|
|
|
| MATR Newsletter - Fri Jun 17, 2011 |
|
This MATR newsletter sponsored by: Add an event... Upcoming Events
New Events MATR supporter: MATR Web services provided by:  To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page |
"If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play." - John Cleese (Monty Python's Flying Circus)
Please participate: "Montana Business Confidence Survey" http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- 50+ artists, athletes, inventors, Nobel laureates, novelists, scientists, trailblazers and world changers to mentor 170 of the nation's most promising high school students from nearly every state at the University of Montana, 6/23-26 http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html ---
Montana Department of Commerce
Montana Department of Transportation
- Montana Technology Innovation Partnership - New Webinars Available
The MTIP staff would like to inform you of valuable new resources located on the MTIP website (http://www.mtip.mt.gov). Currently available are eight new webinars (two client webinars and six service provider webinars)!!
PrintingForLess
- Montana Department of Transportation - June Newsline
Montana's Scenic-Historic Byways Program
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- PrintingForLess.com Helps Customers Save 70% on Direct Mail Postage Costs with USPS Program
"Now is the perfect time for businesses to use direct mail to grow new customers and revenue," says Jared Tanner, PFL Vice President of Marketing.
Dorsey & Whitney LLP
- Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush helps launch Idaho education task force
"Luna's laws are about turning our public schools into private profit centers for education entrepreneurs - at the expense of taxpayers and our children's education."
- Bozeman schools double hiring of teaching coaches
School leaders are so sold on the value of instructional coaches that - in spite of tight budgets -- they're doubling the number of coaches to 8.5 next school year.
- Nation's Report Card finds only 20% of 4th-graders at proficient level in U.S. history
How much do you remember?
- Mr. Atari Wants To Bring The Video Arcade Into The Classroom
"Think Dance Dance Revolution meets step aerobics" meets education software.
- Iowa school district replaces traditional books with MacBooks
The school district signed a four-year lease agreement with Apple to provide the students with MacBook laptops.
- WA budget boosts early learning; money provided for full-day kindergarten and more
Creation of a cabinet-level Department of Early Learning. This governance structure is not found in many states. The department has a good track record of creating new programs and preserving funding during a difficult budget era.
- Geoffrey Canada's takeaway on education reform: If kids have no future, then business has no future
"You know what I get for my $5,000? I get kids who, starting from birth, are on grade level. I keep them healthy, I have to get them in college, I have to get them through college. You may say, 'I don't want to pay for that,' but you can't say it's a wasted investment."
Visit Montana
- Letters of Protest: An Attractive Alternative to a U.S. Opposition
A Letter of Protest (LOP) is an informal mechanism that a trademark owner may use to prevent another party from registering its mark at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Come Home Montana
- A Bucket List Must: Glacier and Beyond
Back to Civilization (or not...)
- A Bucket List Must - Glacier and Beyond
Back to Civilization (or not...)
- TED Video - Montana's Jack Horner: Building a dinosaur from a chicken
He's taking living descendants of the dinosaur (chickens) and genetically engineering them to reactivate ancestral traits -- including teeth, tails, and even hands -- to make a "Chickenosaurus".
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Montana State Society - Where Big Sky Meets the Beltway and the Host for the 7th Annual Montana Testical Festival
A place for those who were born, raised, educated, visited or (for one reason or another) have a connection to Montana...but happen to live in the Washington, D.C. area
- Montana Career Opportunities - Sr. Systems Engineer/Solutions Architect - Sr. Citrix Systems Engineer/Solutions Architect - CompuNet, Inc.
CompuNet Inc. is an engineering led company that partners and consults with customers in developing IT strategies that align with business objectives.
Montana Business
- Startup Weekend, Looking to Strengthen Communities for Entrepreneurs, Builds New Startup Foundation in Seven Cities
Startup Foundation is a natural outgrowth of the Startup Weekend phenomenon, which gives entrepreneurs 54 hours to organize themselves into teams and develop proto-companies that are ready to pitch investors for possible seed money.
- From the Ground Up: Fostering Entrepreneurship
Recognizing the urgency to kick-start the economy through entrepreneurship, the Kauffman Foundation sponsored the latest issue of Democracy--a Journal of Ideas to examine how the government can promote firm formation and growth.
Montana Economic Development
- Montana Business Confidence Survey
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and Montana Chamber of Commerce are looking to gauge business confidence among Montana companies via an online survey.
- Montana Telecommunications Association 2011 Annual Meeting - Registration Information
Come join us in Red Lodge, Montana - Gateway to Yellowstone National Park and the base of spectacular Beartooth Pass. Experience true Western hospitality in this quaint, historic, mountain town, while attending one of the nation's premiere telecommunications policy conferences.
- Montana Silversmiths Teams with Special K Ranch to Bring Business and Jobs Back to the US
Iconic Western Brand Introduces "Champions for a Cause: Bringing Business Home" with a $75,000 Fundraising Goal and Plans to Reduce Manufacturing From China
- Missoula's Alter Enterprises designs high-tech traps that let biologists monitor bears from afar
Alter has built a bear trap that sets itself, takes mug shots and phones home when it catches something.
- Interview with Jerry Nettuno, Schedulicity of Bozeman, Montana
Schedulicity has positioned itself as a leader in the online appointment scheduling market.
