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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Sep 16, 2005 |
This will be a very worthwhile event: "Preparing The Flathead Valley For A 21st Century Economy: The Role Of K-14 Education, 9/16, Kalispell, MT" http://www.matr.net/events.phtml?showdetail=1337 ------ and please plan on attending the next MATR event: " MATR Gathering - LA Ad Executive , Mario Schulzke - "Business Development From An Ad Man’s Perspective" 9/28, Missoula" http://www.matr.net/article-16012.html
Come Home Montana
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Expert helps Sidney, Montana plan for future
"Sidney is a cohesive and healthy community with a strong pioneering spirit that offers opportunities for entrepreneurs and new leaders. It encourages and supports young families to put down roots in a community with small town values and big town services. Sidney is a thriving regional center, embracing its' identity as a destination for experience-based outdoor recreation and building on its homestead heritage. Its value-added agriculture is world renown, and showcases a unique natural western quality."
- Tjeldes say rural life in area can't be beat
"I came back because I could," Tjelde said. "I always saw myself living here, so when I had the opportunity, that's what I did."
- Revitilazation consultant excited about local attitudes in Lewistown, Montana
“Lewistown is the poster child for other communities in how dramatically a community can turn around.
- Featured "Come Home Montana" Community~LAVINA
Lavina is included in the "Better for Business Program" and continues to work on assessment of the community to create a open and welcoming place for businesses and families.
- Montana-Jobs.net Featured Career ~ Graphic Designer
The individual will be assisting in the concept, design and creation of advertising/marketing materials for the company.
- Montana-Jobs.net Featured Talent - Desired Field: Management / Organization / Communication
I am well suited for placement in the insurance, legal, and state or federal government markets.
Education
- Biz database can open doors - a boon to business owners as well as marketers, researchers and anyone thinking of starting a business
"Suppose you want to get into the wedding photography business, and you want to know who your competition is," Heldt said. "You can find out who the other wedding photographers are within x miles of downtown Helena."
Montana Business
- B-School Tries Online Game, Scholarship to Spur Interest
"We hope to get a little viral marketing going so that people spread the word that Simon is an innovative place worth taking a look at," says Dean Mark Zupan.
- Idaho State Superintendent of Public Instruction calls for greater state support - proposed budget asks for $47.5 million more to support public schools.
Howard said the proposal comes after four years of level funding and rising costs that "have eroded the capacity of schools to offer even basic educational programs."
Montana Economic Development
- ASiMI cuts 20 jobs in Butte - New Norwegian owners cite power costs, product shift among reasons for layoffs
ASiMI is laying off about 40 technical and administrative workers in Butte and Moses Lake, Wash., to adjust to a cyclical polysilicon market and skyrocketing electricity bills, Chief Executive Officer Goran Bye said from his Butte office.
- Dam flap leads to resignation from Lolo Peak ski resort committee
"It looks to me that as far as Tom Maclay is concerned, it's all one way," he said. "He thinks he's doing great things for the Missoula community. He thinks the public should give its full support to the project and tell the Forest Service to give him everything he wants."
- Cities close in on NorthWestern Energy stock deal
If Harbert agrees to sell, the purchase would still need to cross a number of regulatory and other barriers. "But we'd be 90 percent of the way there," Kadas said.
- Montana cities asked to pony up $25K more apiece for public power bid
The board of directors of Montana Public Power Inc. voted unanimously Wednesday to ask its five cities to each ante up another $25,000 to fund the effort to buy NorthWestern Corp. and bring its finances out of the red.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- S. African firm to visit Montana to consider coal-to-fuel project, A $5B plant could employ 2,000 people
Passage of the federal energy bill this summer makes a project like this one a possibility because of tax incentives and loan guarantees, Rehberg said.
- USDA Rural Development Announces $2.1 Million for Montana's Tribal Colleges
These colleges are the cornerstone for the communities they serve and Rural Development is committed to do everything we can to ensure they meet the needs of their students.”
