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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Mar 23, 2007 |
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"Announcing the New Montana Web Designers & Devleopers Association. If You're a Web Developer in Montana, please join Today!!" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Developing Tech Jobs in Rural Communities
Montana Education Excellence
- Framing the Problem of Student Out-migration from States
Every year, some graduating high school students make the transition to college, many of them choosing to move to another state in order to continue their education. In some states, the number of students leaving the state is greater than the number entering, resulting in a “brain drain.”
- Federal Agencies Encouraging Telework Better Than Private Sector
"Federal agencies have made a strong and growing commitment to meeting the government's mandated telework requirements."
- 3 firms tell why they relocated to Utah
Goulet said he was happy to hear Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. emphasize a strong education system, which Goulet said was an issue for Rossignol employees moving to Utah. "Kids today are our future employees," he said.
- Census Figures Show Rural Exodus Across Country
"It looks like the gap between the haves and the have-nots is getting wider,"
Education
- Pioneering New Curriculum Integrates Information Systems Education at the University of Montana's School of Business Administration
“The intent is to spark discussion about how technology is changing business and society on a macro level and is integral to formulating strategy at the firm level. It is my hope that when students leave the course they will possess a sophisticated framework and set of tools that will allow them to rigorously analyze issues they confront as leaders of businesses in the 21st century.”
- Rocky Boy students hear engineering pitch from visiting Montana Tech students from Malaysia, Nigeria and China
“There are so many economical development ventures in engineering that our tribes are developing right here in Rocky Boy with the North Central water line, ethanol plant and dam,” Shaylee Russette, enrolled Chippewa Cree and Montana Tech student said to her younger peers. “That’s millions of dollars that we will pay to other people to come in and do these jobs — I don’t know about you, but I think that money should go to tribal members.
- Montana State University engineering students raise record $100,000 for own endowment
After five years of work, a group of engineering students has raised $100,000 to create their own endowment for travel to professional conferences. It is the largest amount ever raised for a perpetual endowment by Montana State University students.
Montana Business
- 'No Child Left Behind' losing steam
GOP lawmakers are among the biggest critics of Bush's school reform program.
- Can business ethics be taught?
Eager to supply companies with leaders who clearly know right from wrong, business schools are investing heavily in courses and centers where ethics are debated day and night.
- Medical school scholarship available for Montana residents
A scholarship is available for a degree of doctor of medicine for Montana residents attending medical school. The deadline is May 31.
- UM Lecture Examines Nations's Education Crisis - Patrick Allitt, 4/9, University Of Montana, Missoula
Allitt’s lecture will address questions about the nation’s contemporary educational system. Why does higher education cost so much? Why do so many children still drop out of high school? Why don’t American children score as well on tests as kids in Japan, New Zealand and Sweden? Why has middle-class children’s quest for college admission turned into a vast annual ordeal?
- Addressing the STEM Challenge by Expanding Specialty Math and Science High Schools
The United States faces a new and pressing competitiveness challenge as a growing number of nations seek to gain global market share in technology-based economic activities. While the national policy response must be multi-faceted,1 ensuring an adequate supply of talented scientists and engineers is one key step.
- Action, direction sought at higher education summit
"We support a lot of the (commission's) recommendations," says Robert Berdahl, president of the Association of American Universities, which represents 60 U.S. research universities. But "in order to get buy-in, (Education Department officials) have to make certain that they are truly listening to what is being said. I think there's a fear that they're not listening carefully."
Montana Economic Development
- Announcing the New Montana Web Designers & Devleopers Association. If You're a Web Developer in Montana, please join Today!!
MTWDA.org exists to create a quality, accessible database of strictly Montana-based firms and individual business owners.
- REC Silicon of Butte, Montana, wins $780MM contract to produce polysilicon.
“It doesn’t guarantee the expansion’s going to be in Butte, but what it does do is create a market for the product for the next seven years,” he said. “It equates to good news and we are still working very closely with REC to help them determine that Butte’s the best site.”
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Montana Manufacturing Center Winter Newsletter 2007
Did you know that 97% of U.S. exporters are “small and medium- size enterprises” (SME’s, having fewer than 500 employees)? What’s relevant here is that 70 percent of those exporting actually have fewer than 20 employees, not unlike Montana where 84 percent of manufacturers employ fewer than 20.
Funding and Building your Business
- Funding by angels up 10.8%
Individuals invested $25.6 billion in '06 -- big slice in health care
Regional Business
- I.T. Outsourcing: Expect the Unexpected. Outsourcing should save money—but it usually doesn't. And that's not the only bit of conventional wisdom that has outlived its usefulness.
Our survey shows that most companies aren't saving money by outsourcing.
