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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Feb 2, 2007 |
"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble makers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do." Jack Kerouac
For those of you in Mineral, Ravalli and Missoula County, here's the website for the regional effort to develop a long term for economic and quality of life development. "The Bitterroot Economic Development District Working Groups Blog" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html If your county is participating in a similar effort, please send in the website and contact info and we'll post so more can share their efforts and expertise. No reason to reinvent the wheel and networking and sharing info can only help everyone's efforts. --- [email protected]
Come Home Montana
Montana Ambassadors
- Missoula ranked high for young people
Missoula's commitment to keeping its young people safe, healthy and thriving has won the community a place as one of the 100 best communities for young people in the United States.
Montana Education Excellence
- Montana Ambassadors Announce Award Winners - Annual Meeting on February 15th in Helena.
Governor Brian Schweitzer will be making the awards presentations to the recipients during the annual Montana Ambassadors Banquet in Helena on February 15th. This year’s annual meeting will also include a keynote address by Rich Karlgaard, Publisher of Forbes Magazine.
Education
- Energy conference explores future fuel choices; warns of complacency
“You can live in iPod land, but there are large forces at work on the planet now that are going to change the way we live, and you’re going to need every skill and talent you can develop,” Udall said. “Prosperity is at risk, and we’ve got to get to work on this stuff.”
- University of Montana Professors, Clemens Work and Jeffrey Renz and 10 recent graduates to receive ACLU awards.
Professors Clemens Work and Jeffrey Renz will receive the Jeannette Rankin Civil Liberties Award, a yearly honor bestowed on those who have shown devotion to civil liberties and constitutional rights.
- Personal Savings Rate for 2006 Tumbles to Negative 1 Percent, the Lowest Level in 74 Years. First Interstate and the Montana Financial Education Coalition sponsor Piggy Bank Contest to encourage school children to save
Attention Parents and Teachers: A Piggy Bank Contest for three age categories (5 - 8, 9 - 13, 14 - 18) is being sponsored by the First Interstate BancSystem Foundation during the Montana Financial Education Coalition Conference http://www.mtmfec.org/ on April 10 - 11, 2007.
Montana Business
- History Teacher Becomes Podcast Celebrity
Mr. Brownworth’s podcast competes favorably with far more conventional and credentialed online fare — university courses in beginning French or Psychology 101, test-prep drills for the SAT. Even the other highly rated personal podcasts, like “Word Nerds” and “Grammar Girl,” appeal to dependably large audiences for etymology and grammar.
Montana Meth Project
- Demographic & Economic Information for The State of Montana
- World class engines manufactured in Al's Diesel's new state-of-the-art plant in Cut Bank, Montana
All in all, Dosch has 27 employees building, rebuilding, making, fixing and repairing diesel engines and transmissions. While the business does a lot of things, Dosch summed up what Al's Diesel is all about in a few words, "We build special power units for drilling rigs." But that just scratches the surface of the work being done at Al's Diesel. It's a big and busy business, which explains why the company wanted a bigger building.
- Are Montana's tribes missing out on economic resurgence?
The leader of the Crow Tribe told lawmakers that the state’s economic resurgence is not reaching Montana’s Indians.
The Burton K. Wheeler Center
- Montana Meth Project comes to Idaho
The campaign, called "Not Even Once", shows the downfall of those who try meth even one time.
Montana Economic Development
- The Burton K. Wheeler Spring Conference 2007 "The Price Of Paradise: Affordable Housing In Montana", 5/17-18, Missoula
A number of well-known public and private sector building industry and housing specialists at the local, state and national levels will be invited to Missoula for this public discussion. The conference is designed for members of the general public, legislators, city and county officials, builders, developers, realtors, housing advocates, housing researchers, state agency personnel and all others who make or deal with housing policy. Please join us for this very important discussion.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- February MEDA Online News and....scholarship anyone?
When folks talk about economic development in Montana they sometimes focus on what is not happening; not being accomplished, but from my perspective it is clear that a great deal is happening and your work is succeeding. So, thank you to all who are working so hard and devoting so much to the task at hand; you do not get thanked often enough.
