|
|
|
| MATR Newsletter - Fri Jan 13, 2006 |
"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C', the idea must be feasible." - A Yale University management professor in response to student Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
"MATR And MDA Roundtable With Missoula Mayor John Engen "The Future Of The Missoula Economy", 2/16, Missoula" http://www.matr.net/article-17677.html and " Oregon's bottom line: education. Business - Leaders at the economic summit say improving schools is crucial for the state to prosper." http://www.matr.net/article-17633.html
Come Home Montana
MEDA Entrepreneur Working Group
- Featured "Come Home Montana" Community~OPHEIM
he people of Opheim and the neighboring community are proud to live here. It is a place far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, free of crime and a place where parents can raise there children and know that they are safe.
- Montana-Jobs.net Featured Career ~ Design Engineer
We are expanding our sales territory, our marketing efforts, and our product line while also striving for a lean manufacturing environment...the challenges are limitless!
- Montana-Jobs.net Featured Talent ~ Desired Field: Senior Environmental Engineer
Fifteen years nationwide management consulting in Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) investigations, feasibility studies, work plan and design review, permitting and construction of waste treatment systems and disposal facilities.
Education
- Creative Economy Report. Building an innovative and entrepreneurial infrastructure that will improve the quality of life and opportunity in the city and region.
"How do you have a good idea? Have a lot of ideas and keep the good ones." -- Linus Pauling
- Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2005 Report on High-Expectation Entrepreneurship
High expectation entrepreneurship as all start-ups and newly formed businesses which expect to employ at least 20 employees within five years. 9.8% of the world's entrepreneurs expect to create almost 75% of the job generated by new business ventures.
- Little Entrepreneur Series Teaches Kids How to Make Their Dreams Come True
The first title in their new Little Entrepreneur series by Michael Harper and Jay Arrington designed to teach kids how to turn their hobbies into businesses, will publish February, 2006.
Montana Business
- Montana Governor's Postsecondary Scholarship Program Goes Online
"Montana's families have been priced out of an education. Our state's most talented should have the opportunity to attend college and become the engines that drive our future economic growth."
- Group pushes a better transition to college in Montana
The program is a communitywide approach involving local businesses, civic leaders, high schools and colleges. College Summit reports an 80 percent college retention rate for students who complete the program.
- University of Montana Network Outage In Missoula, Butte, Dillon and Helena Scheduled for Jan. 14-16.
The outage is required to move the core campus network into newly remodeled facilities in the basement of the UM Social Science Building in Missoula.
Montana Economic Development
- Master guitar builder's job is truly a labor of love at Gibson Guitar in Bozeman, Montana
Ferguson's pride in Gibson's product and his coworkers is clear as he walks through the factory floor. Most of the workers are veteran woodworkers with eight to nine years' experience with Gibson. "They do it because they love the product," Ferguson said. "It's like any other factory with the exception that they're working on jewels."
- Missoula art galleries say sales have jumped significantly, mirroring a national trend
“We've seen lots of out-of-town people coming in, and I think a lot of them are not used to finding the kinds of things we have here,” says Spanke. “People from big metropolitan areas are so used to mass retail stuff, so they are often really impressed to find locally hand-made things that they can afford in our shop.”
- Yellowstone 'yachts
The snow plane had an engine mounted to its rear and traveled at a speed of about 70 miles per hour.
- Webcast Translation Services offered by Globalization Partners International and On24, Inc., for both "live" and "on-demand" events announced.
“Translating the Customer Centric Selling webcast into Chinese and Portuguese has now made our webcast available to China and Brazil’s growing business and consumer populations hungry for US-style management and sales consultation,” says best-selling author Mike Bosworth.
- Bacterin of Belgrade, Montana produces its first branded product
The company created the Via Wound Drain, a product that drains excess fluid from the body after procedures such as knee surgeries or plastic surgeries.
- MATR And MDA Roundtable With Missoula Mayor John Engen "The Future Of The Missoula Economy", 2/16, Missoula
This will be an excellent time for you to voice your ideas and thoughts about how would like to see the economy move forward and what we have to do to accomplish these goals. Do we want to be a reactive community or a proactive community that has a plan and executes it?
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Montana Senator Max Baucus working to boost business with China, India
A member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over international trade policy in the U.S., Baucus has led several Montana delegations on trips to foreign countries. Last year, he took a group of Montanans to Australia and New Zealand. The trips, such as a recent visit to Cuba that he boasted netted the purchase of $10 million in Montana agricultural products, often lead to business deals for Montana companies, he said.
- Work begins to create whitewater play area in downtown Missoula - Brennan's Wave
Missoula, it’s easy to point out, is already a river-based destination, consistently ranked among the top U.S. cities for its paddling clout. He lived, like he paddled, Ludden says, for “the right reasons.” Not for the cameras, not for endorsements, and not for a legacy with his name on it. Which might have something to do with why Brennan Guth ended up with all three, and everything to do with why he chose to share what he had.
- Montana’s Legal Environment: Are We Open for Business
Laws influence business startups, survival, and relocation.
