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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Feb 24, 2006 |
Those communities placing a premium on cultural, ethnic, and artistic diversity, reinventing their knowledge factories for the creative age, and building the new information infrastructures for our age, will likely burst with creativity and entrepreneurial fervor. These are the ingredients so essential to developing and attracting the bright and creative people to generate new patents and inventions, innovative world-class products and services, and the finance and marketing plans to support them. Nothing less will ensure a city's economic, social, and political viability in the twenty-first century. John Eger -------- As former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina told a panel of governors a short time ago, "Keep your tax incentives and highway interchanges; we will go where the highly skilled people are." ...."Forging a Creative Community for the New Creative Economy" http://www.matr.net/article-18272.html
Here is an opportunity for you to support an innovative program that encourages the desire for a more creative education among our future leaders. I hope to see you on Tuesday night in Missoula.... "Hollywood 101. Little Feat Benefit Concert for MAPS: Media Arts in the Public Schools Tuesday, Feb. 28, at the Wilma Theatre in Missoula." http://www.matr.net/article-18315.html
2007 Montana Legislature
Come Home Montana
- The Legislative Services Division Website for the 2007 Montana Legislative Session is Now Available. Pipeline already getting clogged
LAWS is an up-to-the-minute database application used for updating and tracking bill status.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Featured "Come Home Montana" Community ~ ANACONDA
With long range planning to direct growth and development, our community will continue to be a safe place where individuals and families can work, play and learn based on a strong commitment to basic values, sound education and mutual respect.
- Montana-Jobs.net Featured Career ~ IT Manager , Bozeman, Montana.
Simms Fishing Products, a leader in the fly fishing industry, is currently recruiting for an experienced IT Manager.
MEDA Entrepreneur Working Group
- Entrepreneur, Colter Lease of Bozeman wins Junior Achievement's Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. "Signed by Colter"
"What really impressed us is that fact that he started this business in high school and grew it through college because that's what he wanted to do (as a future career)," Junior Achievement Program Director Heide Arneson said.
Education
- Silicon Insider. So you want to be a Tech Entrepreneur?
Now is the perfect time to create a tech startup --- As long as you have a perfect plan.
Montana Business
- Most States Lack Measurable Goals for Higher Ed
The report highlights the importance of a comprehensive plan for getting students in and through higher education.
- "MAPS - "Media Arts in the Public Schools" featured on Montana TV this weekend 2/25-26"
Here are stations, times, and locations.
- Md. Study Details Shortfalls, Failures in Adult Education even as the demand for highly trained workers is increasing
Business leaders familiar with the study said this week that the shortage of skilled workers is driving businesses away from the area and damaging the economy.
- Deputy U.S. Secretary of Labor Steven Law backs readying future leaders through education
"We are entering into a dynamic new kind of economy called the knowledge economy," Law told the Utah Information Technology Association. "It's an economy not just based on the old industrial norms. It's based on new kinds of knowledge, new kinds of technology and the application of those kinds of technologies. And the way to stay on the cutting edge in that kind of economy is to continuously and aggressively invest in knowledge."
- The Gates Effect. The world's biggest private foundation wants to fix American high schools. Is it laying its enormous bets in the right places?
With a boost from Gates's money, 472 new small high schools have opened in New York, Chicago, and elsewhere. Almost 400 more will open by 2009. The foundation has also backed the restructuring of almost 700 existing high schools, often by breaking them up into smaller "learning communities" focused around such themes as science, art, or technology. Why? "America's high schools are obsolete," Bill Gates declared in a speech earlier this year. "Our high schools--even when they're working exactly as designed--cannot teach our kids what they need to know today."
- Supplying the demand: Idaho ranks low in pay, but high in supply of qualified teachers
Idaho is demanding more from teachers while paying less than surrounding states. Yet the supply of teachers remains steady.
- Hollywood 101. Little Feat Benefit Concert for MAPS: Media Arts in the Public Schools Tuesday, Feb. 28, at the Wilma Theatre in Missoula.
“Our kids get it. They may not know yet how to make films or how to write scripts, but they have this internal response to what we’re doing because they’re on the net, they watch TV, they go to the movies,” Rosten says. “Not all of our kids will go on to work in the business, but at least they’re seeing that they can make it, on tons of different levels, by doing this sort of work.”
- In Search of Skilled Workers, Employers Like IBM, Texas Instruments, Exxon Mobil and Boeing Go to Middle School Summer Camp. Is Your Child a Candidate?
