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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Jun 16, 2017 |
When life gives you lemons throw them away and get some bacon.
WGA Chair And Montana Governor Steve Bullock Will Host The Western Governors June 26-28, 2017 in Whitefish, Montana http://www.matr.net/ev ... =6440
Montana Business and Govt. Agency Collaboration Success
Montana Department of Commerce
- $100,000 Montana Department of Commerce Community Development Loan Awarded to New Polson Café - Blodgett Creamery
"Montana's economy has been built by business owners like the Blodgett's," Department of Commerce Director Pam Haxby-Cote said, "any time we can support the development or expansion of our Main Street businesses that create jobs and vibrant communities, we do."
Montana Politics & Legislature
- Montana Department of Commerce Director Pam Haxby-Cote Celebrates Opening of 100 Affordable Homes in Missoula
"We all know that the availability of affordable housing is a key ingredient to growing Montana's economy," Haxby-Cote said. "This new development will provide opportunities for hard working people and their families to be able to afford to live in the heart of Missoula.
Northwestern Energy
- Greg Gianforte - The Montana Congressman Who Just Pleaded Guilty To Assault Is Dividing The Montana Tech Community
Many in the tech community Gianforte helped build are distancing themselves from him in light of his recent quarrel and his past politics.
- The Gianforte Effect
"I hope the constructive resolution of this incident reinforces for all the importance of respecting the freedom of the press." Ben Jacobs
PFL
- NorthWestern Energy provides more than 60% of its energy from renewable resources
An investment of more than $1 billion has allowed NorthWestern Energy to provide more than 60% of its energy from renewable resources, helping it lead the way to a brighter future in Montana.
Great Falls Development Authority
- Custom Finishes That Enhance Your Print Projects, 6/29, Webinar
Custom flare make print stand out and get noticed. From high-gloss finish that's sealed in place with UV light to origami-inspired folds, you'll learn it all.
Early Edge Montana
- GFDA Partner And Volunteer Appreciation Night, 6/21, Great Falls, Montana
Please invite your colleagues and family for a night at the ball park.
Kalispell Chamber of Commerce
- Montana in midst of expanding quality preschool
So we should all applaud Montana's recent progress on expanding quality preschool programs. Hopefully, these first shaky steps will lead to more stable footing that will soon allow Montana's preschools to be off and running.
Energy and Climate Change
- Winners For 20 Under 40 To Be Announced At Kalispell Chamber Luncheon, 6/20, Kalispell
Young professionals are the individuals who will shape the future of our community in the years to come.
- Kalispell Chamber Announced as Finalist for Chamber of the Year Award
Chamber of the Year is the nation's only award that recognizes the leadership role chambers have in their communities.
Come Home Montana
- Old tires make for stronger concrete
Added to existing concrete (which is a mixture of cement, sand and water), the stretchy fibers bridge tiny cracks as they form, keeping them from becoming bigger.
- Solar Paint Could Be a Big Step in the Race to Replace Carbon-Based Fuels
Researchers in Australia have developed a paint for roofs and other surfaces that turns moisture in the air into hydrogen, a sustainable form of energy.
- Wireless charging of moving electric vehicles overcomes major hurdle
"In theory, one could drive for an unlimited amount of time without having to stop to recharge," Fan explained. "The hope is that you'll be able to charge your electric car while you're driving down the highway.
- Lefty Cities Say They Want to Fight Climate Change, but Won't Take the Most Obvious Step to Do It
Even in Berkeley, liberals have a blind spot when it comes to housing policy and the transportation choices it requires.
- Department of Energy helps Missoula hone in on carbon-cutting goals
"Our ultimate goal is to be energy positive, not just neutral," said Chase Jones, the city's energy conservation coordinator. "Like our Energy and Climate Action Plan - and one of the reasons for this work - is to lead by example."
- Renewable Record: Wind and Solar Supplied 10 Percent of US Electricity in March
The saying about March -- "in like a lion, out like a lamb" -- plays extremely well for renewable generation.
- Frustrated by policy makers, Missoula high-school students launch action on climate future
Their concerns over climate change and the world they stand to inherit have gone largely unheard by the nation's elder lawmakers.
- Federal regulators decide to keep fee that inflates cost of Montana wind energy
The Montana Environmental Information Center and the Sierra Club have petitioned Bonneville Power to drop the transmission charge. The petition had earned support from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Washington and Montana.
