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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Nov 30, 2018 |
The best things in life are not things.
New MATR site launching next week - 12/3 http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Montana Business and Govt. Agency Collaboration Success
Montana Department of Commerce
- Missoula Businesses Awarded $450K In Grants From The Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund (BSTF) To Create High Wage Jobs
"Consumer Direct and LumenAd are both great examples of best-fit companies who serve our community by creating high wage job opportunities for Missoulians, and we're thrilled that these grant awards will help them grow and thrive," said Grant Kier, Executive Director of Missoula Economic Partnership.
- Governor Bullock Announces Job Creation, Training Grant Awards
Funds will support 47 new jobs at growing businesses in Missoula, Ravalli Counties
Northwestern Energy
- Recreational Trails Program Grants Available From The Montana Department of Commerce
These grants provide funds to develop and maintain recreational trails and trail-related facilities in Montana.
- Introducing the New Montana SBDC Network Staff
The Montana SBDC Network has some new faces! Your Regional offices have new Regional Directors who were brought on to help serve Montana's Small Businesses and to help grow each region.
TechLink
- NorthWestern customers to get bigger benefit from federal tax cuts than initially planned
NorthWestern is Montana's largest monopoly utility, servicing about 340,000 metered customers. An average electricity ratepayer should receive about $24 in credit, the utility estimates.
- NorthWestern warns of imposter utility scam in Montana
NorthWestern reminds customers to be vigilant when it comes to anyone seeking payment information on utility bills, either in person or via the telephone or internet.
STARS Montana Early Education Program
- Montana SBIR/STTR Innovation Summit - 12/12 - Bozeman
The Montana Innovation Partnership powered by MSU TechLink Center is excited to co-host, with our FAST partners at the New Mexico Arrowhead Center, the 2018 SBIR/STTR Innovation Summit.
The Telecommuting and Gig Workforce in Montana
- High-quality early education packs a powerful financial punch.
"You can think of having a better kindergarten teacher as being worth something like $300,000 for a classroom of students." Harvard economist Raj Chetty
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- How Freelancing And Other Remote Work Will Help Save Rural Life
"Now, Vermont wants a piece of the action . . . Governor Phil Scott just approved a piece of legislation that will pay 100 people up to $10,000 to move to Vermont in 2019 with the new 'Remote Worker Grant Program.'"
Visit Montana
- Bridging the Gap in a Rural School District Through Personalized Learning
One of the most important goals from the start was to give teachers the tools and training they needed to offer students a personalized learning experience in a 1-to-1 digital district.
VR/AR, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence and The Internet of Things
- Last Best Plates: A tour of Montana food
From downtown Billings to a hole in the wall on the Hi-Line, Montana has some great restaurants. Take a road trip with us and check some of them out.
- Meet Winter's Hidden Gem Destination, Montana
Nestled among the Pacific Northwest and the Great Plains is one of the country's most underrated winter destinations, Montana.
Energy and Climate Change
- AI-enabled fire hydrants keep an ear out for pipe leaks
Utilizing machine learning algorithms, the sensors are able to detect the telltale acoustic signature that's created by even very small amounts of water escaping from those pipes.
1 Million Cups
- Today's TED Talk- 100 solutions to climate change
Learn more about how we can reverse global warming and create a world where regeneration, not destruction, is the rule.
- Patagonia plans to donate $10 million saved from Trump tax cuts to environmental groups
"Instead of putting the money back into our business, we're responding by putting $10 million back into the planet. Our home planet needs it more than we do."
- The Climate Reality Project with Al Gore
At Climate Reality, we're here to make urgent action a necessity. In politics. In business. In every aspect of our lives. Everywhere.
- Navajo Nations first solar project now producing enough electricity for about 13,000 homes
A giant array of solar panels near the famed sandstone buttes of Monument Valley has begun producing electricity for the Navajo Nation at a time when the tribe is bracing for the loss of hundreds of jobs from the impending closure of a nearby coal-fired power plant.
- Renewables May Prove Cheaper Than 96% of Coal Plants Worldwide by 2030
"Over time, these coal-fired power plants will just become more and more unviable."
Come Home Montana
- Join Us At 1 Million Cups Missoula For Something Different - 12/5
Next Wednesday Dec. 5th from 9:00am-10:00am at the Loft of Missoula, we'll hear from folks who tackle old problems in new + different ways
Hellgate Venture Network
- PFL Hiring Event - 12/1 - Livingston, Montana
Looking for a career change? PFL is hiring! Come by our hiring event on Saturday, December 1st from 9-11 AM to learn more.
- 10 Reasons Why People From Montana Are Unbelievably Tough
Life in Montana is amazing, but it's not for the faint of heart. You need to be tough to truly enjoy it here.
