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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Jan 11, 2008 |
"It's all about producing high-tech workers," he said. "If we keep focusing on agriculture at the legislative level, we're not recognizing where all the big-dollar jobs are and where the future is. We don't want to just be an agrarian state, and we don't want to be the state with the lowest number of high-school graduates moving on to higher education." Kevin Benedict, CEO of MobileDataforce
Very interesting: "The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- and a good look at why our education needs to incorporate technology - "Microsoft: Education needs technology. Shift Happens" Several other important stories in this newsletter in the Montana Education Excellence section below.
Come Home Montana
Missoula Children's Theatre
- Montana Career Opportunity - Software Developer - OPeNDAP
OPeNDAP, Inc. http://www.opendap.org/ is looking for a software developer who has good skills in C and C++ and is interested in working as part of a distributed work group on a challenging two-year project.
- Montana Career Opportunity - Management Professional - Northwestern Energy
This full-time position is assigned to NorthWestern Energy's electric and natural gas DSM Programs including conservation related Universal System Benefits programs.
- Los Angeles Attorney Falls in Love with Big Sky Country and now Wind Power Generates Revenue on Montana's School Trust Lands
Lester Brown, a Los Angeles-based attorney and the principal for Madison Valley Renewable Energy, said Wednesday that he and his family attended the Ennis Fourth of July parade and rodeo in 2006 while visiting friends in Big Sky. “We just completely fell in love with it,” he said of the region.
Montana Chamber of Commerce
- "The Little Red Truck" - Missoula filmmakers ready to release documentary on Missoula Children's Theatre's tours around the world
“The Little Red Truck” - so named because of MCT's fleet of 42 red pickups that tour the world - takes the viewer on a five-city journey to towns big and small, with children as diverse as the country itself.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- The Montana Chamber of Commerce Business Days at the Capitol opens Thursday, Jan. 17 in Helena. Senator Tester to Keynote
This will be a great opportunity to meet with other business and elected leaders from throughout Montana.
Developing Tech Jobs in Rural Communities
- Native Entrepreneurship Nationwide & In South Dakota - A Summary Report to the Northwest Area Foundation
The rate of Native entrepreneurial activity is growing nationally and entrepreneurship can help Native communities overcome poverty and achieve economic growth.
- Top Ten Myths of Entrepreneurship
It takes a lot of money to finance a new business. Not true.
Funding and Building your Business
- Mineral County, Montana Commissioners seek to boost telecommunications infrastructure to increase economic development opportunities in rural communities
“That’s one example of the on-shoring phenomena that we are beginning to see developing,” said DeWolfe. “But what companies are beginning to understand is that they don’t have to go to India. Companies are beginning to understand that spinning off branches into smaller, more livable, lower-cost-of-living communities makes good business sense.”
Education
- Venture Capitalists Predict 2008 Trends
NVCA Annual Survey Forecasts CleanTech Upswing, Departing Firms, and More IPOs for the Coming Year
- The Art of the Sign Up Page
For those following “web 2.0”, the initial sign up page has become virtually synonymous with launching web application (especially for betas).
- How Investing in Intangibles -- Like Employee Satisfaction -- Translates into Financial Returns
His findings also challenge the importance of short-term financial results and may have implications for investors interested in targeting socially responsible companies.
- Paul Kedrosky warns that VC is swamping tech startups
Over the long term it's going to get a lot more crowded at the early stages because the guys who are now managing $250 million early-stage funds are going to have to do something different in order to survive.
- Are Young Techies Spoiled Brats?
When asked about "which generation is most difficult to manage," 53% of the executives named millennials, or those between the ages of 18 and 31 who are also frequently lumped together as "Generation Y."
- Visiting Web 2.0 Sites Increases Organizations' Security Risks
The growing popularity of so-called Web 2.0 sites is proportionally increasing the risk of malware attacks and data leakage for companies that allow employees to access social networking sites through corporate computers.
- Inside Entrepreneurship: No money, no credit, no staff -- but there is help
For all the optimism entrepreneurs have about their long-term visionary prospects, there is a tendency for startup entrepreneurs to become too disheartened by their perceived startup inadequacies.
University TechTransfer
- To Draw Top Teachers to Troubled Schools, The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Will Offer $30,000 Stipends
"What we're really trying to do is to dignify the teaching profession and give it status."
- 2008 Quality Counts - Grading the Education Systems of our States - Is your state improving?
The State Highlights Reports assemble important findings in an accessible format that allows readers to examine a particular state’s performance on this year’s indicators.
- Citizens for Education Excellence Calls on Legislature
“Education is the basis for our future prosperity, and it is a key to individual success," said former governor Walker. "A solid investment in these educational priorities is an investment in Utah’s future prosperity.”
