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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Dec 6, 2005 |
“We want an educated work force. If we don’t get that, forget the rest.” University of Montana President George Dennison
Getting the best and the brightest for your organization can also be a winning marketing campaign if you do it effectively: "Entrepreneurs and Employers - The Marketing Starts when You Receive the Resume" http://www.matr.net/article-17221.html
Education
MEDA Entrepreneur Working Group
- Respect your juniors: Collegians hear from kids themselves on how modern students learn
Mann and the rest of her fourth-grade class from Superior were on the University of Montana campus to show education majors how they use technology in their classroom.
- Montana Kids "Running and Walking across America" need your words of support. Please take a moment to give them words of encouragement.
The kids need encouragement, and we are at a turning point in this curriculum. If they can get through the holidays on pace, they stand a good chance of completing the trek! Encouraging words are like fuel that keep them going. Please consider visiting our site and sending a word of encouragement. It doesn't need to be long, and you don't need to know any of the kids to send a note of encouragement. You would be helping to motivate 95 kids in a very challenging task.
- Virtual education - Roseburg, Oregon Students talk with Montana author via video; other county schools join conferencing age
“A lot of teachers don’t realize what they can do, but they’re learning,” ESD network analyst Marvin Carroll said.
Montana Business
- Pushing University as Utah economy booster - " "We need to expose the entrepreneurship we have in Utah"
Utah's colleges and universities, he said, should be considered places that can generate more and higher-paying jobs for Utahns.
- Tomatoes on Steroids—Get on Board! Entrepreneurial development through Economic Gardening
The program is aimed at companies with fewer than 50 employees that have the potential to pay above average wages, have sustainable products and a unique or advanced technology.
- New aids to develop young entrepreneurs
"Dynamo is a successful initiative that has already reached thousands of children in Wales. It will encourage students to use their imagination and develop the entrepreneurial skills needed in the workplace and for the creation of future new businesses and jobs that Wales needs. "These skills are built up step-by-step through the years, enabling students to deepen their understanding as they mature."
Montana Economic Development
- Crafts makers follow their passion, but find it tough to make a living but they can learn more skills for success through the TRACE Program at MSU-COT
Crafts people must have a split personality -- business person and artist -- and there never seems to be enough time to do both jobs.
- Three Montana Attorneys with Dorsey & Whitney LLP Earn National Legal Industry Recognition. Congratulations to Jack Manning, Mae Nan Ellingson and Keith Strong.
“These recognitions indicate the high esteem in which Jack, Mae Nan and Keith are held by their peers and by the business community,” said Peter Hendrixson, Dorsey managing partner. It speaks to the high quality of legal service Dorsey attorneys strive to provide in Montana and worldwide.”
- Missoula County, DirecTV hammering out agreement
“Our issue is not unemployment but underemployment. We need to get the right company to push up from the bottom. I think this is it,” Dick King said.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Chinese business people visit Missoula to discuss corporate connections
The business envoy is part of a new trend in U.S.-China relations, said Mansfield Center director Terry Weidner. Intent on improving relations with the United States by increasing Chinese investment in and imports from America, China's ambassador to the United States has encouraged business groups to reach out to businesses across the United States.
- Montana-Canadian power line could spur energy development
"If this happens, it will open up all kinds of possibilities for Great Falls to continue on the road to being an energy center," Great Falls City Manager John Lawton said. "I think it will stimulate all kinds of energy development here that will be very beneficial to our economy."
- Looking for a few good students: The University of Montana woos those priced out of college
“We want an educated work force. If we don’t get that, forget the rest.” University of Montana President George Dennison
Funding and Building your Business
- New Mexico Companies Have Attracted $140 Million in Investment Funds - A direct result of investing state money in venture capital funds.
"It's definitely a big plus for us and a good indicator on the way the economy is moving," said Charles Wollmann, a spokesman for the State Investment Council, which two years ago revived a 10-year- old initiative aimed at investing state money in venture capital funds.
Regional Economic Development
- Innovating with Simulation and Prototyping - Focus on INNOVATION - not the technical details
A public forum for discussing the design of software, from the user interface to the code architecture.
- Does doing good lead to doing well? BYU professor's research says companies benefit from philanthropy
"My article says philanthropy in particular may not earn your shareholders any more profits, but . . . it will preserve their value," he said.
- Tech guru, Guy Kawasaki sees rebound in start-ups
- Hiring for Executive Intelligence
Intelligence is the skill with which someone uses knowledge to solve a problem.
- Middle Management Excellence
What is the single most important thing a CEO can do to maximize his or her company’s performance?
- Help Wanted: Small-Business Owners Big Players in Politics
“If you run a business, you better get involved in politics or politics will run your business.”
- Entrepreneurs and Employers - The Marketing Starts when You Receive the Resume
What does your talent recruitment process say about your organization?
- Business Plans and Angel Investors
"Investors invest in you, your team and your products or services, in that order"; it is important to clearly convey your passion and knowledge.
Government Technology
- SBA Newsline Eight December 2005
- Homeshoring growing in popularity. Job offshoring is getting competition from increasingly popular homeshoring
Instead of moving offshore, call-center jobs like hers are going to home-based U.S. workers, and software programming jobs are moving to low-cost U.S. metro areas such as Oklahoma City or rural Greenville, N.C., instead of to India.
- USDA Awards $2.4 Million for Rural Development Research
"These grants support innovative research to help communities create and sustain rural community vitality and prosperity," Johanns said. "The Bush Administration is committed to helping improve the economy and quality of life in all of rural America."
- Business of art: It takes creativity
"People want to take home a piece of the artist," Miller says. For organizations such as the Northwest Crafts Alliance, the task at hand is figuring how to get enough people to those shows who want to take home a piece of the artist -- and leave enough money behind to keep the rest of the artist in business.
