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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Dec 27, 2005 |
MATR
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Thanks to Fran Coover for these timely quotes: "Fortune favors the prepared mind." - Louis Pasteur ---- Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education...The human mind is our fundamental resource. - JFK
"Barbed Wire: Rural poverty in Montana not always acknowledged. Eight Montana counties are at the bottom of the national list for average wages and salaries." http://www.matr.net/article-17500.html
MEDA Entrepreneur Working Group
Education
- How to Raise an Entrepreneur
Positive attitude is everything
- Local entrepreneurs tap MSU-B student expertise for building business plans
"If we'd have done what they suggested, we'd have hit the biggest home run ever,"
Montana Business
- Expansion Management Magazine Publishes its 15th Annual EDUCATION QUOTIENT™ Ranking of 2,800 School Districts
“In today’s knowledge-based global economy, nothing is more important to companies than the ability to find, and employ, an increasingly well-educated work force,”
- Educational black hole in Montana and other States
Parents might be surprised by these findings, but business leaders aren't. Captains of Intel, Microsoft and IBM have joined with university leaders from Yale, MIT and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to deliver a unified message: U.S. students are falling dangerously behind in science and technology.
Montana Economic Development
- End of an era - Longtime craftsmen of fly rods leaving Winston Rod Co. over changes, clashes with management
“There's been an unbelievable outpouring from grateful people,” said Brackett. “It's nice to know that so many believe we've contributed to our craft ... that we've been able to do something right.”
- $61 million in federal money heading to Montana. Butte getting $27.9 million
“The great thing about this is we don’t compete with any other Montana business and we bring skilled engineers to Butte,” Don Peoples, MSE president
- Conrad, Montana area firm, International Truck Body hooks up with Air Force
"They (The Air Force) said (our work) was outstanding, but the process of getting ready for the inspection was nerve wracking," said Rob Cook, the company's operation manager. "You don't want somebody to come and tell you that your baby is ugly."
- Publication to recognize Great Falls, Montana area businesses
Great Falls Business is a monthly business journal published by the Great Falls Tribune.
Funding and Building your Business
- Workforce ranks as top economic development challenge in Montana, experts say
“Nobody is cheaper than we are,” he said, referring to Montana’s low labor costs, which are attractive to companies looking to expand or move. Yet, economic development is getting “backed up” by a shortage of trained workers.
- Barbed Wire: Rural poverty in Montana not always acknowledged. Eight Montana counties are at the bottom of the national list for average wages and salaries.
Regional poverty has moved out of the South to the Northern Great Plains, and eight Montana counties are at the bottom of the national list for average wages and salaries. An important element of the analysis is that none of these counties is home to an Indian reservation.
Regional Economic Development
- Three kinds of companies. VC and Angel investors put prospective companies in three buckets, and they only invest in one of them.
Entrepreneurs looking for money should think about where they fit.
- Survey: Employers lacking insight on what staff wants
"There are significant differences in the viewpoints of the worker and the employer about what motivates and drives retention."
- Strategies for Creating A Catchy Business Name. A Lesson About Branding From Mr. Happy Crack
Mr Happy Crack says... "A Dry Crack is a Happy Crack!"
- Licensing Your Invention vs. Going Into Business
Have an idea but not sure what to do with it? Our expert explains which money-making option is right for you.
Utah Business
- Workforce Development and Smart Growth
describes the implications of sprawling patterns of development from the perspective of workforce development and articulates why funders who seek to help workers gain family-supporting skills and jobs should also consider becoming involved in the emerging movement calling for better decisions that would implement smarter growth policies and practices.
- Economic Gardening List Serve. "How does your economic garden grow?"
The purpose of the mail list is to encourage discussion about an entrepreneurial approach to economic development (economic gardening) among industry professionals.
Government Technology
- Biotech buzz. After years of research and huge investments, Utah companies close in on breakthroughs
"This is a tremendously exciting time," Hunter says. "We're finally at that certain coming of age. All of us who have been involved with this company could soon be able to feel as though we have done all we set out to do back in 1986."
Washington State Business
- Virtual Village Square. What does it take to transform a lackluster municipal Web site into a vibrant community meeting place?
"We wanted people to start coming to our Web site more because we had plans to have an e-government portal," Konich said. "It would be hard to put something like that up and get any kind of activity on it if people didn't even know we had a Web site."
Wyoming Business
- Laid-off sawmill workers fear life after Weyerhaeuser
The company's Cosmopolis pulp mill is scheduled to close some time in 2006, displacing 245 workers. Gov. Christine Gregoire, legislators and local leaders are trying to find a buyer.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Wyoming Air tanker firm, Hawkins & Powers Aviation Inc. struggles to stay afloat
Hawkins & Powers Aviation Inc. has gone from being one of the country's largest aerial firefighting firms to the brink of bankruptcy.
Business Plan Forums
- The Best and Worst Tech Moments of 2005 from Wired Magazine... along with the 10 Sexiest Geeks...
It was the year corporate and university data spills just kept coming, and the Supreme Court decided technology companies can be held responsible for the bad behavior of their users.
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- Startups on Fire. The five winners of the Fortune Small Business student startup competition
"We have been so impressed by the credentials, plans, and ingenuity exhibited by the finalists that we are arranging follow-up meetings with representatives of our venture capital arm, SAP Ventures, for further evaluation of the plans."
Careers
- Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (Missoula) Announces 2006 Selections
Audiences to Discover Broad Range of Aesthetically Diverse Documentary Films at Festival in February 2006 in Missoula, Montana
Connectivity & Communications
- How to use business meeting to develop job opportunity
What's dishonest about discussing business and turning the talk to the possibility of working together? That is business.
- How to Get Ahead In Five Simple Steps
It may sound like a paradox, but you can focus too much time on your job at the expense of your career.
Transportation
- San Francisco seeks proposals for Wi-Fi. Citywide network would be free for users
Mayor Gavin Newsom's quest to blanket San Francisco with wireless Internet access took a big step forward Thursday, when the city opened formal bidding on the project
Community
- Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey
From 2006 Britain will be the first country where every journey by every car will be monitored
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- How Does A City Develop A Brand?
Why the branding of cities is often done so poorly
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