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| MATR Newsletter - Fri May 11, 2012 |
“Every business person in this room: Leave here as an advocate for early childhood education. Leave here saying you, too, believe we need to start prenatally. Make sure the children don’t start behind the 8-ball.” George Burtch, Hasbro Games
Governor Brian Schweitzer's Office of Economic Development and The California Chapter Of The Montana Ambassadors Invite You To A "Life Sciences Technology Event", 5/23, San Francisco, CA http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- Got Your 6 http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Montana Department of Commerce
Highway 12 Ventures
- Montana Department of Commerce Business Resources Division Newsletter SPRING 2012
Montana Exports Reach All Time Record High
Come Home Montana
- More Sphero Fun: Sphero-as-Orange Prank
In more proof that you can't have too much fun at a startup, Boulder-based Orbotix has a new video out, where some of the company's engineers cleverly disguised the robotic ball as an orange.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Montana Career Opportunities - Senior Developer, Junior Developer, Arrow Solutions Group
We're looking for someone who, above all else, has a solid understanding of OO coding and design skills and can not only explain these, but demonstrate them in code
- Montana Career Opportunities - System Engineer, System Administrator, System Technician, Service Center Coordinator, - First Call Computer Solutions
We are looking for straightforward, hard working people who enjoy IT and want to help people and businesses in Missoula and the surrounding area.
- Montana Career Opportunity - Senior Program Officer, Ranching and Conservation - World Wildlife Fund
Under the supervision of the Deputy Director of the WWF Northern Great Plains office with support and guidance from the Director of Livestock, Market Transformation Initiative (MTI), the Senior Program Officer will engage the ranching community in the Northern Great Plains (NGP) priority region, and key stakeholders including donors and partner NGOs in ways that contribute to the achievement of WWF's mission and leverage WWF conservation strategies.
MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association
- Montana State University Billings business students win national competition
"It's a big deal for the Crow community and other local tribes for students to do well," said A.J. Otjen, associate professor of marketing and AIBL adviser. "For us to go and win, it means a lot to the community because parents sacrifice everything so their kids go to college."
Montana Ambassadors
- MEDA SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: It's here! MEDA Program Review Request
The Montana Economic Developers Association, working with several State and Federal agencies, is today instituting a process that will allow our members to request explanations and/or modifications to Federal and State programs and processes.
Montana Business
- Governor Brian Schweitzer's Office of Economic Development and The California Chapter Of The Montana Ambassadors Invite You To A "Life Sciences Technology Event", 5/23, San Francisco, CA
Please join us for this special event that will focus on connecting California and Montana Life Sciences companies, including startups and well-established firms.
Montana Economic Development
- TerraEchos, Inc. Closes Additional Seed Investment from True Ventures
TerraEchos has created the world's leading analytic solution that turns peta-bytes of seemingly unrelated data into precisely the right insight - at precisely the right instant in time," said True Ventures Partner John Burke.
- Gardiner, Montana company, CoolWorks.com tabbed by White House for summer jobs initiative
While the business is a success, what CoolWorks.com employees enjoy most is hearing from people whose lives were changed by a summer job found through the site, said Berg, who's celebrating the 40th anniversary of his first summer in the Rocky Mountains.
- Global Technologies Group Inc., a Florida-based environmental technology company, has signed a letter of intent to purchase Butte's MSE Technology Applications Inc.
The company plans to invest substantial money into the Butte facility and quickly re-energize hiring.
- Schedulicity Appoints Pictela Co-Founder and CEO Greg Rogers to Board of Directors
Schedulicity is the leading online appointment scheduling solution for small businesses.
- Missoula, Montana based ALPS Corporation Welcomes New President and COO, David Bell
"For ALPS to get a person with David's insurance knowledge and background and sense of humanity is huge," said Robert W. Minto, Jr., ALPS Chief Executive Officer. "I've been working to induce him back to Montana for a number of years and count this hire as one of my greatest successes at ALPS. He and I, together with my current senior management team, see no limit to what ALPS can accomplish."