Connectivity & Communications
- State universities join forces to collaborate on tech transfer
Called the Oregon Innovation Portal, the idea is to attract investors and companies that want to find university research they can turn into lucrative products and services. That should lead to more university spinouts and bring valuable licensing revenue to the universities.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Top 10 Wireless Predictions for 2008
"The coming year is going to be incredibly important for the wireless industry as new business models begin to take shape," said Jorge Fuenzalida, vice president of communications consulting for inCode, a VeriSign company. "Beginning with the spectrum auction in January, to the continuing battle between fourth-generation (4G) technologies LTE and WiMAX, to what it's going to take to make converged wireless a reality, wireless will look significantly different in several critical ways one year from today."
- The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry
For decades, wireless carriers have treated manufacturers like serfs, using access to their networks as leverage to dictate what phones will get made, how much they will cost, and what features will be available on them. Handsets were viewed largely as cheap, disposable lures, massively subsidized to snare subscribers and lock them into using the carriers' proprietary services. But the iPhone upsets that balance of power.
- Hope remains for national wireless network
"We are still hopeful there will be someone who will emerge as being willing to take on this challenge," the FCC said in a statement.
Incubators and R&D
- Comcast: Broadband is going to be 16 times faster
With the super-fast Web service, a consumer could download in about four minutes a high definition movie that would take six hours or more at today's Internet speeds, according to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- More than 100 geyser, hot spring researchers, educators to meet at Yellowstone National Park Jan 10-13.
This is the third time since 2003 that Inskeep and his colleagues at MSU's Thermal Biology Institute have organized the conference for researchers who are part of the National Science Foundation's Research Coordination Network focused on Yellowstone's geothermal biology.
Montana Business
- Restricted Share Private Equity Exchange Debuts
Prior to PEQX, it was difficult and time consuming to find S.E.C. Accredited Investors interested in purchasing previously issued restricted shares.
GIS Technology
- Economic Outlook Seminar Heads to Nine Montana Cities
“As I travel around the state, the most frequent concerns raised by businesses relate to workforce development,” Polzin said. “Unemployment is low, but Montana employers say that workers may not be properly equipped to meet the specific demands of available jobs. Workforce development is essential to correcting the imbalances between labor supply and demand.”
- Big Sky employees launch attempt to buy airline
"This is a Montana company and we're all Montanans sitting here, and we want to keep this in Montana."
- Qwest defends earnings in Montana
Montana's largest telephone company doesn't deny it has earned millions of dollars beyond its authorized “rate of return” in recent years, but says the earnings don't violate any regulations.
- Commissioners approve tax breaks for high-end Helena aerospace manufacturing firm, Summit Aeronautics.
Summit officials have said the investments will produce about 50 new jobs in Helena over the next five years, with salaries averaging $38,832.
Montana Economic Development
- Navigation is just part of the story with feature-jammed new GPS devices
They can plumb the Internet for the latest movie times, news headlines, stock figures and gas prices. They'll even help you skirt traffic, find a parking spot or make a phone call. Oh, and they'll navigate for you, too.
Idaho Business
- Act now on global warming, says University of Montana professor Steve Running.
“How many streams are closed to fishing in July and August due to low flows, high temperatures and limited dissolved oxygen?” Running asked rhetorically. “I think that whole issue starts with our snow melting earlier, and I think we’re in for more of it.”
- Montana Department of Commerce Awards over $1.1 Million in Workforce Training Funds in Billings, Great Falls & Hobson
“Montana’s on the move with a booming economy that garnered 4.8 percent economic growth in 2007,” said Governor Brian Schweitzer. “A skilled work force is essential for continued economic growth, and the Workforce Training Grant Program is an outstanding resource to enhance the skill set of Montana’s workers.”
Government
- SiteSeer3D - 3D Views of Local Geography and Points of Interest for Realtors and their Clients
Another interesting feature of the SiteSeer3D technology is that a real estate agent can use a remote tour guide feature, to control the tour while explaining all the points of interest to their client.
- Could Boise, Idaho be the next big tech center? Many tech jobs open.
Treasure Valley tech-company executives like the quality of life and cost of living here. But they're desperate for workers with computer skills. More than 300 software jobs are open right now.
- QVC owner, Liberty Media invests more than $100 million in Meridian company, BodyBuilding.com
"We dug the foundation, and we have a long way to go to develop this business," he said. "We believe our strength in social networking and our well-established brand relationships will be highly relevant to Liberty."
- Med Management of Eagle, Idaho helps keep track of patients' medications and eliminates paperrwork at assisted-living homes.
Called QuickMAR, the software allows caregivers to track medications via a laptop computer.
- Idaho Office of Science & Technology January 2008
"We Create Jobs, Strengthen Communities and Market Idaho."
