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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Sep 11, 2018 |
"Mom. Every day is an important day." -- "Why?" -- "Because right now will be a long time ago very soon. Time goes fast. You just have to live now." -- - Wylder 'Budda' Modine, age 4
Powerful Memories 9/11 - The Sounds of Silence - Never Forget -- http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
2018 Montana Politics
Montana Department of Commerce
- Montana State University and the Montana Television Network partner to conduct state-wide poll in September
"We wanted to do a poll by Montanans, for Montanans," said MTN President Jon Saunders. "We see this as an important public service to the state and are looking forward to sharing the results with the citizens of Montanan."
- Montana's political watchdog finds Big Tobacco in violation of state campaign laws
Jeffrey Mangan, the state Commissioner of Political Practices, found the parent company of Philip Morris USA and RJ Reynolds Tobacco violated state laws as part of their $9 million campaign against I-185, a state ballot initiative opposed by Big Tobacco.
Montana World Affairs Council
- The Montana Business Technical Assistance Bureau - The Montana Department of Commerce has combined the Business Technical Assistance and Finance Assistance Bureaus to enhance collaboration, outreach, and effectiveness.
The Business Technical Assistance Bureau connects businesses and entrepreneurs with the tools to create and grow market opportunities and jobs.
- Montana Department of Commerce Awards Planning Grants to 17 Montana Communities
"Planning is at the foundation of building vibrant, healthy and prosperous communities," Montana Department of Commerce Director Pam Haxby-Cote said. "These planning grants help Montana communities effectively take local efforts to the next level."
TechLink
- Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation provides $120K grant to the Montana World Affairs Council for global education
"This grant will have a transformational impact on our ability to expand international affairs programming for students from across Montana and especially those in more rural and remote communities," said Janet Rose, executive director of the council.
Great Falls Development Authority
- Looking for ideas and technology that the DoD wants commercialized? Defense Department pledges billions toward artificial intelligence research
The agency said the new money would fund projects on top of the more than 20 active programs exploring cutting-edge applications of AI, including in cybersecurity; the detection of AI-created fake audio or video; and in "human-computer symbiosis" programs targeting the interaction between people and machines.
- Montana Innovation Partnership Powered By MSU TechLink Center Presents Navy SBIR/STTR Workshop -9/24 - Bozeman
Through the Department of the Navy's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs, small businesses have the opportunity to address exciting and often unexpected naval needs in more than 30 science and technology areas.
- MSU TechLink receives federal grant to help high-tech companies
"This program helps entrepreneurs and small tech companies compete for vital early-stage seed capital for innovative technologies with commercial potential," said Will Swearingen, executive director of TechLink. "Simply put, this grant will help us grow Montana's technology sector."
The Telecommuting and Gig Workforce in Montana
- GFDA Top 10 - Short week but lots of action! Here are the Top Ten economic development activities for last week!
Congratulations to GFDA's own Jason Nitschke, Small Business Development Center Director (SBDC), was recognized in the top 1% of all SBDC advisors nationally!
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- Freelancer productivity hacks: How to find your lost motivation
When your motivation starts to slip, recognize it and address it immediately.
Montana Ambassadors
- What Should High School Graduates Know?
What do you think should be the focus of high school?
- These videos of girls meeting female STEM stars will help you dream big
Despite some progress toward increasing the number of women in STEM, they still remain woefully underrepresented.
- When applying to college, this character trait may mean more than grades
The best essays are born when students dig deeper and share something that makes them tear up, or causes their eyes to twinkle or their tones to shift.
- Former Seattle Mayor Tim Burgess believes that universal preschool is necessary for the children who are our future
The former mayor and City Council member has done many things, but his lasting legacy may be paving Seattle's path toward universal preschool.
- MSU student collaborates with local food bank to build new youth gardening education program
Thanks to Mikkelson, Holder said, the food bank's first-ever summer gardening program for at-risk youth is now wrapping up.
- A school garden might encourage your kids to eat vegetables. Here's how to start one.
Schools across the country are enlisting dietitians to plant gardens, teach cooking classes and train teachers with nutrition education.
VR/AR, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence and The Internet of Things
- An Evening With Montana Ambassadors: Exploring The Montana Start-Up Community - 10/11 - Seattle, WA
Come hear about the rise of the early stage community in Montana from several of the people playing a catalytic role in its progress.