- Green Mountain Power's Latest Distributed Energy Play: Smart Water Heaters for 99 Cents a Month
Last year, the Washington, D.C.-based startup launched a $150 device that installs on existing water heaters, measures both electricity and temperature, and connects via Wi-Fi to its cloud-based software platform to allow direct control via the homeowner's smartphone.
- Canada's Biggest Energy Storage Project Will Be On-Line in a Few Months
Applying energy storage to frequency regulation, voltage control and reactive power support.
- Where and How to Develop Clean Energy Projects for Corporate Customers
Corporations have started to recognize the value of having a flexible, low-carbon energy strategy.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Middle America becoming home to more start-ups
"You're beginning to see a little bit of a boomerang of talent, where people are moving back," says Steve Case, the AOL founder and CEO of venture firm Revolution.
- The Future's Bright in Missoula, Montana - Submittable and the Expanding Universe of Opportunities
When I moved to Montana from California, a friend in the Bay Area asked me, "So, is there a town?" (Answer: Yes. We even have a Costco.)
Montana Business
- The Superstar Gap
The biggest challenge facing many cities in transitioning to the knowledge economy is a shortage of "A" talent, especially true superstars.
Montana Economic Development
- Glo European Windows Introduces First Passive House Certified Aluminum Door in USA
"We are excited to be the first to develop an aluminum door that has both superior performance as well as a thin modern frame." says Vice President, Mark Wells. "You shouldn't have to sacrifice style for comfort and the A7 Aluminum door delivers both."
- Missoula, Montana-based submission management startup Submittable raises $5M
The Series A comes from True Ventures https://trueventures.com/ , and it represents the firm's first investment in Montana.
- Coworking space caters to budding entrepreneurs in Bozeman
Cowork Bozeman, the area's newest coworking space, is designed to be a bit of a chameleon, a rentable office for up-and-coming entrepreneurs or individuals looking for a workplace more formal than a coffee shop.
- Forward Focus: June News & Events for Manufacturers - Montana Manufacturing Extension Center
Come join MMEC and your fellow manufacturing peers at the Innovate Montana Symposium on July 12-13! Here are a few of the sessions with content of specific interest to manufacturers:
- Kalispell Regional Healthcare debuts online primary care service
KRH Care Anywhere connects patients to a medical provider through a smartphone, tablet or computer via an internet connection.
MSU Leadership Institute & UM Global Leadership Initiative
- Study: Kalispell Bypass expensive, but sparked $1B in community investment
The Kalispell Bypass is the most expensive single project ever constructed by the Montana Department of Transportation. But a new analysis shows it's also been the catalyst for more than a billion dollars in local investment, creating more than 700 jobs.
TEDx Events in Montana
- Are You a Self-aware Leader?
Research shows that most people -- from CEOs to regular Joes -- are surprisingly not self-aware.
- "One Mission: How Leaders Build a Team of Teams"
This practical guide will help leaders in any field implement the Team of Teams approach to tear down their silos, improve collaboration, and avoid turf wars.
Careers
- Today's TED Talk - Science didn't understand my kids' rare disease until I decided to study it
In this knockout talk, Terry explains how she and her husband became citizen scientists, working midnight shifts at the lab to find the gene behind PXE and establishing mandates that require researchers to share biological samples and work together.
Come Home Idaho
- How Millennials Are Unlocking the New World of Work
A generation confronted with stagnating wages finds entrepreneurship an intriguing alternative.
Next Generation Broadband in Montana
- Looking for a job? Opportunities abound at four-day job fair in Caldwell, Idaho
Employers are looking to hire more than 1,100 positions, said Elizabeth Anzaldua, workforce consultant at Labor's Canyon County office. About 680 job seekers attended the same event last year, she said.
Government
- Residents welcome new broadband lines near Dearborn, Montana
Ahrens and the Misners are among the members of the Missouri River Residents for Improved Telecommunications Service who were part of what is now being called a historic victory in 2015 when CenturyLink reached an agreement with the state to provide them and about 500 homes along the river with better telephone service. That, in a quirky twist, meant improving broadband as well.
- Why getting Montana's rural schools up to internet speed is such an incredibly slow go
Woodman School has one of the slowest internet connections of any school in Montana, a mere 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth to go around. (By comparison, Spectrum advertises 60 Mbps for its residential service).
- Rural America Is Stranded in the Dial-Up Age
High costs and lack of access to broadband service prevent residents of far-flung communities from joining the modern economy
Idaho Business
- Montana Viewpoint: A starved government helps only the rich
Someone once wrote that the only people who are truly free are the very poor and the very rich; the poor because they have nothing and the wealthy because they have everything.