Montana Business
- Hellgate Venture Network Presents Annual Holiday Party - 12/13 - Missoula
Please consider carpooling or Uber-ing!
Montana Economic Development
- Targeting Your Ideal Client Through Curated Content - Missoula, Montana's Clover Social Media
We use smart social media strategy to create an organic following.
- Montana Businesses - Please take the Federal Reserve System Survey on Business Conditions and Financing
In order to be included in the report Montana must have a minimum of 100 respondents. Montana hasn't reached that threshold in the past couple years.
- UM Report: Outfitted, Guided Experiences Increasingly Crucial to Montana Tourism
Last year, outfitters and guides served more than 700,000 clients, 63 percent of whom were from out of state.
- Beautifully Equipped - Find your genius through collaboration.™
Everything you need to start your mastermind today is right here.
- RanchHacks - Equipping ranchers & livestock producers to manage Information Systems and Technology.
RanchHacks strives to educate & equip operation leadership to manage technology within their operation effectively.
- Missoula's Self-Publishing Services helps writers get books into print, and soon audio
From a small company helping local writers in Montana to reaching thousands of storytellers in Australia, India and other countries around the world, the Missoula-based business has seen substantial success and growth in five short years.
- Montanan's Personal Income Is Growing Faster Than Most Of The U.S.
It's one of the top ten states with the strongest growth in total personal income
City Club Missoula
- Kalispell Considers TIF District to Fund Downtown Development
A public hearing was held on Nov. 19 to gather input on the Draft Downtown Kalispell Urban Renewal Plan that was produced by the planning department earlier this year.
Government
- City Club Missoula Forum: Montana History In Stories BOLD WOMEN AND CHARISMATIC CHARACTERS - 12/10
Beth Judy, author of "Bold Women in Montana History"; and longtime U.S. Congressman Pat Williams (a cousin of daredevil Evel Knievel), will regale City Club Missoula with intimate tales of larger-than-life-Montanans.
Idaho
- A Potential Turning Point in How Cities Treat the Homeless
A recent federal ruling is driving cities to revisit their local ordinances and methods of reducing homelessness.
- I'm an educator who ran for office -- and won. Here's how I did it.
Voters want the best for our students, our state.
- Bozeman's leaders failing, time for real housing solutions
Don't be fooled by action-signaling strategic plans and public comment charades: We know enough about the problem already and there are real solutions, if the commission has the backbone to make them happen.
- State board denies funds for Missoula affordable housing project at former trailer park site
"They funded a project that is half as many units for the same number of dollars, actually more dollars," said developer Alex Burkhalter of Housing Solutions in Missoula. "Stuff like that makes it hard to swallow. We'd have been able to deliver twice the units for less money."
Incubators and R&D
- Catching up with Boise-based HotShot - before it heads to Luxembourg
HotShot is taking part in the Technoport Business Incubation Program, a Luxembourg technology incubator that provides it with subsidies, office space and tax benefits, for which Turner committed to have five employees in Luxembourg by mid-2019.
Regional Business
- MSU researchers awarded $2.9 million for interdisciplinary study of neurodegenerative disease
The work could further the understanding of what causes more common neurodegenerative diseases and eventually pave the way for therapeutics to treat them.
Washington State Business
- Exclusive: Airbnb will start selling houses in 2019
Think of Backyard as both a producer and a marketplace for selling major aspects of the home, in any shape it might come in.
Wyoming Business
- MoxyDox helps individuals and small businesses go paperless, one form at a time.
What if you could have a paperless solution with no change to your current workflow?
Education
- Wyoming Broadband Enhancement Plan Adopted
ENDOW's Transforming Wyoming Plan outlines several areas where broadband connectivity is critical to Wyoming's long term strategy for growth and economic prosperity.
- Wyoming begins accepting proposals from air carriers
Airlines interested in providing air service to rural Wyoming communities have until Dec. 20 to submit proposals to the state for consideration.
- 100 things that help define Wyoming
From the Ames Monument to Yellowstone Lake, here are 100 meaningful and memorable places and things that help make Wyoming what it is.
Community
- Tim Cook's Idaho visit shows Apple can't just donate its way into schools
Two years later, Cook was greeted at a recipient Idaho school by crowds of both supporters and protesters, including one who criticized Apple's donated iPads as a poor replacement for "real teaching."
Funding and Building your Business
- Has your community entered the Smart Cities Readiness Challenge
Our third-annual Smart Cities Readiness Challenge is designed to help you accelerate your smart cities initiatives -- but it can only help you if you apply.
