|
|
|
| MATR Newsletter - Mon Jun 13, 2005 |
"Enjoy every sandwich" Warren Zevon
What is your state or city doing?: "Integrating the Ivory Tower - State and City Government and Education Leaders make forays into consolidating information systems" http://www.matr.net/article-14965.html
Come Home Montana
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Full Circle - Brad Quick is happy he decided to "Come Home" to Montana
Quick's son, Christopher, then in sixth grade, noticed something about living in a small town shortly after they moved to Circle. He told his father, "Man, you can't walk anywhere around here with your hands in your pockets. You have to wave at everybody."
Education
- StartupNation: Making a living from innovation
According to the authors, the best time to start a new business is right now. And unless you're planning to go to market with buggy whips or Spiro Agnew masks, that's probably good advice.
- For younger professionals, 'entrepreneur' isn't a bad word anymore
Do you have the entrepreneurial chops?
Montana Business
- College Is a Bad Investment - Pouring more taxpayer money into universities doesn't lead to prosperity.
We should rethink the nature and magnitude of public support for universities. State governments, facing rising Medicaid bills and demands for primary and secondary education funding, are already slashing their support. I hope and expect this trend to continue. Big changes are coming to higher education. They are overdue.
- Web site takes input on school funding in Montana
"Obviously, any time you ask people to comment and they have the opportunity to do that, it just makes for a better final product," said Chris Lohse, a legislative research analyst working closely on the school-funding problem. "Not all wisdom sits in Helena."
Montana Economic Development
- Montana-based company awarded wind farm permits
‘‘This is wind power. This is something that almost everybody is in favor of,'' said Henry Whiting, who lives near the company's existing wind park. Yet, Whiting said, ‘‘you would never allow something like this to be built around the grand canyon.''
- Ennis biz defies naysayers, uses biodiesel - Madison Lumber Company
"If you can get biodiesel transported to Ennis, Montana, you can get biodiesel anywhere,"
- Cold Brew: 2nd Montana brewer set to fight for the right to 'Yellowstone' - Yellowstone Beer Company
Yellowstone Valley Brewing President and co-owner George Moncure agrees it's some kind of a financial fishing expedition. "They're setting me up for some kind of extortion," he said.
- Investors sought for Montana ethanol operation
The study predicted a 43 percent annual average return on investment over 11 years. Rosette said investors consider an ethanol project when they see a projected return rate of at least 25 percent.
- Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative provides high-quality telecommunications services as a vital part of Eastern Montana economic development.
In a sparsely populated land where people rely heavily on electronic links to the outside world, Mid-Rivers views the provision of high-quality telecommunications services as a vital part of economic development.
- Great Falls businessman turns to technology to create paperless office
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Tribe pursues ethanol project on Rocky Boy Indian Reservation
The tribe commissioned a study on the feasibility of developing an ethanol refinery earlier this year. Results were positive, and officials say they're now developing a business plan and looking for investors.
- Report commissioned by Bozeman can't find justification for big-box rules
A report commissioned by the City of Bozeman has found that big-box stores are no more a threat to local businesses than other national retail stores, and the city stands on legal thin ice for treating them differently.
GIS Technology
- Angel investors nervous
Above all, remember that the guys with the gold make the rules, and in the end cash is king. It is better to get some funds to make the pie bigger for everyone rather than keeping a large piece of a very small pie.
- Another failed venture for Illinois governor - "Fund of Funds" not meeting expectations
Though Blagojevich repeatedly has linked his venture capital plan to job creation, the Oklahoma program does not measure success by the number of jobs created. That's because Oklahoma doesn't even measure the number of jobs created.
Funding and Building your Business
- GIS to Speed Help to Domestic Violence Victims
"Since [calltakers] are often providing a life-saving service, it is important for them to quickly find the most accessible help for the caller. We are proud that our technical expertise and software will help make that possible," ESRI President Jack Dangermond said.
Regional Economic Development
- Intellections Newsletter
- `Chief People Yahoo' provides a competitive edge
Yahoo, the Sunnyvale Internet portal, with more than 3,000 employees in Silicon Valley, currently has 812 job openings worldwide. It faces a growing challenge attracting and retaining employees and filling an increasingly complex array of jobs.
- Board Compensation
Obviously situations vary, but I think these are good rules of thumb.
- 12 Months to Startup - Follow these 12 steps to have your business up and running in a year.
You should be able to do this in less than 12 months but here are some excellent resources to start your journey.
- New CIO Role: Change Warrior
Over the past twenty years, the corporate IT function has changed fundamentally. Even as new technologies like RFID continually arise, the corporate IT function, itself, has moved from youth to maturity in its role within companies. This is manifested in three important ways.
Government Technology
- What about Wamsutter, Wyoming? Many boomtowns in the West face same woes as this Wyoming outpost
In the West, boom-to-bust tales dot the landscape. Industries come and go, and sometimes, so do the very communities that helped drive commerce. State and local officials know that what goes up - gas prices are near record highs - eventually must come down.
