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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Dec 19, 2006 |
Dear George:— Remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings! Love Clarence. All the best to you and yours. Russ
Boomtown Institute
Come Home Montana
- Twenty Years of Main Streets
I’ve seen the impact of the Main Street Program in Iowa and other states around the USA. It is impressive what has been accomplished in the towns that have taken advantage of it.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Montana Career Opportunity - Network Operations Center Technician - Vision Net
Vision Net http://www.vision.net is a growing Company in the telecommunications field. Our company is a backbone provider for eight rural telephone companies in Montana.
- Montana Job Opportunity - Sales Manager - Merlin Information Services
We are located just south of the city of Kalispell, Montana. This community is the central business hub of a spectacular valley that is endowed with natural beauty in every direction.
- Montana Job Opportunity - Software Developer - Eide Bailly Technology Consulting LLC
Our Billings, MT office is looking for an accomplished developer with .NET Development experience. The Software Developer should be adaptable and thus able to work with small teams or independently.
- Manhattan: Meet Montana’s next boom town
‘‘We’re taking a risk to be first, but we’re also setting a standard for what else comes here, because we want quality business development here.’’
- Montana Job Opportunity - Chapter Services Coordinator - Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
RMEF, a non-profit conservation organization http://www.rmef.org is seeking a motivated individual who is detailed & customer service oriented.
Developing Tech Jobs in Rural Communities
- Applications for NFIB’s Young Entrepreneur Awards Available Online
Do you know an up-and-coming entrepreneur?
- What Really Makes A Great Entrepreneur?
As the term entrepreneur has come into wide use, its meaning has gradually eroded, leaving open the question of who entrepreneurs really are and what distinguishes their ventures from conventional ones.
Montana Education Excellence
- Janicki's innovative molds change engineering of superyachts, jets in Sedro -Woolley, WA
"They know how to make stuff. They know how to hit stuff with a hammer," Janicki said. "Put those people together with a group of people that have a lot of science and math and ... you can make really cool new stuff."
Education
- High-tech Calculations: Billings math teachers draw up lessons and video tutorials for district Web site. No more homework excuses unless Fido eats the computer...
The videos are created using a Mimio Stick, a device that connects to a laptop computer and attaches with suction cups to a dry-erase marker board. A digital projector displays the computer screen on the board and the Mimio Stick uses the surface as an interactive platform that can record what is written on the marker board.
2007 Montana Legislature
- Arizona State University awarded $5 Million by Kauffman Foundation to unleash entrepreneurial spirit
"Through this initiative, we will work with government, industry and members of the community to transform Greater Phoenix into a global economic leader."
- Small schools fading away with rural populations
Shafer and many rural Nebraskans for years have watched people leave, businesses dry up and the number of farms and ranches dwindle. In some places, small schools are among the few remaining symbols of vitality and community identity, providing hope for the future while acting as reminders of the past. An anomaly in some states, they remain a pillar of education systems in some, like Nebraska and Montana, that have remote regions where cattle have long outnumbered people.
Montana Business
- The Montana Association of Counties outlines 2007 Montana Legislative Session Wish List
Seeking dozens of changes to state laws in the upcoming legislative session, including measures that would allow counties to conduct all elections through the mail, organize a statewide enhanced-911 effort for cell phones and create summer jobs for low-income youth.
Montana Economic Development
- Eide Bailly Technology gets recognition from Microsoft
The status recognizes Eide Bailly's expertise and impact in the technology marketplace.
- Mead me at the Trapper Creek Winery in Hamilton, Montana
Trapper Creek Winery has been open about a year, introducing a label that features a pleasantly gruff, rosy-cheeked Viking, clearly a man who enjoys a mug of mead after a day of hard battle.
- Montana Watch Co. prides itself on building works of art
Like the name of his company, Nashan's approach is simple and direct. Employ fine craftsmen, cater to the customer and follow up with exceptional service. Throw in a dose of Montana mystique and the watches have earned the reputation of both future heirloom and status symbol. The high-end watches - more than half his sales are custom orders - can be seen on the wrists of local ranchers, news anchors and NASCAR team owners.
- What has Wal-Mart wrought? Giant retailer arrived in Great Falls a decade ago, then what happened?
"Any time a town gets a big store, like Wal-Mart earlier or the new Scheels Sports being built now at Holiday Village, it draws people to the community," Evans said. "It gives them another reason to come to Great Falls."
- Whitefish, Montana locals dismayed at Big Mountain ski area stock plan
“They don't want us around anymore,” Schenck said. “People feel betrayed. They're angry. Apparently, everything the Mountain's doing to us is legal - it's just not very nice.”