Idaho Business
- Montana added to national sex-offender Web site
The Web site provides real-time access to public sex-offender data nationwide with a single Internet search.
- State of Montana eCalendar of Events
View state government events posted by dozens of state agencies.
Washington State Business
- Jayco expands production in Twin Falls, Idaho
"When we moved here we had a three-year goal," said Yoder. "We're going to hit that three year goal in 18 months."
- Money talks, cheese company walks from possible move to Idaho
"We just could not compete with the monetary incentives which were extended by Texas and the communities surrounding Dalhart."
- Directory focuses on technology businesses and organizations actively involved in science and technology in Idaho
The 64-page directory, which lists more than 200 companies, research organizations and universities, will serve as a point of contact for people interested in doing business in Idaho, Commerce and Labor officials said.
- Tourism sector growing in Idaho - In Shoshone County, 22 percent of jobs depend on industry
Travel and tourism accounted for 5 percent of Idaho's gross state product in 2004, and a new study indicates the industry is providing an increasing share of the state's jobs and wages.
- Underground economy expands to new states including Idaho
"We're looking at hyper-growth areas. In Denver there's a huge Latino market there, and the same with Chicago," Cahoon said. "In Idaho, the Hispanic population is growing. It's huge, and we don't really have much competition."
Government
- World Wide Packets (Spokane) gets $25.5 million in venture capital and gained two new investors, one of them wireless pioneer Craig McCaw.
The company, based near Spokane, is building systems that help phone and cable carriers upgrade their copper-based telecommunications networks to ones that use fiber optics and Ethernet software.
- Angel investors put up $5 million to play with Big Fish Games
Big Fish was the second-fastest-growing online gaming site in the United States in October, and its 2.4 million unique visitors for the month put it in the top 10 of all gaming sites, according to ComScore Media Metrix.
Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)
- Missoula’s non-local purchases questioned - Utah votes to make bids public
Memo to businesses: Anyone - including competitors - can peruse the private proposals you submit to Utah state agencies.
Incubators and R&DUniversity TechTransfer
- BSU gets wind power grant - $500,000 will be used to study low-speed winds
The research is especially important in Idaho, where wind development companies are trying to capture low-speed winds to generate energy, Gardner said.
- Better Bananas, Nicer Mosquitoes
"We could have sorghum that cures latent tuberculosis. We could have mosquitoes that spread vitamin A. And most important, we could have bananas that never need to be kept cold." Bill Gates
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- UW-Madison third in nation in tech-transfer value
"There are 300 different universities that have technology transfer offices, and to be among the top three is a real honor for Wisconsin," said Andrew Cohn, public relations manager for WARF. "We are competing with Harvard, with Stanford, with all of these other great universities, and holding our own—in fact, doing better than holding our own."
Non-Profit News
- Giving back ... and then some - Phyllis Washington - “Education is where her heart is and where it's always been.”
“I thought here we are giving scholarships to students, but how can we give scholarships when we don't prepare our teachers?” Phyllis said. “I realized I wanted to make a difference in the School of Education.” “Education is the workhorse part of campus, but generally it's not the part that gets a lot of attention. When we were talking about a new building in the past, it was one of those things that seemed so distant. “When Phyllis and Dennis announced the $3 million gift, it became very clear to me that this will be happening very soon.”
- Keeping workers fully wired - MSU-Great Falls College of Technology's Computer Information Technology works closely with business leaders to keep curriculum current
"(Computer) technology has a shelf life of 18 months," said Clay Gehring, who works in the information technology department at the Great Falls-based Davidson Companies. "Then it's on to a new generation of faster, better and smaller." "In the education arena, you are not applying the technology, you are using it," Gehring said. "Talking to people who are doing real-life applications every day is a great way to keep your eye on the ball."
Connectivity & Communications
- Nonprofits as an economic force in Montana - Montana Nonprofit Association
In this season of charitable giving, Brian Magee hopes to highlight the contributions Montana's nonprofit organizations make to the state's economy and quality of life.
Community
- By the People - The latest release of the open-source Firefox browser includes many features requested, and even designed, by users.
Although it's only an incremental upgrade -- Firefox 2.0 is expected in mid-2006 -- the changes are obvious to anyone who has used the earlier version.
- Snared in the Web of a Wikipedia Liar
The question of Wikipedia, as of so much of what you find online, is: Can you trust it?
- BellSouth exec wants Net delivery fee
‘If we want to ruin the Internet, we’ll turn it into a cable TV system’’ that carries programming from only those who pay for transmission, Gigi B. Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a digital rights advocacy group, told the Post.
- Wikipedia crack down - writers told to register
Wikipedia, often cited as a prime example of the type of collective knowledge-pooling that the Internet enables, has about 850,000 articles in English, as well as entries in at least eight other languages, including Italian, French, German and Portuguese.
2005 Montana Legislature
- America's Best New Development Projects - Mixed-use developments in Nampa make it easier to walk to the store
...Mixed-use developments in big cities are becoming a hot trend in real estate. Sierra Club leaders say they support these kinds of developments because building more homes and businesses on existing urban land will help combat the problem of sprawl."
- The Silicon Valley Of Green Building - The Northwest is home to several prominent environmentally friendly architecture and development firms that are paving the way for a 'green' renaissance.
The standardization of green building techniques in recent years has helped define what is and isn't worthy of the label. That has made it easier for firms to focus and gain recognition for their efforts.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Printing Organs on Demand
"I think this is going to be a biggie," said Glenn D. Prestwich, the University of Utah professor who developed the bio-paper. "A lot of things are going to be a pain in the butt to print, but I think we can do livers and kidneys as well."
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