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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Nov 9, 2007 |
"Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it." - Laurence J. Peter
There are many reasons why we love Montana and why it's such a great place to live and work including stories this week: "PrintingForLess.com Named 2007 Best Workplace in the Americas" http://matr.net/articl ... .html --- 10 years of "Biomedical Research After School Scholars" (BRASS). Amazing relationship between Rocky Mountain Labs and Bitterroot children" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- "The Teller dials up new Web site thanks to the Valentine Foundation" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html--- If you'd like to contribute to the success of the future entrepreneurs of Montana, I strongly encourage you to participate in this event: "DECA needs Business Leaders to serve as judges for high school entrepreneurship contest. Can you help please?" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Boomtown Institute
Come Home Montana
- The Agurban from Boomtown Institute - Just How Much Does Graduation Matter?
Studies have shown that high school graduates will earn upwards of $200,000 more in their lifetime than those workers who did not complete high school. Each class of high school dropouts damages the economy.
Come Home North Dakota
- Montana Career Opportunity - Web & Application Developer - Washington Corporations
Experience with GIS data or desire to learn proficiency in developing with GIS is a plus.
- "MAPS: Media Arts in the Public Schools" program has attracted national attention — Peter Rosten advises kids, 'It only takes one yes to change your life'
Rosten arrived in the Bitterroot Valley, looking forward to fishing and skiing and working cattle on his retirement ranch. That was fun for about two years.
- Big Sky EDA Interim Management Team. National Search for New Director Launched
The nationwide search could take up to six months.
Come Home Oregon
- North Dakota warms up to Colo. workers. Little-known state has message to tell: Plenty of jobs there
"A lot of times, when I meet people in my travels, they say 'Gee, you're the first person I've ever met from North Dakota.' "
Come Home Wyoming
- Shhh, Don't Share This News About Portland
After a New York Times real estate article points out that on top of being one of America's most livable cities it is also one of its most affordable, there could be mass migration to Portland.
Missoula Children's Theatre
- Even with boom, young people still leaving Wyoming
"The economy is going to drive the population," Gallagher said, "especially in a smaller state."
PrintingForLess
- Audition action. Energy, expression win roles in children's play as the "Little Red Truck" from the Missoula Children's Theatre comes to Twin Falls, Idaho
"This town must have talent."
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Printing For Less Offers Tips on How You Can Save Time, Money and Effort on Customized Holiday Greeting Cards
“Greeting cards are an affordable and easy way to stay in touch with customers and friends,” says Andrew Field, PFL President and CEO. “Our new Design Online service will help our customers save time and money, reduce stress and send out high-quality cards that will make a lasting impression this holiday season.”
- PrintingForLess.com Named 2007 Best Workplace in the Americas
"We know the key to our success in gaining loyal customers is hiring and retaining great people," says Marne Reed, PFL Human Resource Director. "By creating a fun, exciting and rewarding work environment for our employees, we attract top talent from across the country."
Funding and Building your Business
- Evaluating A Business Idea Workshop, 11/14-15, Butte, Philipsburg, Anaconda
Headwaters RC&D and the Small Business Development Center will present valuable information on business plans, marketing, industry profiles, cash flow projections, loan information and many other topics.
- DECA needs Business Leaders to serve as judges for high school entrepreneurship contest. Can you help please?
As we are early in the process, students will not have completed their events; rather, they will be looking to judges to provide input, guidance, and feedback. In essence, most students will have "rough draft" projects at this point and will utilize this feedback as part of the project revision process.
Education
- Five Things Tom Perkins Has Learned About Business
Venture capitalist Tom Perkins on entrepreneurship, bringing new technology to market, and his resignation from Hewlett-Packard
- Planning an Incentive Travel Program is More Beneficial Than You Think
In a survey by the Incentive Travel Buyer’s Handbook, 83 percent of respondents said travel was an effective to extremely effective motivator for them to increase performance.
- Employers shift focus to prevent obesity
The seven most common chronic diseases — six of which can be caused or worsened by obesity — are costing employers $1.1 trillion in lost productivity, a recent study says.
- SBA’s New Patriot Express Loan Initiative Shows Strong Early Success
Loans Go To Military Service Members, Veterans, and Spouses
- Shirting the issue: Lessons from a college entrepreneur
The story of how former Terrapin football player Kevin Plank built Under Armour from an idea in 1995 to a company that will exceed $500 million in net revenue this year is instructive to young entrepreneurs everywhere.
- Jain: Venture capitalists probably "the antichrist"
Jain said he thanks God "for keeping me away from VCs,"
- Inside Entrepreneurship: A grant program for small businesses SBIR
The neat thing about the SBIR grant program is that it helps qualifying businesses at the time when funding options are most scarce.