Incubators and R&D
- East Idaho braces for hordes of eclipse tourists
It's anticipated that this unprecedented influx of people will put massive pressure on the region's infrastructure, with heavy traffic gridlock and disruptions in cellphone communications expected for the Great American Solar Eclipse on Aug. 21.
- Idaho companies are starting to climb aboard the sustainability bandwagon
"Businesses are looking at their supply chains and saying, 'How can we be more sustainable?'" Wilson said. "That's a rising tide that brings up all boats."
North Dakota Business and Economic Development
- This Accelerator Is Investing in the Startups Building the Cities of the Future
Dreamit UrbanTech invests in and nurtures startups that solve issues for urban areas and that impact the built environment.
Oregon Economic Development
- America's Best Entrepreneurial Governor
My senior year at NDSU I had started a business sweeping chimneys. The newspaper wrote a story about me as a chimney sweep and ran a photo of me sitting on top of an icy chimney in below-freezing weather in Fargo. The story made the AP wire service. I was later told it caused quite a stir in the Stanford admissions office: "Hey, there's a chimney sweep from North Dakota who's applied."
Other Economies
- Oregon tech leaders voice support for corporate tax plan
"If we want to move people from Chicago, New York and the Bay, we have to have the complete package here," Ellis said. "If we can get schools back to being reasonable, that's a big help."
Regional Business
- A car park space in Hong Kong just sold for the low low price of $664,260
At just 188 square feet, or 17.5 square metres, that works out to a staggering $3,500 per square foot.
- French President Macron woos tech world, pledges French 'startup nation'
In a first step, the French government on Thursday launched a "French Tech Visa," a fast-track four-year residence permit for entrepreneurs and their families if they meet certain criteria.
Workforce Development
- Will data analytics transform our healthcare system?
Big data analytics are entirely transforming business paradigms.
- Rigged: How Trucking Firms Drove Drivers Into Debt, Left Them Destitute - New Wisconsin Road Funding Option: Let Truckers Pay
Talavera was a modern-day indentured servant. And there are hundreds, likely thousands, more still on the road, hauling containers for trucking companies that move goods for America's most beloved retailers, from Costco to Target to Home Depot.
- Lawsuits claim Wells Fargo modified mortgages without customer permission
Wells Fargo is facing more accusations that it made unauthorized changes to customers accounts -- this time to their mortgages.
- Why people are going crazy over bitcoin and other digital currencies
Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are on a tear this year, surpassing the returns seen in stocks, bonds and most other investments.
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- You're Hired? Can German-inspired apprenticeship programs help build the workforce in the U.S.
Can President Trump be the person to take apprenticeships to scale?
- MSU Troops to Teachers regional program receives federal grant to reinstate services
A Montana State University program that for more than 10 years has assisted veterans who are interested in becoming certified teachers has received a federal grant to continue its services.
Montana Education Excellence
- 16.4 million American adults think chocolate milk comes from brown cows
The past 20 years have seen the birth of a movement to reverse this gap, with agriculture and nutrition groups working to get ag education back into classrooms.
Community
- Trout to Tray - Livingston, Montana school program raises rainbows -- trout and chard
Trout to Tray is part of the growing Livingston Farm to School program that aims to bring together delicious, healthy, sustainable school meals with hands-on learning opportunities in school gardens and classrooms.
- Montana lawmakers look into schools' special education funds
Now an interim committee of the Legislature has started looking into how the state pays to educate kids with special needs and whether it could be done better. The eight-member Education Interim Committee held its first meeting this week in Helena.
- OPI seeks help with Montana's Every Student Succeeds Act plan
Representatives from the Office of Public Instruction are asking stakeholders to participate in the drafting of the Montana's state Every Student Succeeds Act plan.
Funding and Building your Business
- How Urban Planners Can Encourage 'Vibrancy' -- and Create Safer Cities
"The idea is to have local initiatives and small-scale [activities] that are intended to encourage people on the street, milling about at all hours of the day and [generating] a lot of pedestrian traffic."
- In new Millcreek housing, refugees and the recently homeless can afford to live next door to doctors and lawyers
"We have senior analysts from Goldman Sachs, people out of the attorney general's office and doctors at Intermountain Healthcare," he said, living side by side with "people coming out of The Road Home [homeless shelter], VA housing programs and refugees from places like Sudan and The Republic of Congo. All of these people living in this setting -- and it works."
- Remember the Population Bomb? It's Still Ticking
Today, Lesotho's experience since the 1970s is an even stronger case study of what happens when development plans ignore the reality that such efforts can be a recipe for exploding human numbers.
