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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Oct 28, 2008 |
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." -- Cicero , 55 BC
Great info and events that will contribute to the future of Montana: " Montana Capital Investment Board Launches New Website and News of Pending RFP for a Fund Manager" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- "Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Consultant Bill Joos is Coming to Bozeman to Help You With Your Startup -11/5" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- "Montana’s Economy – By the Numbers! " http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- "MSU Billings School of Business to Host Starting Angel Organizations- 11/13 " http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- and an example of the innovation that makes Montana so wonderful and full of potential: "Logan and Jenni Bryce of the Belt-Highwood area in Montana win big for inventing personal wind turbine" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- and if you have a moment to reflect: "London Times Obituary - Common Sense" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Dorsey & Whitney LLP
Making the Most of the American Prairie
- Web Free-For-All on the Horizon — Brand Owners Should Begin Planning Their Defensive Strategy Now
Web 3.0 is fast approaching and brand owners should beware—it is not designed with you in mind
MSU Leadership Institute
- People on the Prairie - American Prairie Reserve October 2008 Newsletter
American Prairie Reserve will always include a strong element of human beings and their long and continuing association with this beautiful and unique landscape. In this issue we tell brief stories about just some of those people.
Come Home Montana
- Role of US in Darfur Genocide at MSU Lecture on Oct 28 - John Pendergast
John Prendergast, formerly an adviser in the White House and U.S. Department of State, is known for speaking frequently and powerfully about inhumanity in Africa's war-torn nations.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Montana Career Opportunity - President - Real Estate Division - First National Bank of Montana
This position is responsible for the profitability and growth of the real estate division and for bringing a sales management focus to the supervision, training and mentoring of the real estate loan originators.
- Montana Career Opportunities - Energy Management System Engineers - NorthWestern Energy
Engineers will provide computer support for NorthWestern Energy's electric energy management and related systems.
Leadership Montana
- Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Consultant Bill Joos is Coming to Bozeman to Help You With Your Startup
“We are excited to have someone of Bill’s caliber and experience in Bozeman to share his ideas and passion for entrepreneurs of Montana. We believe this will be a great conference and provide the attendees with a number of great ideas and tools for their individual companies.” Glenn Michael of Highway 12 Ventures
Montana Business
- George Osborne and the Dilemmas of Leadership
It makes sense for a public figure to have private conversations with those who might be helpful to the public cause. And the rich and powerful are high on the list. But how to ‘keep your wits when all about you are losing theirs .. walk with crowds and keep your virtue .. talk with kings nor lose the common touch’?
Montana Economic Development
- Studies: Climate change affects Walden Pond, Yellowstone
The studies show that the warming of the Earth's atmosphere over the past few decades has caused a loss of many of the flowers that Henry David Thoreau recorded in his book Walden and also has contributed to a decline in several species of native animals once common in Yellowstone.
- Most Bozeman area employers are expecting slow wage growth in the coming year, a recent survey shows.
At the Bozeman Job Service, a state-run office that links employers with employees, consultants report businesses are tempering their wage offers. “I have seen employers back off” their wage offers, Mike Pennington said. “They were going as high as they could go.”
Careers
- The Stevensville Main Street Association (SMSA) Annual Report
Take a drive down Main Street and you will see the new businesses, the renovations and expansions underway, and note the growing number of people doing their shopping locally.
- Montana’s Economy – By the Numbers!
Today, Montana is on the move…our aggressive economic development efforts have moved Montana into the forefront of economic activity in the nation.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Is there a hole in your resume?
A stretch of unemployment isn't the black mark it once was
Funding and Building your Business
- Montana Capital Investment Board Launches New Website and News of Pending RFP for a Fund Manager
The purpose of the Montana Capital Investment Act is to benefit the State of Montana by attracting out-of-state venture investment funds interested in providing equity capital and near-equity capital to Montana businesses, to nourish a private seed and venture capital industry in Montana and to encourage lead local investors, all to strengthen the State's economy and build a significant, permanent capital resource to serve the needs of Montana businesses.
- MSU Billings School of Business to Host Starting Angel Organizations
“Montana is ripe for this initiative” says Evan Barrett, Chief Development officer for the State. “We have more and more high net worth individuals willing to invest locally and we are seeing an ever increasing growth in entrepreneurial activity in bio science, energy and information technology.”
Incubators and R&D
- The Care and Feeding of Entrepreneurs with Guy Kawasaki
The more I meet with entrepreneurs the less I think I can pick them.
- Looking Ahead: Opportunities and Challenges for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Owners
This paper outlines the most important issues and opportunities facing small business owners and entrepreneurs in this election year. While it does not delve into policy solutions, the next administration will almost certainly need to address many of them, regardless of who wins the presidency.
- Evaluating the CEO
How I got the board to give me real feedback once I became CEO.