- Billings firm HKM buys Delta Engineering
A well-known name in the Montana engineering industry has a new brand with some familiar faces.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Montana Sen. Max Baucus Gets $72MM for Wind Power Generation
Senator’s Financing Program Will Jumpstart 34 New Wind Projects in State
- Malta on the Hi-Line to get new home-building plant
"This is very exciting for Malta," said Phillco Economic Growth Council executive director Anne Boothe.
- Professor's road trip photos reveal two sides of Montana
Wyckoff's travels underlined how parts of Montana are struggling with growth while other areas are coping with loss.
- Montana Ambassador’s Annual Conference With Rich Karlgaard, Publisher Of Forbes Magazine, 2/15-16, Helena, MT
Rich Karlgaard, Publisher of Forbes Magazine and author of “Life 2.0 How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness” will be our keynote speaker.
- Montana Biotechnology Manufacturing Site Search
f you know of a facility that would meet the company’s requirements please submit your response to this website by January 10th.
- Malta dino museum takes big step forward
Malta is home to several monumental prehistoric finds, including the world's best preserved dinosaur: Leonardo, a brachylophosaurus that still has skin and organs.
- Former Miles City hospital being turned into affordable housing
As an affordable housing complex, the old hospital building - vacant for the past 11 years - will again help people who are struggling to get their footing.
- Economic development: County debates legality of tax spending
On the heels of a local board’s vote to spend tax increment dollars outside a special district, county legal staff are examining whether the practice is allowed.
- Dec./Jan. 2006 Newsletter from the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West, The University of Montana
As one year ends and another begins, it gives us pause to reflect on our activities for the year. The staff at the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
GIS Technology
- Tech Coast Angels Introduces New Seed Track Funding Program for Early Stage San Diego Companies
“This program is ideal for emerging companies that need a small seed investment and active assistance from experienced entrepreneurs and executives.”
Funding and Building your Business
- Guide Released to Using GIS in Emergency Management and Homeland Security
This new edition will help local officials explore ways to build proactive and collaborative approaches between agencies responsible for emergency management, and those that collect and maintain geospatial data.
Regional Business
- Corporations court their ex-employees. Courting alumni can help company
"Either they're our clients, or potential clients or referrals to other clients," said Jill Smart, chief human resources officer at Accenture Ltd. "They also help as teachers and mentors for our people."
- Take advantage of the Affiliate Marketing Long Tail
Have you heard of the concept of affiliate marketing?
- Bright ideas light up your customers
We all have a brain. It's what we do with it that matters. We must train our brain to be creative.
- President, Or Decider- In-Chief?
How many times have you realized you couldn't identify someone from his many-worded-title?
Regional Economic Development
- Rural locales cash in on city-weary tourists
For farmers, the term "vacation" means getting away from all the daily chores. But for many of today's tourists, getting to do farm chores is a vacation opportunity they'll gladly pay to enjoy.
Utah Business
- Call for Papers for the Academic Summit at the 2007 Cluster Conference. “Sustainability, Clusters, and Competitiveness”
The Conference, intended to bring cluster practitioners and academics from around the world together to share best practices and discuss ways to spur economic development through innovative cluster strategies, will take place October 8-12th, 2007.
- Mapmaker puts tiny towns on road to oblivion
Because of...complaints, transportation officials said they will take another look at their guidelines for what constitutes a 'community.'"
- Broadband and Economic Development: A Municipal Case Study
In this paper, we explore whether broadband investment by municipalities has an effect on economic growth.
- A National Conversation on Helping Low-Skilled Workers
The conversation will highlight several national issues including: legislative efforts to improve job quality, state and local policies that address skill shortages and declining wages and value-added activities that upgrade low-skill occupations to middle class jobs. A radical step-change is necessary.
- FY07 Preserve America Grants Application Available
Grants are designed to support a variety of activities related to heritage tourism and innovative approaches to the use of historic properties as educational and economic assets.
Utah Economic Development
- Barnes Aerospace awarded $10 million incentive as an enticement for firm to stay in Utah
An aerospace company was awarded a $10.1 million incentive Friday to entice it to move its current facility, relocate out-of-state manufacturing operations to Utah and add 900 new jobs over 20 years rather than move operations to Singapore.
Idaho Business
- Utah Tourism board pays $350K to keep Warren Miller ski film sponsorship
To keep ski-rival Colorado from snatching away that sponsorship, the Utah Board of Tourism Development agreed Thursday to spend $350,000 to hold onto that marketing plum - and pledged to extend the sponsorship agreement to a third year, provided the Utah Legislature appropriates money next session for that purpose.