Careers
- Next Generation Site Selector Application Complete Solution for Realtors, Businesses and Economic Developers Released
Site Selector is a state of the art web-based application that provides tools those looking to locate to communities in Montana as well as local businesses that need access to authoritative spatial data on economic factors.
- Seeing the impact Tony Preite takes on role to help local Montana economic develoment organizations
"The purpose is to try to find the resources necessary to complete the larger projects. The days of one federal or state program funding an entire project are gone. That's how my position comes into play."
Come Home Idaho
- Got Your 6
"Got Your 6″ is a campaign led by the entertainment industry that will help create a new conversation in America, one where veterans and military families are perceived as both leaders and civic assets.
Come Home North Dakota
- Software Development Engineer - Clearwater Analytics
Clearwater is looking for very talented individuals who thrive on solving problems and developing new skills.
Government
- 24,000 open and available positions online in North Dakota
"We have had cases here at Medcenter when the applicant is in the process of submitting their application and the manager is calling them already."
Idaho Business
- Montana Governor Schweitzer Announces Proposal to Return $12 Million to Oil & Gas Cities and Towns
"This $12 million will go to help mitigate the impacts felt by longtime residents in the communities that are helping develop Montana's natural resources at record pace."
- State program helps veterans start businesses
VETransfer will use $100,000 of the money from the state to establish the seed fund. That $100,000 should provide an estimated 15 grants to veteran-owned start-ups
- States Smarten Up on Economic Development Incentives
Now, steadily accumulating evidence suggests that states are getting smarter in their design of incentive packages and that the practice is changing, gradually, for the better.
Incubators and R&D
- 5 friendliest states for small business - Idaho leads the list
Other states in the top 5 were Texas, Oklahoma and Utah -- all of which scored an "A+" -- and Louisiana which scored an "A".
Regional Economic Development
- Local startup mentoring program selects 9 companies for its 2012 class
The comapnies will receive advising from mentors that include founders and key individuals from companies like Omniture, Cisco and Skull Candy.
Utah Economic Development
- Small Cities Are Becoming a New Engine Of Economic Growth
Why are the stronger smaller cities growing faster than most larger ones? The keys may lie in many mundane factors that are often too prosaic for urban theorists.
- Millions of jobs will "reshore" back to U.S.
Boston Consulting Group managing director Hal Sirkin predicts that rising labor costs in China and other countries will "reshore" 2-3 million manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. over the next decade.
Washington State Business
- Economic Development Board offers incentives aimed at creating more than 1,100 jobs
"Each of these companies is a leader in its industry, and Utah is stronger today because each one has made the commitment to grow its workforce well into the future."
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- Web developers upset with free site offer
Catching the criticism has been Greater Spokane Inc., Spokane's chamber of commerce. In March the business advocacy group included a news release about the free website program in its newsletter, sent to about 4,900 area businesses.
Education
- Help your students become better web searchers with this new Google site
"Web search can be a remarkable tool for students, and a bit of instruction in how to search for academic sources will help your students become critical thinkers and independent learners,"
- Iowa Governor Announces Statewide STEM Network
This is the first major initiative of the new Governor's STEM Advisory Council, a public-private partnership whose overarching goal is creating greater student achievement in STEM subjects and a stronger STEM workforce.
Montana Education Excellence
- Building a road to tech education in Idaho
Boise State is trying to increase the number of STEM graduates into a world where an expanding number of jobs, from computer software engineers to biologists, will require a background in technology, math and sciences.
Community
- AWARE school making progress in Anaconda, Montana
AWARE Inc. plans to build its new Center for Excellence east of Anaconda by next year, providing school and treatment for children with serious behavioral and emotional needs.