- Starting Up: You have to be an entrepreneur at heart
I think I'll end this with a few "wish I had known that then" tidbits for other wannabe entrepreneurs:
Connectivity & Communications
- Free online materials could save schools billions
Could Free-Reading offer a glimpse of the future, when big, bulky — and expensive — textbooks go the way of the film strip?
- Louisiana Laptop Initiative Provides Laptops to Students in Public Schools
"TOTL makes the first and most critical step of a longer journey," Blanco told the students. "Those who come after will also take up this journey, because they realize as do you and I, that these investments in modern learning tools pay meaningful dividends to us all.
- U.S. Students Need 21st Century Skills to Compete in a Global Economy
Americans Express Strong Support in National Poll for Teaching More Than Basic Skills
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- MSU notifies students, staff of security breaches
Montana State University is informing 271 people that their Social Security numbers may have been exposed in one of three separate data security breaches.
- Encrypted E-Mail Company Hushmail Spills to Feds
Hushmail, a longtime provider of encrypted web-based email, markets itself by saying that "not even a Hushmail employee with access to our servers can read your encrypted e-mail, since each message is uniquely encoded before it leaves your computer." But....
- Nationwide WiMax plan may be over
Sprint, the third-biggest U.S. mobile-phone company, and Kirkland-based Clearwire had announced in July that they planned to build a network that could potentially reach 300 million customers.
Incubators and R&D
- Automated Custom Manufacturing
Ponoko wants to give customers the tools to design and sell whatever they want.
- A Carbon-Free, Stackable Rental Car and a Solar Car Being Developed in Bozeman, Montana by Free Drive EV, Inc.
An MIT group hopes that its foldable electric vehicles will cut pollution, and ease congestion.
- Scientists chart record rise in Yellowstone Park caldera
The floor of Yellowstone National Park's gigantic volcano has been rising at a record rate in recent years, probably due to an underground blob of molten rock more than 14 times the size of Billings, according to a new study.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- 2005 Federal R&D Obligations to Universities and Colleges by State
This report details all categories of direct federal science and engineering support to institutions of higher education in the U.S
Montana Business
- Where Angels Fly. For those with the means and a taste for risk, start-up companies beckon
"Angel investing is a lot more interesting than passive investing in a listed company."
Montana Economic Development
- Caviar From Montana? - Mountain Lake Fisheries finds fans from New York to Russia
“We’ve found a niche market,” Mohn said. “They like that (the fish) are rod and reel caught out of the Rocky Mountains.”
- Report Evaluates Tribal Monetary Impacts in Montana
“The report indicates Tribes contribute over a billion dollars a year to the state’s economy,” said Governor Brian Schweitzer. “The majority of that money is being spent off the reservation in surrounding communities.”
- Celery Furniture of Bozeman, Montana Debuts at New York International Gift Fair
Celery Furniture is designed and fabricated in Bozeman, Montana by local craftspeople.
- Montana businesses learn how to score federal work
Learning government contracting procedures can be a headache, but soon contractors find the repeated process "is as easy as falling off a log," Edmunds said.
- Cow-fed methane / Corvallis, Montana dairy installs manure digesters
“With the kind of growth we're seeing in the Bitterroot Valley, there are many people living here who don't understand agriculture and the production of agricultural products,” Huls said.
- Montana wins $23 million in defense projects
"Right here in Montana, we're providing the necessary tools to test and implement the latest technological advancements," said U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
- Branding key to business success. Brand Ranch Brand and Marketing Consultancy
"It's a word, phrase, idea or emotion that resides in the minds of consumers about a product or service," he says. Because of branding, people relate Volvos with safety, Nike shoes with superior athletic achievement and Toyota with reliability.
Regional Economic Development
- Montana Lawmakers to Meet in Miles City to Explore Economic Development
"One of the things we heard after this last session was legislators commenting on the great efforts citizens make to get to Helena and be a part of the legislative process," she said. "Meetings such as this one are a way for legislators to show their appreciation. It's also a great opportunity for them to listen to local concerns and voices outside of their own constituencies."
- Western Montana blessed with many who want to help. "Movers and Shakers" Western Montana InBusiness
Elizabeth Barrett Browning I'm not, so there's no sense in trying to list all the ways I love and honor Missoula and western Montana.
- Development grants benefit Dawson Community College
DCC benefits from a three-year $889,809 grant to create a cluster hub that provides a focused effort to train workers needed in the emerging biofuels energy field.
- Next Big Sky EDA leader should be Montanan and be paid half as much
The commissioners also said the board should provide a report card and better describe to the public what the organization does to foster economic growth in this area.
- Montana looks for new ways to sell itself
Do you think your vision, as a Montanan, would hold true for someone from say Chicago?
