reserve
- Reshaping the Structure of Early Education
"We need to reshape the primary years and re-envision the elementary school. The K-5 model starts too late and is usually disconnected from early care and education providers such as pre-K centers,"
- All-girl hackathons on the rise, the latest at the University of Maryland
"The tech world is so vast, so there's a place for almost anybody," Jayanti says, "but when you have only one type of person, you're limited in what you can accomplish for sure."
Education
- 200 Miles on Foot Through Montana's Prairie - Exploring the High Country in American Prairie Reserve's Burnt Lodge Region
It is day nine and we have slowly landsnorkled about 120 miles. The scenery has been spectacular. As expected, we have not experienced much wildlife such as elk, mule deer, big horn sheep, wolves or grizzly bears.
MAPS : Media Arts in the Public Schools
- President Obama promotes online search tool with college-specific data
The College Scorecard -- at https://collegescorecard.ed.gov -- provides a snapshot of what former students of each school might earn, how much debt they leave with, and what percentage can repay their loans.
Missoula Schools Excellence
- DUI Taskforce and MAPS Media Institute collaborate on PSA about over-serving alcohol
MAPS CEO Peter Rosten said his team "pulled out all stops" for the DUI task force's public service announcement.
Montana Education Excellence
- Seats Still Available: Invest in Our Schools, Featuring MCPS Superintendent Mark Thane 9/14
The average age of the district's school buildings is 57 years. Their heating and cooling systems are outdated. Schools are at capacity, and classrooms are crowded. Technology is slow and outdated.
Funding and Building your Business
- Montana regents to OK budgets, more money for teaching
The Montana University System plans to pump $12 million more into instruction this school year to reach the Board of Regents' goal that 50 percent of spending go directly to teaching some 36,000 students.
- MSU strengthens networking bandwidth and saves $100,000 per year
The move not only upgraded MSU's bandwidth to 30 gigabytes per second but also saved the university more than $100,000 per year in networking costs, said MSU Chief Information Officer Jerry Sheehan.
- Underrepresented: University of Montana president launches program to address gender inequality among faculty
At the University of Montana only three of the 13 deans are women, a fact that President Royce Engstrom said he plans to change with the newly created Women's Leadership Initiative.
- Montana State University's spending grows while University of Montana's tightens
The Grizzlies may be a powerhouse on the football field, but when it comes to the financial bottom line, the Bobcats are champs.
Energy and Climate Change
- The Dangers of Running a One-Person Business
Running a business as a solo operator comes with its share of risk.
- Technology Sales Boot Camp, 10/6-11/10, Missoula, Montana
Tom will be covering best practices from his collective experiences in corporate IT sales training, current trends with the Internet of Everything/Things, "challenger sales," all in the context of real world sales situations.
- The 7 Things Angel Investors Are Looking For
Give Angels What They Want If You Want Them to Invest
Connectivity & Communications
- Governor Bullock says "incredible potential" for wind energy in Montana
"These are really incredible opportunities for our state," Bullock said. "As long as we view them as opportunities, not just obstacles to hold us back."
- One-of-a-kind house: In the middle of Billings, Montana, off the grid
Much more important will be the differences that passersby won't see, differences that will make the house the first of its kind in Montana and one of the first of its kind in the country.
- Vermont solar plan brightens green energy hopes
"What we're doing is pretty unusual," said Mary Powell, the president and chief executive of Green Mountain Power, Vermont's biggest electric utility, which is leading the transformation. "I try to spend time out and about learning what others are doing. I'm not seeing many others doing this."
- California Legislature: Green tech gets green light
Despite a testy and drawn-out political battle, the new green mandates just approved by state lawmakers -- higher efficiency standards for buildings, more reliance on renewable energy -- signal good news for the state's clean-energy industry.
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- Montana group talks of years-long struggle over CenturyLink phone service - David versus Goliath
CenturyLink could have lost millions if the PSC had removed its Eligible Telecommunications Carrier designation. "This is the only time from a (Montana) telecommunications aspect that a group of citizens has intervened and gotten a settlement," he said. " ... Their participation in this was crucial."
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Filmmaker raising money for Missoula documentary, "A Place Sort Of" - Kickstarter
"If you live in Missoula and you look at it, you'll see something of yourself and Missoula in it. Your version is not going to be my version exactly, but I don't want anyone to look at this movie and be profoundly alienated by my interpretation of Missoula," he said.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Stephen Colbert's most Montana moments
The Montana Mint counts down Stephen Colbert's most Montana moments.
Transportation
- The Google contact lens will be in humans next year, Novartis chief says
"I had said it would take about five years to see a product on the market," Jimenez told the paper. "The calendar is on track and we are already developing a technological lens prototype (that) should be tested on humans in 2016."
- Scientists create a material that can regenerate bones
Argentinian scientists for the University of Tucuman have created REGEBONE, a biomaterial that could change medicine forever.
- Paris to Clear Streets of Cars for a Day
Imagine any big city anywhere in the world without traffic just for a day. Now, if that city were Paris, imagine further the photographic possibilities, not to mention the visual, auditory and olfactory potential.
- Automakers Will Make Automatic Braking Systems Standard in New Cars
But the automakers have not set a timetable for the introduction of the systems, and regulators may still seek government rules that would require the equipment as a standard feature in all cars and trucks -- just as airbags were mandated a generation ago.
- Los Angeles unveils puny BMW electric police car
"The decision by the Los Angeles Police Department to undertake this evaluation highlights the compelling nature of the BMW i3 as a versatile, sustainable vehicle," says Christine Fleischer, manager for BMW plug-in cars in the U.S. "The i3 is a brilliant fit with the technology-driven research philosophy of the LAPD."
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