Washington State Business
- North gaining ground in Boise
The last time North Idaho had representation like this in the Legislature, potatoes hadn't been invented yet.
Wyoming Business
- Isilon soars in market debut. Digital storage company now valued at $1.4 billion
Isilon Systems skyrocketed in its stock market debut Friday, with shares rising 77 percent in the best opening performance for a technology IPO in more than six years.
Other Economies
- One-third of Wyoming doctors are planning to leave the state
Nearly one-third of Wyoming doctors are planning to leave the state eventually, and many of those say the cost of malpractice insurance is a factor, a new state report shows.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Virginia Announces Infrastructure, Broadband Improvements for Economic Development
"Providing access to reliable, high-speed broadband is an essential public investment, attracting high-tech industries and strengthening economic development."
- OCAST Funds More Research and Launches Seed Capital Program
OCAST is also taking the first step in creating a $5 million dollar seed capital program by releasing a request for proposals from organizations that desire to run the program.
Universities and Economic Development
- YouTube documents war, upheaval in 2006
Like the events of the year, the clips we scanned on the explosively popular website — itself a defining event of 2006 — spanned the hilarious and the heartbreaking, the ridiculous and the profoundly serious.
- Use gaming to hone foreign policy
Political gaming helped experts in the cold war. Why wasn't it used by top leaders before the Iraq war?
Incubators and R&D
- University group aims to retain grads. Area businesses asked to hire local graduates
"Some people say the jobs are there. It's just a matter of matching them to those opportunities,"
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- First Look: Cutting-Edge Faculty Research
Hiring a star from a competitor is great, but hiring an entire star team is even better. In a new Harvard Business Review article for purchase, Assistant Professor Boris Groysberg and Research Associate Robin Abrahams describe the "lift out" phenomenon—how expanding companies take in an entire team that has already worked well together elsewhere and can quickly adapt to a new challenge.
Careers
- Missoula Performing Arts Center design intended to welcome everyone
Boasting a 1,600-seat auditorium, a vaulting glass lobby, state-of-the-art technical capabilities - and an estimated price tag of more than $60 million - the proposed building would, if constructed, be a crown jewel of downtown.
Non-Profit News
- Experts see 'tale of two job markets'
The most highly qualified, with impeccable credentials and a Rolodex of relationships, can easily snag jobs and demand high salaries and perks. For those with red flags on their resume, or a shallow network, just landing a corporate interview remains a challenge.
- 15 Questions For Setting A Career Change in Motion
It's difficult to excel in a job or career where you're unhappy, but even when people know a job isn't working for them, they can be slow to make a change. One reason: They aren't sure what they want to move on to.
Connectivity & Communications
- The Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association Board of Directors announces the call for candidates to serve on the board.
Next year there will be two open positions (three-year terms).
- “Capitalizing on Convergence” Nonprofits and businesses are converging
Nonprofits and businesses are converging - in the value they create, the stakeholders they manage, the organizations they form, and the financial instruments they use. The era of convergence is upon us. Do you know how to take advantage of it?
Commuter Rail Development
- FCC head: Cities block cable competition
Cable television rates keep going up while prices for other communications services are going down, says the nation's chief communications regulator, and he blames local governments for blocking competition.
- Goodbye TV, Hello Broadband - Is the internet finally ready to kill old-school television?
- Who's Behind the Spam Surge?
Botnets are doing more with less, and some say the next-generation software is just beginning to spread.
- Another option. WiMax networks hope to lure customers from DSL
First came Wi-Fi hotspots, then municipal Wi-Fi projects. Last year, cellular broadband made its appearance.
Leadership Montana
- Northern California A Bright Spot For Train Travel
15 years of clean comfortable trips leave most passengers satisfied as commuter line marks anniversary
City Club Missoula
- Grooming Next-Generation Leaders
Organizations succeed by identifying, developing, and retaining talented leaders. Professors W. Earl Sasser and Das Narayandas, who teach leadership development in one of Harvard Business School's Executive Education programs, discuss the fine points of leadership development.
VIRUS ALERTS
- City Club Missoula - Montana's future tied to energy, says historian Harry Fritz
In the past five years, 33 of Montana's 56 counties have seen population drops. Fritz recalled how 19th-century historian Frederick Jackson Turner declared the U.S. frontier closed because it had reached a threshold of two people for every square mile.
- Worm hits computers via Symantec antivirus program
"It is definitely a new worm, and it is looking for vulnerable systems
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