- Educators share ideas, insights at Missoula TEDx talk - Videos of presentations coming shortly
"This has pushed us to go outside our comfort zone and boundaries."
- MSU strategic plan puts spotlight on making a difference
The new plan would commit MSU to greater emphasis on service, one of three traditional roles of land-grant universities, along with teaching and research, Jim Rimpau, vice president for planning.
- University of Montana Center Offers Summer Immersion Arabic Program For High School Students
Bitar said the UM institute already has several success stories to show for past grants, including graduates who received full-ride scholarships to study intensive Arabic in countries such as Morocco and Oman.
Funding and Building your Business
- Pocket Neighborhoods: Building Blocks for Resilient Communities
Essentially, pocket neighborhoods are small groups of houses or apartments gathered around a shared open space.
- SIX new grant announcements
- Opening Access to Community Scenario Planning Tools
The use of scenario planning and visioning tools will surely only increase in the future.
Energy and Climate Change
- How to Show Your Customers a Little Extra Love
The right time to put a formal customer service program in place, with measurements, is before the first sale of your product or service to a customer.
- An Entrepreneur Has to Learn the Art of Saying No
Startups require focus, so you need to say 'no' to some things, in order to do the important things well.
- The Best Entrepreneurs Are Undaunted by Failure
People who are afraid of failing should not become entrepreneurs.
- Tech Companies Still Facing Hiring Problems
Many tech companies are competing for employees, but that's actually a good thing, said Tim Sullivan, Ancestry.com CEO. With a healthy technology community, employees are more willing to move to a certain area, knowing that if something doesn't work out they can find another job.
- Social-media intern can teach your business a lot
This year, you have a particularly good reason to hire an intern: social media.
- 8 Mistakes Even Top Exec's Make When Pitching VC's
Here is a collection of stories about meetings with venture capitalists that can serve as good lessons on what not to do.
Connectivity & Communications
- Airborne windmills produce fifty percent more energy
Makani Power http://www.makanipower.com/ has created a tethered wind turbine that can generate power by flying aloft in large circles, much the way a kite does.
- Solar Installers Offer Deals, Gaining Converts
Industry executives even predict that solar leases could one day be bundled and sold as securities like mortgages and other loans.
- 2012 is USA's warmest year on record, so far
5 degrees above the long-term average.
- Governments Can Play Big Role In Expansion Of Smart Grid
Smart grids are increasingly contributing to governments' strategies to achieve larger goals related to energy security and low-carbon economic growth.
Government Technology
- What's America's Most Engaging Social Network? You'll Be Surprised
As opposed to sites like Facebook, where people primarily organize and maintain relationships established offline, Tagged functions mostly as a portal to meet new people online for romance or simply friendship. The site's algorithms encourage users to connect based on shared interests, tastes and hobbies.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Roseville, Calif.: A Sleepy Railroad Town Grows Up Digitally
From a technology standpoint, this singular focus will result in the upcoming launch of a virtual city hall, Hong said, as well as the implementation of private cloud and shared cloud services -- all to improve citizen services and maintain Roseville's standing as a technology leader.
- Where is technology in government headed? - State and Local CIOs See the Future (VIDEO)
Sooner than you think, there could be publicly subsidized tablets for every citizen, smartphones that double as a multipurpose CPU, and applications that are entirely platform agnostic.
- A new hope for back pain sufferers?
Just imagine: A procedure that repairs and re-grows discs, that doesn't involve spinal fusion, that's no more than minimally invasive, outpatient surgery.
- High-tech ghost town to be built in New Mexico
"It brings so many great opportunities and puts us on a world stage,"
- Maker Community: 5 Reasons to Download Autodesk Inventor Fusion Now
Many people in the "maker" community were worried when Autodesk acquired DIY community Instructables last year. But this new release shows they alone are willing to provide tools for the Mac's creative user base. This release could be a huge boon for the hobbyist 3-D printer crowd and is a milestone in the next industrial revolution.
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