In an effort to tap future workers in middle school or earlier, big employers, including IBM, Texas Instruments, Exxon Mobil and Boeing, are increasing their backing of career-driven summer camps. The camps promote kids' interest in fields ranging from engineering and aerospace to computer security. The efforts are yielding new opportunities for families, and insights into how to help kids explore promising careers.
- U-system fails to defend its professors
Any attempt to silence discussion leads most of us to believe people are afraid of the outcome. We shouldn’t be. We need to convince ourselves, first, and outsiders, second, that the issues raised by these discussions are not impediments to doing business in the state.
- New grades, programs planned for Missoula International School. Multi-language capability key to future business success
“Some of our fifth-graders are very close to being bilingual."
- University of Montana President George Dennison proposes campus-wide code of ethics
Clem Work, a UM professor who teaches a journalism ethics course, said the guidelines are specific enough to be an unconstitutional limitation of speech.
Montana Economic Development
- SYNESIS7 of Butte and Inmedius Demonstrate S1000D Data Conversion for U. S. Navy
The browser-based technical documentation viewing system enables users to effectively share and deploy information in any environment.
- Cranston Plastics (Stevensville, MT) has it covered
The Cranstons make tarps and covers used by trucking operations across the country.
- Glaxo set to break ground in Hamilton, MT next month. It's already added 25 employees and hopes to add another 130 or so over the next two years.
The full-time jobs, with benefits, will pay between $20,000 and $55,000 to $60,000 per year and will be filled by everyone from high school graduates to people with master's degrees
- The Comfort Company of Bozeman Announces European Launch
Based in Bozeman, Montana, USA, The Comfort Company manufactures top quality seating and positioning products for active, comfort and pediatric wheelchairs.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- First, Do No Harm. Affordable Housing Initiatives in Montana
Entrepreneurs only bring products to market if they expect to recover their costs and make a reasonable return. If the City imposes “affordable price” requirements, builders will respond by building fewer homes in Bozeman. Instead they’ll focus on positive returns outside the city. Further, artificially lowering home prices will increase the demand for them. Then politicians get to decide who gets the limited homes available at below market rates. They are the real winners.
- The Sonoran Institute offers economic development help to Montana communities along the Rocky Mountain Front
Through the process, Alexan-der said, it became evident to the Institute that there is not a clear vision of economic success for the region that is based on people's values and a realistic assessment of market values and assets. That is something the Sonoran Institute can work with communities to develop, he said.
- Economic development no easy task for any state. Money talks
“Some need money for training, others need real estate. We just have to develop the right package.” Barrett noted that Montana was the last of the 50 states to fund employee training for prospective employers.
- 10 Towns vie for Montana Main Street program
The communities, which have submitted pre-application forms, include Anaconda, Polson, Big Sandy, Fairview, Choteau, Cut Bank, Rudyard, Livingston, Miles City and Red Lodge.
- Guide. "Hands of Harvest" helps folks find NorthCentrel Montana region's hidden craft, cultural attractions
"This isn't a cure-all for rural communities, but it is a launchpad to get people who come to our state to visit other attractions, such as Yellowstone or Glacier National Park, to see what else there is out here to do and see," said Wendy Wedum, a Cascade County extension agent and a coordinator for Hands of Harvest.
Funding and Building your Business
- Angel investors can be a godsend
"With an early stage company, you are part of the executive team, helping them with legal issues, term sheets, getting the right management team, developing business strategies and managing cash flow. If you have been an entrepreneur, you're a great asset for them."
Global Telework
- Study: 51% Of Hires Culled From Internet Sources. Only 5% from newspaper classified ads
"responses indicated that employers anticipate directing a greater proportion of applicants through their own corporate web sites rather than any other online source in the year to come,"
- The Innovation Illusion. You may think you’re innovating, but you’re probably just wasting money. Try renovating instead.
Coke once got into the shrimp farming business. No, I’m not making this up. Coca-Cola had fantastic core competencies in purchasing, distribution, sales, logistics and global operational capabilities. Where it all fell apart was that we never thought about why customers would buy shrimp from us in the first place. Shrimp farming was not our core essence. Consumers simply made no connection between shrimp and Coke.
- A look at term sheets reveals latest trends in funding
Staying on top of the latest trends and alternatives is an important part of the capital-raising process for entrepreneurs, and a competitive advantage for venture firms.
- Web 2.0 - Design Your Own Startup
For a great look at what Web 2.0 is and isn't...