Montana Biotech
- Kansas Venture Capital Agency Approved
Kansas entrepreneurs seeking financing for their startups stand to benefit from a new initiative aiming to attract at least $100 million a year in venture capital investments:
Funding and Building your Business
- Sixty Pacific Northwest Life Science Companies to Present at Invest Northwest(C) 2006
Biotechnology, Medical Device and Bioinformatics Firms From Washington, British Columbia, Oregon, Alberta and Montana Selected to Present March 21-22 in Seattle
Regional Economic Development
- The Art of Innovation from Guy Kawasaki
#9. Don't let the bozos grind you down.
- The Art of Evangelism
Live long and kick butt.
- The ideal candidate.... How to find one. Montana Job Service offices across the state can help
Since August, the Helena Job Service Workforce Center — and all other Job Service offices across the state — have made available an array of some 800 Internet-based tests to allow employers to get a better read on the candidates they’re considering, with the aim of helping businesses make better hires.
- Building A Board of Advisors/Directors is Key to a Successful Business
"My experience is that entrepreneurs who have taken the step to form a board of directors are serious about growth," said Sherbrooke.
- Inside Entrepreneurship: Trademark law can be tricky on protecting names
Trademark law also helps consumers identify the proper source of goods and services, reducing the chance of consumer confusion in the marketplace. This is an important consideration and provides a reasonable measure to establish trademark infringement.
- Venture Capital: Investors pull out crystal balls for 2006. Does your company fit into their plans?
So here is a look into the minds of five investors as they try to figure out where things are headed in 2006.
Government Technology
- Oregon's bottom line: education. Business - Leaders at the economic summit say improving schools is crucial for the state to prosper.
When it comes to the economy, it's about education, stupid.
- Montana Senator Max Baucus endorses outsourcing of white-collar jobs
The top Democrat on the Finance Committee says, "Offshoring helps U-S companies produce better products for the world." He describes globalization as an "absolute necessity."
Idaho Business
- Montana's Supreme Court Undergoes Tech Overhaul
"We need to bring all of our courts to a minimum level of technology in order to achieve some of these other goals," said Karen Nelson, information technology director for the state judiciary system. "We're putting together the building blocks."
- States Invited to Bid on Health Information Technology Project
Up to 40 individual state projects will be considered for award. Each state project will assess how privacy and security laws and business practices affect the exchange of interoperable electronic health information.
Washington State Business
- Brainpower key to Idaho tech dreams - Innovation: Changing priorities in Idaho - Idaho's biotech firms need help
"I think the interaction between the agencies, university and industry is superior in Idaho," Maki said. "Within the university, there is an attitude of working together and building things instead of fighting."
- Pocatello, Idaho company, AMI Semiconductor shows how investing in research pays off
Since AMI moved from California to Pocatello in 2001, the company's revenues have more than doubled and its payroll has increased 40 percent, King said. "We have the great opportunity to enjoy Idaho, ride in pickup trucks, ride horses and chase cows, and there's not a lot of places you can do that," King said.
Universities and Economic Development
- A history of Seattle venture capital
"It was very interesting. A lot was going on,"
- 2 Seattle companies successful in 2nd round of financing of over $20 Million. CallVision bought by VeriSign in $30 million deal
Pure Networks and thePlatform have raised substantial capital to expand their businesses in two hot consumer areas.
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- Report touts Montana Tech’s clout. Outside study shows school’s profound impact on economy
Montana Tech pumps $74.5 million a year into Butte, generating jobs and boosting the economy, a new report says.
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- UM Professor, Dr. Jakki Mohr, looking for companies that can benefit from working with student groups on their high-tech marketing needs.
Only after this thorough assessment can you meaningfully diagnose and offer solutions for the company's problem at hand."
- Butte company, Big Sky Penguin, offers Tech students a ‘foot in the door’
“Our motto is: Why off-shore to India when you can on-shore to Montana?,” Evans said. “Butte is a great place to get something like this off the ground.” In addition to providing a service, Big Sky Penguin is providing students with experience.
Careers
- Casting a huge net: Montana State University filmmakers post free nature films on Web
A film about the relationship of wolves and elk in Yellowstone is just one of seven full-length nature films now available for download at no cost from the TERRA website.
Energy
- How to Clean Up Your Digital Dirt Before It Trashes Your Job Search
Unflattering personal information drifting around the Internet, known by some as "digital dirt," can doom a job search before it even gets started.
- Call Centers Tap People Who Want to Work at Home
Now, working at home is taking a leap forward -- in the customer-service arena.
Connectivity & Communications
- Algae - like a breath mint for smokestacks
"This is a big idea," Berzin says, "a really powerful idea."
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Portland may build fiber-optic network. Speedy access - The $470 million project could bring Internet and cable to residents
“As a modern community, we need to keep an eye on the future.” If built, the fiber-optic network would bring a new tier of Web access to Portland and fulfill a dream long nurtured by city officials to increase competition for Internet access and cable TV service.
- Study: Teens optimistic about innovation
Merton Flemings, who heads the Lemelson-MIT program that conducted the survey, said he was encouraged that teenagers believe science and technology may hold answers to our biggest issues. "It's the young people who are going to have to do it," he said.
To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page