- When Managers Neglect To Coach Their Talent
Many don't spend nearly enough time making sure the people under them learn and grow on the job.
- Branding is key to future success for small companies and startups
Early branding of a small or emerging company is key to business success.
- Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, talks about Google’s industry and competitors, about leading innovation, and career advice.
Eric joined Google as Chairman and CEO in 2001 and runs the company in a unique triumvirate along with co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The three of them were recently ranked the #1 most important person on the web by PC World.
- Bank Lenders Are Branching Out
After years of neglect, more banks are rolling out the red carpet for small-business owners.
Regional Economic Development
- How To Beat The Big Boxes
Fact is, customer service is your one tried and true weapon against those behemoth retailers.
Utah Economic Development
- Venture-Backed Company Growth Surpasses Counterparts Across All Industry Sectors, Economic Impact Study Shows
Companies that Received Venture Financing Represent 17 Percent of U.S. GDP
- Science needs venture capital, too. Conference brings together investors, biotech companies
The Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association is presenting the event, now in its sixth year. It allows biotech companies to get their names in front of venture capitalists.
- In US Midwest, young farmers priced out of land. Ethanol demand has pushed Midwest farmland prices through the roof.
Real estate prices in cities may be falling, but in Midwestern farm country, land values are going through the roof. Fueled by heavy ethanol demand, which has pushed up corn prices, land that sold for $4,500 an acre a year ago might go for about $6,000 an acre today.
Idaho Business
- Angels give ideas wings at Utah Economic Summit - Entrepreneurial expertise: Blue-collar truck gizmo beats high-tech in start-up contest
"Chris is a true walk-on. In a month of March Madness, here is a guy who came from 65th seed and won." Culp's road to victory began Feb. 8, when executives from Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s administration and the private sector announced that a funding competition for entrepreneurs would be part of the summit.
Oregon Economic Development
- Groups can apply for subsidy to foster rural development in Idaho
The program, part of the Rural Idaho Initiative, provides up to $41,500 annually to communities, counties or groups of communities or counties to hire a professional to manage their economic development campaigns.
South Dakota Economic Development
- Oregon: High tech's second home
Few tall pines sprout in Oregon's Silicon Forest, but the state turns out to be pretty good at nurturing transplants.
Incubators and R&D
- South Dakota Changes its Tactics in the Battle for High-Tech Jobs
The change will allow the state greater leeway to assist expanding businesses, many of which were not eligible for the existing support programs.
University TechTransfer
- Low faculty pay at ISU drives brain drain. Departures mean millions in research money lost
The hemorrhage of the faculty from Ames is part of the reason ISU's external funding and research cash flow has decreased by $7 million in the last year - the top money-makers are the first to be wooed away, university leaders said. With them goes millions in research money that equips labs, employs graduate students and generates knowledge.
- STTR Research Funding Workshop, 4/26, University Of Montana, Missoula
Many university-system researchers overlook the potential of funding from the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program because of the rigors of STTR's commercialization requirement. Don't be one of them!
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- $100M for Tech Transfer? Purdue, for one, will take it
Other universities, from North Carolina to California, have taken a look at the big money being offered by billionaire Alfred E. Mann to help commercialize biomedical research and have passed, deciding there were too many strings attached.
Non-Profit News
- Dawson Community College program will give Eastern Montana an edge on biofuel production
“We’ll teach the first round of knowing how to do it,” he said. “Our job as a community college is to give that basic training.”
Energy
- Capacity Benchmarking Tool for Nonprofit Leaders
New and emerging nonprofit organizations who want to work toward greater stability and effectiveness can now have access to a new "Capacity Benchmarking Tool".
- Growth Factors for Nonprofits
In a recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, William Foster and Gail Fine of the Bridgespan Group examine the factors that helped 144 young organizations "get big" within a short period of time.
- Boomers rewriting volunteer recruitment rules
The challenge for nonprofits that rely on volunteers is to help the next generation transition smoothly from their work lives and retirement into the volunteer world.
Connectivity & Communications
- Montana co-op seeks farms for windmills
A Montana electricity cooperative is seeking application from 40 farmers in the state who want to have a 100 kilowatt windmill installed on their property.
Leadership Montana
- MTA Commentary—FCC Commissioners Speak up on Universal Service
In Montana, the Universal Service Fund has been instrumental in supporting investment by rural telephone companies in modern telecommunications infrastructure, which in turn has enhanced economic, health care, educational and social opportunities in our state.
- Top Leaders, Volunteers Sought for University of Montana Scholarships
The Outstanding Student Leader Award is given to a UM student who works to make the University a better place for students to live, learn and grow. If chosen, the winner may receive an in-state tuition waiver for the fall 2007 semester, depending on eligibility.
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