Connectivity & Communications
- A Look at the Demanding Schedule of Elon Musk, Who Works in 5-Minute Slots, Skips Breakfast and Avoids Emails
The Tesla and SpaceX founder generally spends a full workweek at each of his two companies, wolfing down lunch in five minutes and skipping phone calls for productivity's sake.
- The Myth of the Silicon Valley Locale - True Ventures invests in Missoula, Montana-based submission management startup Submittable
This is the kind of mission we are proud to be a part of and invest in. We are also thrilled to be working alongside Will Price of Next Frontier Capital who introduced us to Michael and the Submittable team.
- If you want your company to innovate like Google, your job is to manage the chaos
So how, exactly, do you manage chaos?
- Tony Hsieh Reveals The Secret To Zappos' Customer Service Success In One Word
"I try to do one uncomfortable thing every day."
- Bacon Bouquets? Women-Owned Small Business Makes It Happen
The biggest issue we have with Bacon Boxes is having a big enough facility to distribute for the demand. We had a 357 percent sales increase from our first Valentine's Day to our second.
- Need funding for your technology idea? Talk to HHS!
NIH Matchmaker can be used to conduct keyword searches of a particular topic area to identify ICs that have previously funded research in that area.
- Technology start-ups founded by women hire more women, study finds
It's also a signal that more women are pursuing entrepreneurial paths and that young companies may be more becoming more open to recruiting diverse workforces in an industry widely criticized for being a boys club and for having a widening gender gap.
- What to know about good video presentations
Video can be a powerful communication tool if you can remember to avoid common pitfalls like speaking too fast, staring too hard and overgesturing, Jerry Weissman writes.
- Elements of Enduring Companies by Sequoia Ventures
The tech giants of today started as one or two person ideas not long ago. We've met many young companies and noticed that startups with the following characteristics have the best shot of becoming enduring companies.
- Do These Four Things To Make Your Boring Presentation Sound Interesting
All that data needs to be in there--what can you do? Well, this.
Government Technology
- Netflix, joining next month's net neutrality protest, says it will 'never outgrow' the fight
The streaming video company said Thursday that it will "never outgrow" its advocacy for net neutrality, the idea that Internet providers should not arbitrarily manipulate online content as it travels to consumers' screens.
Non-Profit News
- Roseville, Calif., Looks to Boost Engagement Through Tech-Savvy Response Program
The city is finalizing a contract to build a Web application through which residents will find explanations of what each department and division budget does, and be able to leave notes and comments.
- New state economic development website raises the bar
Economic development organizations are increasingly developing their own dashboards or transparency portals to provide better data on incentive use and program outcomes.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- New Non-Profit Provides Funds to Families of Fallen Montana Officers - The Montana Guardian Fund
"Money cannot replace a family's loved one, but it can help alleviate financial worry. We want to make it easier for Montanans to help take care of their own," Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said.
- New Charity Supports Montana's Fallen Officers - The Montana Guardian Fund
"So many people I think probably see a tragedy like the death of Deputy Moore and say I wish I could help I wish there was something I could do. We see the Guardian Fund as something you know that could coincide with that," said Sheriff Tony Harbaugh from Cuter County.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- What to Consider Before You Buy a Vacation Home
A second home can mean endless headaches, unexpected costs and shattered plans. Here's what you need to know before you buy.
Transportation
- With Bios Urn's public launch, everyone can grow a plant with their loved one's remains
Many people today seek an alternative to the toxic burial industry, if the overwhelming interest in Bios Urn is any indication.
Events
- Michelin's concept tire comes wrapped in "rechargeable" 3D-printed treads
Michelin is exploring this potential with its Vision concept tire that is airless, 3D printed, equipped with sensors, biodegradable, and not just a tire, but a tire and wheel in one.
- The 20 Most Bike-Friendly Cities in the World, From Malmö to Montreal
This rush to increase cycling levels and improve the quality of city life is the greatest movement in global urbanism.
- Mercedes created the bus of the future -- and it looks awesome
Mercedes is betting self-driving buses like its Future Bus will grow in demand as urban populations continue to increase and more public transportation is needed.
- Are the roads ready for self-driving cars?
Self-driving cars could be on our roads in just 5 years.
- TechEx Live Case Study Featuring Swan Valley Medical And Inimmune, 07/13, Billings, MT
- Buy Local-Build Belknap Community Meeting, 6/21, Lodge Pole, Montana
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