- Inside Entrepreneurship: A tricky business: When friends become partners
Oil and financial baron John D. Rockefeller is credited with saying, "A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship."
- Entrepreneurs fare well by doing good. These capitalists want artisans of their products to share in profits
"I cannot move mountains, but I can do the little bit that I do and I feel good about it."
Regional Economic Development
- Tech-Heavy Silicon Valley Looks To the Over-50 Set for Expertise
Companies are expected to become even more reliant on older workers in the years to come. America's baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, begin turning 60 this year and will soon start retiring. But demographic trend trackers say there won't be enough younger workers to replace them. That means more companies will face staff shortages unless they can persuade some older employees to put off retirement and stay on the payroll.
- Jobs on farms, not abroad. High-tech companies are keeping jobs in the US by setting up offices in rural areas to cut costs.
"When you look at [farmshore] communities that are becoming successful, they're saying, 'Yes, we can compete with offshore, and we add value to these companies,' " says John Allen, director of the Western Rural Development Center at Utah State University.
- Homing In. The call center may become a thing of the past--home-shoring is poised to make its mark on the economy. What's in it for you?
According to data compiled by IDC, it costs $31 per employee per hour (including overhead and training) to operate a traditional call center in the U.S., compared to $21 per employee per hour to use homebased agents.
- Tech jobs still plentiful in U.S. Optimistic report calls offshoring's effects overstated
"The average high school student and parent thinks all IT jobs have already gone to China or India," said UC Berkeley computer science Professor David Patterson, who serves as the association's president. "People who could have wonderful careers in the field aren't even considering computer science because they've got the wrong facts. If you've got the talents, this is a pretty exciting field with lots of exciting things to do," Patterson said.
Utah Business
- Small towns can succeed. Boomtowns need leadership and support
"Those towns show vitality and maintain a diversity of businesses," Schultz said this week to attendees at a workshop sponsored by Nappanee's Community and Economic Development office. "There were more examples of these type of communities in Indiana than any other state."
- EDPro Weblog - Outstanding!
This is an outstanding blog that I recommend to anyone interested in learning more about what's working and what's not in other parts of the world. Russ
Utah Economic Development
- Utah jobs going unfilled causing frustration among small employers and pushing average wages higher
In metropolitan Utah, the average advertised wage for job openings surveyed climbed to $12.20 an hour, up from $11.20 an hour a year earlier.
- 11 Utah firms are top manufacturers
When Lanny Smith moved his manufacturing business from California to Utah, he enjoyed affordable real estate, talented labor and lower taxes. Thursday he reaped another benefit: recognition.
- Spanish Fork, Utah weapons maker, Klune Industries expands with $400 million contract
"That means more jobs for us, and it's a great technology that not only saves lives but is also able to detonate with minimal collateral damage," said Spanish Fork Mayor Joe Thomas.
Government Technology
- Qwest taps Cache, Utah for new call center
Jerry Fenn, Qwest president for Utah, said the company put customer call centers in Iowa and South Dakota the past two years and could have placed a third anywhere, particularly anywhere in the company's 14-state local-service area.
- Utah schools, state workers find raises too low. Proposed pay package bears no sign of good economy, critics say
"Every poll has said public education is the priority,"
Idaho Business
- NASCIO Releases Brief on the Role of the State CIO in Health IT
"The train is leaving the station, but there's still time to catch it."
- Tyler Technologies to Provide Property Tax Software for the State of Montana; New Contract Valued at Nearly $5 Million
"We believe that our domain expertise in the area of property taxes is unmatched, and taxing authorities across the United States and Canada continue to look to us to provide the latest in software and services."
Washington State Business
- Burley, Idaho lands California-based manufacturing plant for human motor development support systems. Mulholland Positioning Systems, Inc.
According to Mulholland's owner, the move can't come quick enough.
- Eagle, Idaho-based firm, TenXsys develops product for soldiers with prosthetic limbs
TenXsys is developing the sensors and BSU's Center for Orthopaedic and Biomechanics Research (COBR) is testing the accuracy of the sensors using computer animation technology at COBR's lab. It is the first time COBR — a lab run by BSU's engineering and kinesiology departments — has collaborated with an outside company on research.
Wyoming Business
- Venture Capital: 'Eco-friendly' cups that cut heat, waste. MicroGreen Polymers, an Arlington, WA startup lands $2.4 million to test the concept.
The Arlington company says the cup can be produced entirely from recycled soda-pop bottles and will cost about the same as traditional paper coffee cups.