Funding and Building your Business
- So, You Wanna Fund a Startup? & How Can I Get Angels to Invest in My Company? Do we have a match?
Private equity investing is an incredibly lucrative proposition if done correctly.
- Tax Breaks For Angels - To foster technology transfer, states reward early-stage investors.
Legislators are especially eager to promote technology transfer from state universities. "I want to make sure that ideas can become commercialized and that those companies will stay in Arizona,"
Regional Economic Development
- Can Your Lawyer Handle Venture Capital Financing?
To find out if your attorney has what it takes, start by asking him or her what the following terms like "Weighted average anti-dilution formula" mean:
- The September edition of the SBA Solutions newsletter
- With PayPal Backing, Will Micropayments Work This Time?
A new pricing plan, PayPal argues, will make micropayments viable for everything from ring tones and video clips to online greeting cards and downloadable stories. Will consumers buy it?
- Bezos on the Feedback Loop of Branding
Jeff Bezos explains why companies cannot completely control the brand-building process.
- Intellections
Utah Economic DevelopmentGovernment Technology
- Some pretty, great state slogan ideas -
"Less Weird Than You've Heard."
- Skilled workers in short supply in Utah
Only a few other states can claim higher job-growth numbers so far this year, leaving employers in several industries facing shortages of qualified workers.
Idaho Business
- State and Federal E-Government in the United States, 2005 - Utah and Maine lead the way. How does your state rank?
Among other things, Montana is the only state that offers a "Submit your Good Ideas" option on its State portal page.
- Phone alerts enlist neighbors' help to find missing kids in Montana
Price said he believes an alert program like A Child Is Missing could have saved lives during his career.
- Health Records Of Evacuees Go Online - First trial for national Electronic health records
Although the immediate focus is on urgent care for hurricane victims, participants in the effort say the disaster demonstrates a broader need to computerize individual health records nationwide and make them available throughout the medical system.
Government
- Dalai Lama tells Idaho business leaders to have a heart
Monday's event was meant to encourage the powerful to incorporate compassion into how they conduct their business and public lives.
- Montana timber tycoon developer (The Yellowstone Club) Tim Blixseth, now owns chunk of Idaho - Round Valley neighbors unhappy with clearcutting
Tim Blixseth, the new owner of 180,000 acres of Idaho timberland, says he wants to be a good neighbor.
Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)
- Finding a Way - Work force issues test the public sector's human resources strategy. 68% of classified employees in Montana's state govt. are eligible for retirement in the next 5 years. This is the highest % in the nation.
"It's a fairly sophisticated argument that the change in the government's role in IT -- to pull it off successfully -- you need a change in government HR practices to allow for more people to come in at midcareer levels," he said. "HR has been a very transactional and control-oriented function, not a function that typically thinks strategically about how the management of people can help an agency reach its mission. It's been much more processing paperwork and checking for rule compliance."
Incubators and R&DUniversity TechTransfer
- Pharmacy Rising - University of Montana's top-funded Skaggs School of Pharmacy and is now ranked fifth in the nation among ninety-two pharmacy schools in total research funding.
"I think (the previous administration of the pharmacy school) didn't see the importance or the role that research could play," Bridges says, "so it wasn't a priority for the faculty ... it's not surprising that not much grew. I came in after the philosophical decision had been made that research was important and a good thing to do."
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- UC Berkeley opens Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology to encourage high-tech leaders.
CET represents another step in the growing and sometime controversial partnership between universities and businesses in developing and commercializing products. Universities are increasingly demanding their fair share of the proceeds from such products.
Non-Profit News
- Missoula Cultural Council - Some news and upcoming events for the week of September 12, 2005
- The 2005 Montana Festival of the Book - The Region's Largest Literary Event in Missoula, Montana September 22nd-24th
Montana has long been recognized for its rich literary life.
Energy
- Staples Foundation for Learning Offers Job Training and Educational Grants
- University of Montana Project Addresses Needs of State's Nonprofits
A 2005-06 American Humanics Cohen Grant awarded to The University of Montana will help to enhance professional development opportunities for employees of the state’s nonprofits.