Energy and Climate Change
- The WIRED Guide to Virtual Reality
Everything you ever wanted to know about headsets, Oculus, Magic Leap, and simulator sickness.
Come Home Montana
- One of the largest banks issued an alarming warning that Earth is running out of the resources to sustain life
That means that the world's citizens used up all the planet's resources for the year in just seven months, according to GFN's analysis.
- Kentucky Rejects 'Smart Meters' Proposal
It's back to the drawing board for utilities hoping to implement new electricity grid infrastructure.
- Climate change will drastically alter Yellowstone in coming decades
"That conclusion is pretty much inescapable," said John Gross, an ecologist with the National Park Service's Climate Change response program. "It's really more a question of the when and how it occurs than if."
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Holiday Job Fair, 09/20, Missoula
While the emphasis is on retail holiday staffing, any employer who is struggling to complete its crew is welcome to attend at no charge. With unemployment at 2.9 percent in Missoula County, many employers have that struggle.
- Search is on for next Great Falls Public Schools superintendent with Tammy Lacey's departure
The public will have input throughout the process.
Montana Business
- Attn. Veterans: Bunker Labs End Of Summer Block Party - 9/20 - Bozeman
Bunker Labs is a national not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization headquartered in Chicago and built by military veteran entrepreneurs to empower other military veterans to start and grow businesses.
Careers
- Osborne Building to Rise in Downtown Bozeman with Help of Innovative Federal Program from MOFI
The NMTC financing from MoFi came with some exciting community benefits.
- Montana Office for Outdoor Recreation talks tourism economy
"We live an amazing life," Rachel VanDeVoort said. "Our tourism comes from people just wanting to live our lives."
- Vacant box stores in Billings can spell opportunities for growth (or blight)
"This is our opportunity to refresh the retail profile of Billings," said Chandler Griffin with Mountain West Commercial Real Estate. "We've never seen this amount of space, this much available."
- Largest ranch in the country with itty bitty lariats?
With 3 more farms scheduled to open in the next 2 months, and 30 more farms within the next year, Cowboy Cricket Farms is on a path to be the largest commercial human grade cricket producer in North America.
Come Home Wyoming
- 10 resume tips you probably haven't thought of
Make your resume stand up to the seven-second test.
- How do you manage a career change?
Some reports indicate that people change careers an average of three to 11 times over their life.
- The Extraordinary Life of The "Queen of Code": A Grace Hopper Biography
Grace Hopper was one of the most influential computer scientists of all time. She developed the first human-computer code compiler and helped popularize the term "bug".
- Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? A test could tell you
It's the Entrepreneurial Index Assessment, a 10-minute self-survey that the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) uses as a discussion-starting tool for would-be and, in some cases, practicing entrepreneurs.
Next Generation Broadband in Montana
- Wyoming Career Opportunity - Executive Director - The Upton Economic Development Board (UEDB)
The three main duties that are expected for this position are Board/Organization Management, Business Recruitment and Marketing, and Existing Businesses Retention and Expansion.
Rural Communities
- Creston School approves WiFi tower
The 4-0 vote will allow Kalispell-based MontanaSky Networks to construct the 118-foot-tall monopole about 1,200-feet away from the kindergarten through sixth-grade school.
Business Plan Forums
- Can Exchange Programs Help Bridge the Urban-Rural Divide?
"I feel like rural areas have a sort of superpower around the ability to connect. It's more natural to look across whatever political or social differences when you have to count on each other. And in the 21st century, when people aren't really conditioned to connect with one another, that's a skill everyone needs to learn."
- About a quarter of rural Americans say access to high-speed internet is a major problem
Data from the Federal Communications Commission show that rural areas are less likely to be wired for broadband services and tend to have slower internet speeds compared with other areas of the country.
City Club Missoula
- Business Mentors Needed for Missoula Biomimicry Bootcamp 9/13 and 9/14
We are looking to engage a few more mentors with knowledge of business, entrepreneurship, and/or sustainability to work with individual teams from ~12:45 - 4:30 pm on Thursday, September 13, and Friday, September 14 at the UC on the University of Missoula campus.
Government
- City Club Missoula - Housing, growth and economics at center of downtown Missoula planning update
While progress is evident across downtown Missoula and each of its major corridors, city leaders have raised $400,000 to fund a new round of planning, one intended to guide the district up, and into the future.