Montana Education Excellence
- Logan and Jenni Bryce of the Belt-Highwood area in Montana win big for inventing personal wind turbine
Bryce said there is a need for wind turbines in the $2,000 range that can operate at low wind speeds, and he believes the team's invention may fit the bill.
Idaho Business
- American Computer Museum in Bozeman exhibit - “From Astronomy to Zoology: 1,500 years of Women in Science and Technology” aims to inspire
“From Astronomy to Zoology: 1,500 years of Women in Science and Technology,” aims to raise awareness of women like Bourgeois, Lovelace and Franklin and inspire people n especially young girls - to be scientists.
- The sixth Annual Rocky Mountain College computer-programming competition for high school students will be Nov. 8, in Technology Hall in Billings.
The public is invited to the final round of the competition, which begins at 1 p.m. in Technology Hall.
- Bozeman schools focus on raising math scores
Most Bozeman public school students are doing very well in reading, but roughly one-third struggle in math, and many of those having a hard time are low-income students.
- University of Montana students can study at new partner university in Australia
The University of Montana has a new partner university, Southern Cross University, located on Australia’s east coast.
Utah Economic Development
- Boise, Idaho solar firm, US Solar working on thermal storage in Arizona
Unlike typical photovoltaic solar plants, which use direct sunlight to produce energy, the Saguaro plant uses a technique called concentrating solar power (CSP) – a complex of mirrors that track the sun and focus solar energy on a heat transfer fluid which, in turn, converts water to steam and powers turbines to produce electricity.
- PakSense Announces Wireless Temperature Monitoring
Enables quick assessment of product quality without costly infrastructure investments
Washington State Business
- Sorenson Legacy Foundation gift to launch University of Utah tech complex
"With Utah's combination of higher education, research and innovation, we can lead the world in biomedical development."
Education
- Spokane-based IT company Cycrest Systems buying Allied Systems - looking for new employees
Cycrest, which has been in business since 1992, sells, installs, and supports computer hardware, and software, and networking and operating systems. For customers with fewer than 75 computers, it’s an off-site IT provider, while for larger companies with up to 500 computers it serves as a backup support provider.
Community
- A Plan to Cut the High School Dropout Rate
HIGH school graduation rates are universally seen as a barometer of success, or failure, in education. Parents, college admissions officers, even savvy real estate agents rely on that particular statistic to tell them if a school is any good.
Connectivity & Communications
- Seven NEW Community-Friendly Grants
"Facilitating Rural Community Transformation - from Striving to Thriving"
Energy
- 7 Fantastic Internet Hoaxes
Despite our increasing technological sophistication, we can't help falling for email about Bigfoot, giant mutant cats, doomed tourists, and deadly butt spiders.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- 2 greenhouse gases on the rise worry scientists
And that has scientists wondering about accelerated global warming.
- Campuses find going green can be tough
Some 580 colleges have vowed to cut their greenhouse-gas impact to zero. Many missed the first deadline.
- New solar cell material achieves almost 100% efficiency, could solve world-wide energy problems
Researchers at Ohio State University have accidentally discovered a new solar cell material capable of absorbing all of the sun's visible light energy.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Apple Is Ready to Take a Bite of Silicon Valley
The obvious opportunity given the country's state of financial ruin is for Apple to swoop in on smaller companies while they're vulnerable and cheap.
- Google Founders Buy Fighter Jet
Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and Google CEO Eric Schmidt must have new plans to attack the competition
- London Times Obituary - Common Sense - (Words we should all think about....)
'Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
GIS Technology
- The possibilities of a 'portable eye'. Ray Kurzweil says device for blind has much broader uses
As with many of his innovations, Kurzweil plans for the software to be useful - perhaps incredibly useful - to sighted users in a few years from now.
Government Technology
- Dick Clark, State of Montana Chief Information Officer, to represent all 50 states on a national board on the use of digital geographic information tools and services for the nation
"Mr. Clark's appointment to this national board recognizes his hard work and dedication to the efficient use of geographic information systems (GIS) in Montana," said Janet R. Kelly, Director of the Montana Department of Administration. "Under his leadership, Montana has become a national leader in the use of digital information to describe geography."
Non-Profit News
- How Web 2.0 will Transform Local Government
How can government use Web 2.0 tools to make a better community? Here are some ideas and examples:
Transportation
- Achieving Excellence in Nonprofits
Board and executive leaders today are confronted by a confusing landscape of conflicting demands, rapidly evolving rules, and changing opportunities for finding the resources they need.
- New Road Signage Directs Motorists To 'Move Over' For Cyclists
A single bike activist, tired of being honked at by motorists as they passed her in a narrow lane, lobbied her small city for a sign directing motorists to "change lanes to pass", and got it. Motorists have since ceased honking and changed lanes.
- New Study: More Parking=More Driving
A new U of PA study, 'Guaranteed Parking, Guaranteed Driving' compares two NYC neighborhoods, showing decisively that providing off-street parking is a sure way to guarantee more driving.
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