Making the Most of the American Prairie
- Conservation holds key, speaker says Biodiesel focus at Wyoming Energy Conference
Using biodiesel fuel will save consumers money, ease dangerous emissions into the environment and lessen the country's reliance on foreign oil, a speaker at a renewable energy conference said here Monday.
- U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is soliciting applications for the Inventions and Innovation Program (I&I)
Under this solicitation, DOE will provide grants to fund the development of energy saving technologies. Projects that reduce energy consumption and have future commercial markets may be eligible for financial and technical support through this competitive funding opportunity process.
- Need energy? Get a cow! "Got Manure?"
Researchers at Ohio State University have been running fuel cells using this ubiquitous farm waste.
- New website from Bozeman, Montana helps homeowners "see the solar light" and the benefits of incorporating solar power in a structure. BuildItSolar.com
The thought behind this non-commercial site is that around $180 billion are spent on DIY Home Improvement projects each year. If 10 or 20% of that could be channeled into renewable energy projects it would do some good, AND get more homeowners enthused about solar energy.
Connectivity & Communications
- Idaho Prairie's growing pains - Top architect says conservation plan needed for Prairie
"No plan has been put in place to channel future growth into areas that are most appropriate," he said. "We're seeing rampant suburban-style growth, and that's not the model we want. Suburban growth is synonymous with car-dependent cities and the disappearance of green space and quality of life as you know it in Post Falls."
Transportation
- Killer Buzz Flocks to New "Social" Browser
It's a clear attempt to be the browser of choice for the Web 2.0 user.
- BT Targets Wireless Competitors With Mobile-To-Fixed Phone
BT recently launched what is billed as the world's first cellular phone that combines fixed and mobile networks. Dubbed "BT Fusion," the system functions as a mobile device outside the home, but switches seamlessly to a BT broadband line when the user returns home.
- Google's search wizards work magic for blogs
The new tool, unveiled Wednesday at http://blogsearch.google.com, focuses exclusively on the material contained in the journals known as Web logs, or ''blogs.''
- Wi-Fi With Its Own Zip Code - Addison, Tex residents get fast wireless Web access for just $16.95 a month
Now, Addison's 100,000 residents can buy fast wireless Web access from startup RedMoon Inc. for just $16.95 a month -- a far better deal than most phone or cable broadband offerings.
- Panel urges changes in telecommunication regulations to fuel new industry
Kovacs called for major changes in the law to allow "consumer demand, advances in technology and competition between telecommunication companies" to drive the market, not government rules.
Community
- Questions, answers about bankrupt airlines
With three of the nation's 10 biggest air carriers already in bankruptcy, the impact so far has been surprisingly light for travelers. Here is what to look for.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Planning failure: A Flathead case study
Montana is a land of dreams, some are sweet, some are nightmares. Many of the dreams that people arrive in Montana with are fantasies based on one summer trip through Yellowstone or a drive over the Going-to-the-Sun Road with little understanding of the complex and at times severe nature of the place.
Events
- 'Bionic eye' has potential to cure blindness
The implant would allow doctors to restore the sight of more than 800,000 people in the UK.
- Concrete's future looks lighter, greener
'Green' concrete: the climate-saver?
- Camera phones will be high-precision scanners
With the new software entire documents can be captured.
- MATR Gathering - LA Ad Executive , Mario Schulzke - "Business Development From An Ad Man’s Perspective" 9/28, Missoula
Learn what it's like to be so successful in growing the company that you have to share a cube with a guy named Steve.
- Canyon Hideaway "A Special Family Gathering Place For Child & Parent" Build Dates 10/11-16, Hamilton, Montana
Become one of the many that Support Canyon Hideaway? http://canyonhideaway.com/funds_materials.htm Among our supporters are the City of Hamilton, the National Guard (the landowners), dozens of major donors both local and regional, and hundreds of dedicated volunteers.
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