- Bitterroot Resort presentation fires up residents
The overall feeling at the end of the meeting can be summed up by another comment by Linkenhoker. “It's within our capabilities to manage this differently,” he said, referring to the proposed resort. “People like me moved here because we were pushed out of other places that became developed. This really is the last best place, and we're the last people who will let something like this happen.”
- In Whitehall: Business park moves forward
“This looks like a good opportunity to help the people of Whitehall and Jefferson County to hopefully overcome any hardship that comes up when the mine closes down,” he said in a telephone interview from his Elko, Nev., office.
- Gazette Opinion: Urban, rural Montanans need to talk
State government must allow greater local decision making so cities can invest in themselves.
- The Bitterroot Economic Development District Working Groups Blog
The mission of the Bitter Root Economic Development District, Inc.(BREDD) is to accelerate the conservation, development, and utilization of natural and human resources to improve the level of economic activity, and to enhance environment, quality of life and standard of living in Mineral, Missoula and Ravalli Counties, Montana.
- Whitefish, Montana seeking solution to housing crisis
The median price for a home in Whitefish is now estimated at $360,000, and the gap between income and housing prices is about 162 percent.
- Butte, Montana economy looking up. Let the good times roll.
But, Kasperick said that demand drives housing, and expects that market forces will meet the challenge. He also credited community and business leaders in guiding and diversifying the Butte economy.
Funding and Building your Business
- 2006 and Ten-Year Seed and Startup Stage Funds State by State. How did Montana do?
17 states failed to record a single reported seed/startup deal in 2006; eight others scored just once. Little wonder that the 'fly-over' states press so persistently for state sponsored venture capital programs or angel programs to launch promising opportunities for companies they can grow locally. Over the ten year period, every state reported at least one deal.
- Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle wants to boost tax credits for Angel investments. Millions sought for new ideas
Doyle will propose increasing from $13 million to $23 million the amount of credits available in the next two years. The legislation that created the program in 2004 calls for a 25% tax credit - a dollar-for-dollar reduction of taxes owed - to investors in companies that qualified for the program.
- The Start-Up Enterprise Valley of Death*
Some states have put in place small seed and early-stage investment funds to help address the entrepreneurial capital gap, but many can not decide whether the investment goal is pure job creation or cash return on investment. As a result, state legislatures keep changing the management and/or strategy of their investment program, or terminate the programs altogether.
Regional Economic Development
- Technology Evangelists: A Leadership Survey
The purpose of this study was to gain a clearer understanding of the relatively new phenomenon known as the "technology evangelist." By our exploration, we aim to help readers improve their management functions, and to understand how best to integrate “evangelists” within their organizations.
- Wholesome Organic Profits: The Six Keys to Growing Your Company the Old-Fashioned Way. "The Road to Organic Growth: How Great Companies Consistently Grow Marketshare from Within"
"You can build a sustainable and successful big business without playing accounting games or engaging in financial manipulations," adds Hess. "And you can do it without commoditizing and devaluing your employees. The twenty-two companies studied and outlined in the book, in their own individual ways, reaffirm the American entrepreneurial spirit. They show us that if properly engaged, U.S. employees can out-perform any and all competition."
Utah Business
- Using the U.S. Census Bureau's Online "American Factfinder" Site to Visualize and Analyze Site Location Issues in a Retail Environment: An Assessment and Application
The site offers users a detailed breakdown of U. S. demographics, and allows users to make accurate and informed decisions based on the diverse demographic and economic information.
- State Taxes Don’t Matter for Entrepreneurship
“state tax policy, including both tax rates and the type of taxes in a state’s portfolio, has only a modest effect on aggregate state entrepreneurship rates.”
- Sirti Events Calendar - February 2007
Our mission is to accelerate the development and growth of technology companies in the Inland Northwest, especially in eastern Washington.