Incubators and R&D
- 'Active Measures' - In theaters, on iTunes, Hulu and digital platforms 8/31
ACTIVE MEASURES chronicles the most successful espionage operation in Russian history, the American presidential election of 2016.
- Many lawmakers and aides who crafted financial regulations after the 2008 crisis now work for Wall Street
Critics of the revolving door say it helps explain why Congress -- even as it deployed hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out Wall Street -- didn't take tougher steps to rein it in.
- NASA: Looking into selling rockets' names to private companies
President Trump's sixth military branch "Spaceforce" appears to be moving at full steam ahead. According to the Washington Post, NASA wants to boost the agency's profile and revenue.
Regional Business
- PepsiCo launches North American startup accelerator program
The program is aimed at fostering collaboration with innovative startups that focus on health and wellness help food and beverage startups grow.
Regional Economic Development
- Will the future forget about meat?
Food experts are learning to love fake beef. By the 22nd century, the real thing may be a rarity.
Workforce Development
- How to Build a Stronger Economy
There are more jobs, but they're largely crappy, low-paid jobs. Those with high pay are getting paid more. We're indeed losing the middle class.
Wyoming Business
- Governor Bullock to Tour Tribal College Apprenticeship Projects
Governor's Office partners with tribal colleges to offer first-of-their kind apprenticeships
- How the Great Recession Changed American Workers
"One in five employees lost their jobs at the beginning of the Great Recession. Many of those people never recovered; they never got real work again."
Education
- The University of Wyoming wants to expand across the state. Here's what that will look like.
Wyoming's available workforce is shrinking
Montana Education Excellence
- Harvard Is Vaulting Workers Into the Middle Class With High Pay. Can Anyone Else Follow Its Lead?
"Coming to the United States was the best decision I ever made," Ms. Bonilla said.
- Billionaires v teachers: the Koch brothers' plan to starve public education
"We had been fighting this for four months. We realized that there's something we can do about it. It's called a citizens' referendum. We said, 'Let's do it.'"
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- Home visits designed to help Butte kids transition to kindergarten
Last year, the Butte Public School District encouraged all of its kindergarten teachers to meet their students at their homes before the first day in an attempt to make the transition to school a positive, more comfortable experience.
- Billings' Career Center enrollment is up again, especially for younger students
Enrollment for freshman and sophomores is up as part of a push, both in Billings and across the nation, to get younger students exposed to career tracks sooner -- and giving them a chance to advance further down those paths before money starts coming out of their pocket.
- Podcast: David Brooks Talks Trump And Humility Ahead Of Missoula Lecture
"I'm a moderate Republican, and there's like six of us," he said.
Community
- Energy project brings windfall to Reed Point, Montana schools - Pattern Development donates $100,000
Jarrett describes Pattern as "a great neighbor," and in the release she notes that the donation "will have a direct, positive impact on our students and school community.
Funding and Building your Business
- 9/11 - The Sounds of Silence - Never Forget
Powerful memories
Government Technology
- How To Get The Most Out Of Attending Conferences And Events
I tapped into organizers, speakers, attendees and sponsors in my network to get their suggestions on how to make the most of an event whether you're there to (a) meet employers (b) schmooze with investors (c) gain valuable insights (d) build relationships with colleagues or (e) simply satisfy your curiosity.
- 5 Criteria For Splitting Equity In Your New Venture
Giving a co-founder a salary won't get you the "fire in the belly" you want.
Transportation
- Montana CIO Tim Bottenfield Steps Up to the C-Suite
It doesn't really matter if you're the Department of Revenue, if you're the Health and Human Services agency -- everybody gets the fact that security is really the No. 1 thing.
Events
- Friday Eye Candy: All 1,000 Miles of Southern California's Historic Rail Network
"The loss of the Pacific Electric is a big reason why L.A. has such terrible traffic."
- National Drive Electric Week Draws New Attention to Electric Vehicles
Electric car enthusiasts, and anyone even mildly interested in electric vehicle technologies, will have a chance to check out the latest tech at some 290 events nationwide.
- The Badlands Women's Expo Promises Professional Training And Networking Opportunities For The Region - 10/5-7 - Glendive
- Trailmix | Boise Startup Week - 10/18 - Boise Idaho
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