- Idaho Governor disbands The Science and Technology Advisory Council
"After several years of navel gazing and observing what other states have implemented and the obvious success they've had, the council, combined with the Office of Science and Technology, has failed to raise the awareness of the importance of science and tech in the state or to generate support from the public sector," said council member Jason Crawforth, CEO of Treetop Technology in Boise.
Other Economies
- Montana says, 'Nyet!' to Wyoming
Montana's governor showed an appalling lack of leadership last week when he summarily rejected an agreement on water quality between his state and Wyoming.
Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)
- Accelerate Wisconsin seeks to improve early-stage, venture capital performance
In announcing the initiative, Doyle said the goal is to accelerate the growth of new businesses and lure new investment to the state. “To grow Wisconsin, we must attract investment and support new high-tech, start-up companies,” Doyle said in announcing the initiative. “These businesses will create the bedrock for a knowledge-driven economy and produce the high-paying jobs of tomorrow.”
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Announcing: SBIR Program For Technology Entrepreneurs, 2/15, Vancouver, WA
Small business owners and technology entrepreneurs will learn how to successfully compete for federal SBIR funding.
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- Venture Capital: Some bold predictions for 2008
GOOGLE'S STOCK will lose nearly a third of its value this year. Amazon.com will buy eBay. And no Washington companies will conduct initial public offerings.
Non-Profit News
- Montana's First Lady and Qwest Foundation to Surprise Teachers with Technology Grants
Schweitzer said, "I congratulate teachers and thank them for bringing innovative teaching practices into the classroom. Oftentimes the hard work of a teacher can inspire a student to attain new heights and spark their interest in careers in math, science and technology."
Energy
- Bozeman’s Greg Mortenson, co-author of “Three Cups of Tea” and a founder of the Central Asia Institute honored with citizen diplomacy award
“It’s really an honor to receive this award,” Mortenson said Tuesday from his home in Bozeman. “I think in this country, there is a yearning for peace. And I’ve met hundreds of people doing amazing things to build relationships in other countries.
Transportation
- Here come the plug-in hybrid-electric cars
Later this year, you'll be able to modify your gas Prius for less than $10,000.
- Helena, Montana -based Policy Institute proposes state-wide energy conservation office
“Enormous economic gains can be obtained through conservation, and many of those gains are distributed widely among all citizens,” said Bob Decker, executive director of the Helena-based Policy Institute.
- Digital Tools Help Users Save Energy, Study Finds. SOKETS.com provides the solution
Over a 20-year period, this could save $70 billion on spending for power plants and infrastructure, and avoid the need to build the equivalent of 30 large coal-fired plants, say scientists at the federal laboratory.
Montana Education Excellence
- Personal Rapid Transit: The Connective Tissue of Better Mobility
Two high-profile Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) systems are currently under construction, and their implementation could serve as a model for how cities can better connect their existing transit systems to improve mobility.
Leadership Montana
- Governor wants Montana schools to find efficiencies in administration
The governor was apparently responding to a recent Gazette State Bureau story that said despite the funding increase, more than 170 Montana school districts are facing potential layoffs and budget cuts.
- University of Montana's Dr. Steven Running named ‘Regents Professor'. "Global Climate Change: The Science Is In – Now What?" Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Dr. Steve Running, 1/18, Missoula:
“In a time when we are looking at major changes in our environment due to climate change, we really need to understand what is happening in Montana so we can develop specific information for people to use so they can make informed decisions.”
- Business Professionals of America Leadership Conference in Sidney
In the course of a student’s involvement in BPA, Stedman says the students leave with leadership qualities and confidence in their leadership.
- New energy degree offered in Montana
The University of Montana College of Technology and Montana Tech have teamed up to offer the two-year associate degree program in emerging, renewable and alternative energies.
- Schweitzer: University budgets too costly. The Montana School Boards Association "Governor should cooperate on funding"
Schweitzer said his message - that state government won't have the same level of tax revenues available to spend as it has had in recent years - was intended as a warning for the rest of state agencies as they begin working on their budget proposals.
- Microsoft: Education needs technology. Shift Happens
"Podcasting classes are “heading to K-12 schools like a freight train,”
- Funding Available from the The University of Montana Wilderness Institute for Montana Projects
The University of Montana Wilderness Institute is now accepting proposals for grants that support historical research, creative writing and wilderness studies projects that explore Montana’s land and people.
- Leadership Montana class to meet in Helena Jan. 10-12
At the heart of Leadership Montana will be the concept of community trusteeship. Leaders hold the future of their communities, their state and their families in trust.
- Managing Versus Leading
Are you a manager or a leader? Although these two terms are often thrown out interchangeably, they are in fact two very different animals complete with different personalities and world views.
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