Regional Economic Development
- Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce offers talk on geotourism on 6/21
Geotourism is a type of tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of place - its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents.
- Montana's broadband economy needs bigger boost in rural communities
Montana residents lack high speed internet access at a rate more than three times the national average, affecting about 276,000 people.
Careers
- Execs stress education, training, tech transfer, immigration to Jobs Council
Better trained and educated workers - especially engineers - along with faster technology transfer from public labs to the private sector and an immigration plan helping foreign students to remain in the US headlined the shopping list of ways the government could help boost entrepreneurship and create more jobs.
- Strategies to attract &retain newcomers
What does a community do after it discovers the motivations of people moving to the region? How can they use this information to create a plan?
Funding and Building your Business
- The 6 hottest new jobs in IT
IT job seekers have real reason to hope.
Montana Education Excellence
- ADA makes your business accessible to more customers
Your employees aren't the only reason to make your business accessible -- customers care, too, and adjustments can make them feel more comfortable and welcome doing business with you.
- Private stock bill could become law by year-end
it would effectively eliminate SEC regulations that can compel private companies to go public, once they have distributed shares to a certain number of people.
- Investors Look for These Six Competitive Elements
So what are the business elements that investors look for to conclude that you may indeed have a sustainable competitive advantage? Here are the key ones:
- Why Great Ideas Fail
Chindogu - solution causes more problems than it solves.
- Ten Steps in Choosing the Right Startup Partner
There are useful approaches that will improve your odds of success.
- Five VCs Explain What They REALLY Think About Your Pitches
"Stay in touch" means "no."
- Why 'Go for it' can be music to an entrepreneur's ear
"If you see a turtle sitting on a fence post you can be sure he didn't get there by himself, he had plenty of help."
- A Logo Is Not a Brand
Brand is your strategy.
- Does your startup need to follow the patenting and financing rules of the game?
It's widely accepted that intellectual property and equity are essential ingredients for a start-up. But this is not true in every case
- Entrepreneurs Need Self-Discipline and Real Goals
Write your goals down.
- How to Divorce a Business Partner
Perhaps the riskiest approach is to continue running the business together even after the marriage ends.
- An Ode to Error: Entrepreneurship and the Importance of Being Wrong
Studies suggest that depressives actually have a more accurate picture of life's harshness than the rest of us.
- Look to your dog for advice on entrepreneurial success
Dogs can help teach small-business owners a thing or two.
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- 50+ artists, athletes, inventors, Nobel laureates, novelists, scientists, trailblazers and world changers to mentor 170 of the nation's most promising high school students from nearly every state at the University of Montana, 6/23-26
“This event will bring an exciting array of intellect and talent to campus, and we are ready to launch what should be an extraordinary four days,” said UM President Royce C. Engstrom, who also will serve as a mentor. “My hope is that a few of these top students will fall in love with Montana and decide to launch their academic careers here.”
Regional Business
- Montana farmers reap what they sow in supporting education - "Pulling for Education"
"In so many ways, it's a, 'Have education, will travel,' world. You won't get far without it." Sheila Stearns
- America Honda Foundation provides grant for MSU science outreach to fourth grade students on Crow Indian Reservation
The Crow Education Partnership - a project to provide science enrichment activities for fourth-grade students in the Hardin School District on the Crow Indian Reservation in south-central Montana.
Washington State Business
- Flynn's Harp: Seeking community-banker 'good guys'
"There are incredible stories of what community bankers have done for their towns," Schultz told me in a telephone interview a few days before his Florida speech. "I've got to find them to share with the general public."
Other Economies
- Will the Last Family Leaving Seattle Please Turn out the Lights?
The story is very different for young adults.
Community
- Using German ingenuity to fix our economy
Aheretical idea has entered the national discourse: Maybe some other nations handle their economies better than we do.
Energy and Climate Change
- A Call for More Pedestrian-Only Streets
Look what we're missing.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- More U.S. homes lease solar panels with no upfront costs
To finance installations in 7,000 to 9,000 homes, Google is creating a $280 million fund.
- Engineering Association Says Solar Power Can Overtake Fossil Fuels in 10 Years
Solar panels only need to generate around 15,000 gigawatts of power to provide enough energy for every household and business on the planet.
Non-Profit News
- Cardboard bike helmets better than plastic? Looks that way
What about rains and sweat? No problem. Surabhi's helmets mix the cardboard with a "waterproof acrylic compound" which makes them just as rain-resistant as the helmet you have now.
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- Entrepreneurs Help Nonprofits Become More Sustainable
This is a fast paced, high impact, visual (and loud) way for business leaders to help nonprofits in one of the most challenging times they have ever faced.
VIRUS ALERTS
- Free Community Guitar Performance In Bigfork With Jody Fisher, Andrew Leonard And Doug Smith, 6/24, Bigfork, Montana
Enjoy a free evening of “Music in the Mountains” on Friday, June 24 at an outdoor concert to be held in Bigfork at the Saddlehorn Trapper Cabin Village.
- New 'mass-meshing' attack poisoning small-business websites
The perpetrators have successfully improved upon a popular style of attack known as mass SQL injection, the most prominent recent example of which was the so-called Lizamoon attack last March that corrupted an estimated 5,600 websites, according to Google researcher Niels Provos.
To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page