- Bitterroot Resort Economic Impace Analysis
The economic analysis proceeds from the assumption that one of two resort scenarios will be developed in the area.
- Branding Montana: State hopes to attract ‘geo-tourists’
Unrelated to a similar ongoing exercise in Helena, Travel Montana is conducting its own branding study, aiming to bridge the gap between the state’s attractions and the people most wanted to visit the Treasure State.
- MEDA Developing Web Site for Economic Development Resources. Do you know of sources that should be added to the list?
Please send me the sources you use and they will be compiled, updated and maintained on our MEDA website.
Utah Economic Development
- Blueprint for American Prosperity: Unleashing the Potential of a Metropolitan Nation.
To improve the partnership between the nation’s metropolitan areas and government, it is argued the U.S. federal government needs to lead where it can and must – in areas of national visioning and policies that, being aligned with the necessary scalable investments, can produce a tremendous impact.
- Rural America's Most Prosperous Counties including Sweet Grass County, Montana
If you were looking for a rural community where people worked, graduated from school, lived in good homes and stayed out of poverty, this list is where you'd want to start.
- Employers, Schools Team Up To Provide Training Programs
By funding majors or teaming up with schools to design course packets, companies such as PSEG, Electronic Arts Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and International Business Machines Corp. are shoring up their new-employee pipelines.
Government Technology
- Bringing 'em in: Success of luring firms builds on itself in Utah
Given the significant expansion Utah's business base has experienced in recent years, a fair question to ask is what has the state done to attract all these companies?
Idaho Business
- States go green with Google, Intel
“The average desktop PC currently wastes half of the power it receives,” said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, NGA chair. “Having states increase the energy efficiency of their computing equipment will save consumers and taxpayers money, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.”
Washington State Business
- Idahoan creates skin care products - Episciences Inc.
"The whole reason I started this company is because it's helped me be a better physician," he said.
Wyoming Business
- Gravity Shifts Eastward. Washington State University's new president sees a larger role for the school in Washington's economic life
While some in academia might speak of jobs as a happy benefit of teaching and learning, Floyd makes economic development a specific obligation. "We must serve as a catalyst and economic driver for the state," he says.
- New Seattle VC firm targets the early, risky stages
"We like to get in early. We like to get in when it is really risky," Kinzer said, comparing the firm to the first troops off the boat in the movie "Saving Private Ryan."
Other Economies
- Professor says Wyoming is lagging on wind energy development
Ula noted that in 1999, Wyoming ranked fifth in the country, generating 73 megawatts of wind power electricity. Today, according to data compiled by the National Renewable Energy Lab, Wyoming ranks 13th in the country, generating 288 megawatts.
Miscellaneous RamblingsMontana Education/Business Partnerships
- It's raining cows in Chelan County, Wash.
What would you say if a giant heifer fell off a 200-foot cliff and landed on your car?
Non-Profit News
- PPL Montana offers grants for school environmental projects
"It is exciting to help our students, our future leaders, use their creative energy to learn about environmental issues and science and create programs that improve Montana's wildlife, habitat, and rivers and streams," said Lisa Perry, PPL Montana's community affairs manager.
- 10 years of "Biomedical Research After School Scholars" (BRASS). Amazing relationship between Rocky Mountain Labs and Bitterroot children
To the eighth-graders who participated in the program 10 years ago, the opportunity to study science with top professionals led to early decisions in college majors, disease research in Africa and an appreciation for small-town schools incorporating local resources from RML.
Energy
- The Teller dials up new Web site thanks to the Valentine Foundation
“The grant came at a perfect time and will play a significant role in upgrading our image and communicating our message on the web.”
2007 Montana Legislature
- Oil from Wood
Startup Kior has developed a process for creating "biocrude" directly from biomass.
Transportation
- Montana lawmakers get preview of climate change report, emerging technologies
‘‘Some of those recommendations I think we will be able to implement immediately,’’ Opper said. ‘‘Some of the recommendations are gong to be controversial. But I urge everyone in the Legislature to debate these measures openly and in good faith.’’
Montana Education Excellence
- Great Lakes Airlines submits proposal to service Sidney, Montana
Great Lakes is hoping to wrangle the flights away from Big Sky Airlines, the carrier since 1980, and route them through Denver. Passengers currently have to fly through Billings.
- 125 mpg? Idaho National Laboratory tests plug-in hybrid cars
Fill it up, plug it in, then drive. And drive. And drive.
- Montana’s lottery provides little for education. A Small Payout to Classrooms
Lotteries have traditionally been marketed to voters as big moneymakers for public education. The reality, however, is lotteries contribute very little to education in any state, and Montana is no different.
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