Idaho Business
- Lickity Split Chocolate Studio, LLC, A Native owned, youth managed business
Although this may not be surprising (after all who doesn’t like chocolate), consider the fact that Lickity Split is managed by 35 Navajo and Ute children between the ages of 9 and 14 in one of the poorest counties in the United States and it’s easy to see this business as an extraordinary commercial venture.
Oregon Economic Development
- A public/private technology transfer business success story - Blue Water Technology
Technology developed at an Idaho college (something Gov. Otter wants to see more of) is being licensed by a group of entrepreneurs to fill the needs of rural Idaho communities that may not know the technology exists.
Washington State Business
- Booming Bend, Oregon
As towns such as Missoula, Montana, and Sun Valley, Idaho, have also found, trees are more valuable standing than chopped down for lumber, says Nina Chambers, a researcher with a think-tank called the Sonoran Institute.
Other Economies
- Spotlight on Seattle biodiesel company. "Imperium Renewables"
Businesses don't usually announce contracts with private vendors in a U.S. senator's office, but Seattle-based Imperium Renewables is more than just a business.
- Venture Capital: Rolling big dice on retail goods with new incubator. "The Branding Foundry"
Most inventions die on the vine because entrepreneurs don't have the right connections with venture capitalists, retailers, advertisers or product distributors. With The Branding Foundry, Hanson wants to inject life into consumer products that "would otherwise never see the light of day."
University Business Plan Competitions
- Assessment Finds Maine Technology Institute's (MTI) Impact Positive for Maine Economy
MTI is a state-supported nonprofit that serves as Maine’s primary vehicle to provide financial support for private sector R&D.
Incubators and R&D
- John Ruffatto Business Plan Competition, 5/10, Missoula
$35,000 in prizes, 25 world-class judges, 15 Montana collegiate teams, and the experience of a lifetime
University TechTransfer
- MSU researchers build lasers for NASA climate research
NASA has given researchers at Montana State University $1.14 million to study two important, but poorly understood, pieces in the global-warming puzzle: aerosols and water vapor in the atmosphere.
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- Project builds a bridge between research, business. An offshoot of the Kauffman Foundation aims to quickly move innovations from campus labs to the market.
Entrepreneurs or large companies seeking inventions to drive the next blockbuster product and scientists seeking to advance their research have a new way to discover these and other intriguing technologies.
Non-Profit News
- The University of Montana College of Technology is developing energy tech program
The University of Montana is cooking up a plan to help Montanans get better-paying jobs and bring new life to the eastern part of the state.
Energy
- Reaching out to kids Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch celebrates 50th anniversary
It sure makes a difference when you know somebody cares. That's the motto for the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch http://www.ybgr.org which celebrated 50 years of caring for troubled boys and girls.
Connectivity & Communications
- UC Berkeley wins race for $500 million biofuels center
The establishment of the institute solidifies the Bay Area as a leading center for biofuel research.
Community
- Nokia donates Internet technology for S.F. students. Isn't waiting for a citywide Wi-Fi network
The city is still waiting for a Wi-Fi network, but officials hope they can help create some opportunities now for needy residents by partnering with private groups and companies such as Nokia.
Leadership Montana
- Community Continuity and Cultural Clashes
Communities like Gateway are places where residents either have logged millions of board feet of timber or know folks who have. These are places where folks worked with material stuff: wheat, wool, wood, and water. This history is part of the charm. In contrast, the urbanites expecting to exploit these communities have logged millions of miles of first class travel, and earned their living by manipulating numbers, electrons, and people. This situation results in a cultural clash with conflicts over differing ethics and values.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Leadership Montana Now Accepting Applications for Class of 2008…
Leadership Montana, a statewide collaboration of higher education, community and business leaders, has begun accepting applications for the Class of 2008. This will be Leadership Montana’s fourth class.
- Zink device boasts printing without ink
Zink is just one of 68 companies presenting new products at DEMO, a conference in Palm Desert that started Tuesday and runs through Thursday. But its potential for shaking things up makes it stand out from the companies that have briefed me on their announcements.
- Tomorrow's tech treats from DEMO
Demo is a showcase for emerging high-tech products and services, and some do become blockbusters. A peek at four participants
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