- Regions Respond to Economic Challenges - Results are Impressive
The Council concluded that the region has an opportunity to mitigate these challenges by: supporting strategic policy to enhance investment in growth industries; bolstering support for public higher education; building the region's "brand"; and strengthening networking and collaboration. -- More than 60 organizations, called “institutional partners,” are collaborating to implement 30 actions that will support the growth of key emerging industry “clusters.”
- Wyoming Legislators call for new approach to economic development grants
Some lawmakers say the state should prioritize the economic development projects funded under the Business Ready Community Program rather than awarding the grants and loans on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Western governors focus on internationalization, immigration and ways to build their regional economies
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, said western states are not only competing with each other for high-tech businesses, but with other countries, like India, as technology breaks down barriers to trade.
- Colleges' small-biz centers aid entrepreneurs
"For every Oregon general fund dollar invested [in the SBDCs], $3.50 is returned to the general fund in the form of income taxes paid by people who get the new jobs" generated by businesses that the SBDC serves, said William Carter, director of the SBDC network.
Other Economies
- Integrating the Ivory Tower - State and City Government and Education Leaders make forays into consolidating information systems.
Three years ago, North Dakota officially unveiled ConnectND, an ambitious plan to integrate the state's universities and government agencies into one administrative software platform enabling front-line staff to use common financial, and human- and student-resource management applications.
University Business Plan Competitions
- Cluster initiatives get boost and look to future
"The power of the industry cluster approach lies in its ability to effect profound fundamental change and spawn continuous innovations so as to achieve competitiveness, prosperity and a high quality of life,"
Incubators and R&D
University TechTransferMontana Education/Business Partnerships
- Water program incorporates; moves off MSU campus - Project WET is another tech transfer success
"Project WET is a great example of MSU developing technology, in this case educational product, and then spinning the company out of the university," said Mahurin. "We are proud of the success of this program and know that it will continue to serve the educational community in its next phase as an independent company."
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- Schools and business team up to get lean and green - Colleges and universities can be a manufacturer's best friend
Many smaller manufacturers say they could not have made the shift to lean manufacturing and new business plans on their own.
Small Diameter Timber Utilization
- Montana's Triple Creek Ranch: "So, what wine do you drink with elk?"
Triple Creek opened in 1986, was bought in 1993 by Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel, and his wife, Barbara, and became a member of the Relais & Cháteaux group the following year.
- Whither 1% for Public Art?
There was a time in the history of cities that adornment of the public realm was a no-brainer.
- Movie filmed in Butte goes international - "Don't Come Knocking"
"And when Sam Shepard and I started to write 'Don't Come Knocking,' I suggested Butte immediately, realizing that I might finally have the right story for it."
- Public art exemption goes to Missoula City Council for vote tonight 6/13 - What are your thoughts?
Missoula is the arts superstar of Montana. It is really part of our identity."
- MCC-Some news and upcoming events for the week of June 13, 2005
Energy
- Senator Conrad Burns Vows to Protect Fuels for Schools Funding
Across Montana, Fuels for Schools is expanding rapidly, she said. From a community swimming pool near Libby to hospitals in Deer Lodge and Lewistown, the enthusiasm and support is exceptional.
Connectivity & Communications
- Harvesting the wind - Downstate community embraces chance to become alternative-energy powerhouse
Elsewhere in Illinois, wind projects far less daunting have met stiff opposition. But not here in McLean County, where towns have been dying, shops closing, schools shuttering, population falling and farming fading.
Lewis and Clark Bicentennial
- City lights: 'News' site's legitimacy close to nil - "The Montana News Association"
Cyphers was sentenced to three years on each count, but District Judge G. Todd Baugh suspended both sentences and placed Cyphers on probation. In the sentencing document, Baugh referred to Cyphers as "a con-artist/thief and an individual not to be trusted."
- Eastern Montana is Wired for Care - The Eastern Montana Telemedicine Network
"The Eastern Montana Telemedicine Network, created and supported by Deaconess Billings Clinic has saved a tremendous amount of money for patients and hospital staff in travel expenses and time away from work," Espeland said. "It's just been a godsend for that reason."
2005 Montana Legislature
- Montana Business - Cashing in on Lewis and Clark celebration
‘‘We see this as a legacy event. The tourist will keep coming back to Great Falls to see these sites,'' said Casey Buckingham, sales director at the Holiday Inn in Great Falls.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Montana Business Survives Session - Economy and Business "We dodged the silver bullets" Montana Chamber President Webb Brown
Fortunately, the Montana Chamber and the Montana Taxpayers Association felt the efforts of the business community to educate new legislators and officials stopped the most onerous of these provisions.
- Top CEOs Describe Future Technologies
That sobering vision of things to come could also include the ability to read important e-mails and other vital messages on television, wireless telephone or computers at work and at home.
To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page