Other Economies
- High-tech firms discover Wyoming
Ask most people what kind of jobs they want to see, and chances are the answer will be high-tech jobs. Ask high-tech companies where they would like to be, and it seems at least some of them are now saying Wyoming.
Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)
- Web boost for Bay State firms unveiled. Romney sets link to create new jobs
"Today we go on offense."
Miscellaneous RamblingsUniversity TechTransfer
- Earth Hurtles Toward 6.5 Billion
If we want to support individuals indefinitely -- allotting each person 3,500 calories per day from wheat and 247,000 gallons per year of fresh water -- the planet has room for only about 5 billion people.
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- UNCC called a model in tech achievement. U.S. official hails its impact on health care, cites state's innovation
A 2001 report that ranked the school first in the nation in the number of patent applications and start-up companies, second in innovations, and third in the number of patents issued per $10 million in research expenses.
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- The Montana Department of Agriculture Offers Summer Intern Positions
Positions are available in marketing, pest surveying, pesticides and weed management.
- ‘Kids’ College’ program nurtures bond between community, schools. MSU hosts "Engineerathon" for area sixth graders
“Kids’ College” is an enrichment project designed to help nurture the bond between schools and communities. It relies solely on volunteers and community members to teach mini-courses.
Small Diameter Timber Utilization
- Forging a Creative Community for the New Creative Economy
There must be a recognition of the vital roles that art and technology play in enhancing economic development and, ultimately, defining a "creative community" -- a community that exploits the vital linkages among art, technology and commerce. A community with a sense of place. A community that nurtures, attracts and holds the most creative and innovation workers.
- Forging a Creative Community for the New Creative Economy
Future cities will understand that a basic understanding of the role of technology as a tool of transformation, and that art-infused education is critical to producing the next generation of leaders and workers for the knowledge economy. The United States ranks about 24th in the world while Singapore, Sweden, Denmark and Finland are in the top 10 in part because they have found a way to underscore the linkages between music and math, art and science.
Non-Profit News
- Wood recycling extends life of area landfills
With the region's landfills filling all too fast, the time was ripe for an alternative way to get rid of wood waste from construction and development sites.
Energy
- U.S. Nonprofit Sector is Sixth Largest Economy in the World. In 2002, Montana’s 1520 reporting charitable nonprofits had $2.5 billion in expenditures
In 2002, Montana’s 1520 reporting charitable nonprofits had $2.5 billion in expenditures – 11% of the State’s Gross Product.
Hydrogen News
- Your House Might be Powered by Pooches. Rather than let pet dung go to waste, experts explore its energy potential
And so San Francisco has become the first city in the country to consider turning Fido's droppings into methane, which can heat homes, cook meals and generate electricity.
- Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announces $176.5 million in loan guarantees and almost $11.4 million in grants to support investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Johanns also highlighted that Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today announced $160 million in cost-shared funding over three years to construct up to three biorefineries in the United States.
- Tapping Rocks for Power. European megawatt-scale power plant that uses bedrock heat
They plan to use it to produce pollution-free electricity.
- Solar May Get Cheaper
A partnership could make half-priced solar power commercially available in a year.
- Energy expert downplays coal technology proposed for American Falls
Coal-gasification proves more efficient when it uses coal from the East Coast, Hewson said. Idaho's elevation also serves as a detriment to locating a coal-gasification plant in the state, he said.
Connectivity & Communications
- Mutant Algae Is Hydrogen Factory
But if it proves correct, it would mean a major breakthrough in using algae as an industrial factory, not only for hydrogen, but for a wide range of products, from biodiesel to cosmetics.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Faster than Fiber. A new wireless technology could beat fiber optics for speed in some applications.
There's a new type of wireless transmitter and receiver that can send and receive data at rates of more than one gigabit per second -- fast enough to stream 90 minutes of video from one tower to the next, more than one mile apart, in less than six seconds.
- Wi-Fi Moving To London
The service is expected to go live within the next few months and the entire city will be covered within six months, according to the network's provider.
- Flying car ready for takeoff?
They already have a one-fifth scale wind tunnel model, and hope to have a fully operational prototype by 2007.
- A Solid That's Light As Air
aerogel -- an extremely lightweight, porous material that is chemically identical to glass, but weighs only a little more than air.
- Operate on a heart without missing a beat
Motion compensation software that synchronises the movement of robotic surgical tools with that of the heart will make it possible to operate without stopping or even slowing the heart down.
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