- Finding Alder - A Mother's Journey in the World of a Child with Autism
When you refuse to be negative, the only result is positive. But when it comes to our kids, being positive isn't always easy...
- Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament on Creativity, Hustle, and Giving Back Podcast
Our conversation dug into several key themes about the basis for his gritty work ethic, his creative process, and his commitment to creating opportunity for others.
Social Media, Connectivity & Communications
- This Software Company Has a $1 Billion Valuation, 800 Employees, and Zero Offices
Clark Valberg's InVision has legions of businesses that rely on its product-design platform every day.
- Missoula women launch retreat business Peak Retreats to connect, empower female entrepreneurs
The inaugural retreat is set for January 23-25 at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake in Whitefish, and will feature keynote speakers discussing the challenges participants face in their businesses.
- Ascent Retreat For Entrepreneurial Women 2019 - 1/23-25 - Whitefish, Montana
Lu Setnicka, global director of human resources for Patagonia, and Sarah Kay, head of global brand and innovation leadership at Nike, will talk about branding and life coaching.
- Apple will soon offer coding camps for women-founded startups
The company will offer a two-week technology lab at its campus in Cupertino in which participants will receive one-on-one app development guidance from Apple experts and engineers.
- Getting Feedback from Gen Z: How to Engage with the Newest Generation of Consumers
Traditional customer feedback methods are coming up short with Gen Z -- researchers are finding that they are not compelled to engage with a simple bullet survey and a few short response questions.
- Flip the feedback
When managers do give you feedback, they aren't good at it despite the money, time and effort that's gone into training them to deliver effective feedback.
- What CEOs Can Learn from University Presidents
In many ways, the university presidency is the ultimate test of leadership.
Government Technology
- Maureen Dowd on Journalism in the Age of Trump - Podcast
Legendary New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd goes deep on the Shakespearian aspects of the Trump presidency and helps us understand the context and meaning of what's happening in our democracy.
- Mario Schulzke - Digital nomad with a house - Podcast
Mario remains bullish on the University of Montana and lays out the reasons why in this wide-ranging conversation.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Montana awards protested $58M Medicaid IT contract
All components of MPATH are supposed to be in place by the end of 2021.
- Capitol creates interactive map to learn about Helena, Montana history
The story map's creator - Cultural Records Manager Damon Murdo - says it's a way for Montanans to learn more about these important pieces of state history.
Privacy, Hacking and Virus Alerts
- New MATR site launching next week - 12/3
The goal has been to bring it's capabilities up to current levels to provide a better vehicle to promote Montana, its businesses and, above all, the opportunities that the state provides for its citizens.
Transportation
- Hands off my data! 15 default privacy settings you should change right now.
Say no to defaults. A clickable guide to fixing the complicated privacy settings from Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple.
- Today's TED Talk - When technology can read minds, how will we protect our privacy?
Tech that can decode your brain activity and reveal what you're thinking and feeling is on the horizon, says legal scholar and ethicist Nita Farahany.
Events
- Rivian amps up adventure with 400-mile all-electric pickup truck
We guess when you're trying to sell a 750-hp truck with adaptive suspension and a 3-second 0-60 mph (96.5 km/h) sprint time, you're expecting adrenaline junkies, not project managers, to show up in numbers for test drives.
- Frontier Airlines adding more flights, new destinations to Missoula airport
"We continue to see airfare dropping due to competition in our market, now is the time to be booking your winter and spring travel as airfare continues to be priced at the lowest level in years," Ellestad said.
- GM's Job Cuts Are Another Sign of a Future With Fewer Cars
"They know in the future it's not going to be about who builds the best car or best SUV," says Brauer. "It's going to be about who leverages technology most efficiently."
- The city of the future is one with way less parking
Jackson, Wyoming, for instance, has 27.1 parking spaces per household.
- Frontier Airlines adding more flights, new destinations to Missoula airport
Ellestad added with more airlines operating in Missoula, passengers can expect to see more flight options and cheaper tickets.
- San Francisco to do away with minimum parking requirements for developments
"It would not prohibit parking in any redevelopment. It would merely remove the requirement that a developer would have to build a minimum number of parking spaces."
- Montana's New Goal: Zero Traffic Fatalities
We have a four-pronged approach: engineering, education, enforcement and emergency services.
- How Waymo is trying to get people used to self-driving cars
Waymo's early rider program in Phoenix has 400 volunteers riding in self-driving taxis. One volunteer and the product manager of Waymo explain how it works.
- Fixing Transportation May Be the Most Important Job Cities Have
Reversing decades of car-focused transportation in the United States will have to be led by cities. And if they can effectively get people out of their cars, this could be one of the biggest steps toward sustainability and slowing climate change.
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