MATR Newsletter - Tue Jul 8, 2014 |
“If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything innovative.” -- Woody Allen
Main Street Montana Project
Montana Data Focused Business Cluster
- Public and private sectors collaborate to grow Montana business - Leadership Announced - - Main Street Montana Project Regional Meetings Start July 15.
The goal is to build a private and public sector partnership to achieve expanded business opportunities, increased wages and greater prosperity throughout Montana, Bullock said.
- Grown in Montana magazine will help market state's ag products
The magazine will feature agriculture, including the state's wheat and barley farming, cattle ranching and local foods. It gets its name from the Department of Commerce program that allows farmers and ranchers to register their locally grown products with a Grown in Montana label.
Montana Business
- Data Shows How Morning Habits Affect Happiness
How the Snooze Button Affects Stress
Montana Economic Development
- So, Where Do Women Earn More Than Men? - Missoula, Montana
According to U.S. Census Data, there are only 16 cities in the nation where women earn more money than men. Here they are:
- Bison now part of new D.A. Davidson brand - "The Strength of Advice"
"Our new logo differentiates the D.A. Davidson Companies brand by incorporating a representation of our western heritage, with the bison, and our forward-looking approach, shown in the starburst," said Bill Johnstone, chairman and CEO of D.A. Davidson Companies. "We're excited about the bison as a powerful and memorable symbol."
- AERO's RFP for Abundant MT Website Development
An RFP for web development on a project with the Department of Tourism to add agritourism promotion features to Abundant MT, our longtime directory to locally and sustainably produced food and farm products in Montana.
- Hoplite Industries opens in Butte's Thornton Technology Enterprise Center
"Butte is Montana's first gigabit city. What we have here in terms of education and economic development opportunities and our quality of life is second to none."
- Ivy League MBAs distilling knowledge at Headframe Spirits in Butte, Montana
"There's little to connect business school graduates with their communities," said Koo, which can fuel a wolfish image of Wall Street greed. "This is sort of a campaign against that."
- Arlee craftsmen Merrill Bradshaw and Casey Barrows turn reclaimed wood into Missoula Marathon awards
After runners from other places who participated in the Missoula Marathon saw them, Bradshaw and Barrows were suddenly being hired to design and produce awards for races as far away as Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
MSU Leadership Institute & UM Global Leadership Initiative
- Bear Paw Development Corp. reduces rates on business loans
Bear Paw Development is a nonprofit community and economic development organization that works in Liberty, Hill, Blaine, Chouteau and Phillips counties and on the Rocky Boy's and Fort Belknap Indian reservations.
TEDx Events in Montana
- 15 Powerful Quotes From the World's Most Humble President - Leadership as it truly should be.
"Businesses just want to increase their profits; it's up to the government to make sure they distribute enough of those profits so workers have the money to buy the goods they produce," Mujica told businessmen at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "It's no mystery -- the less poverty, the more commerce. The most important investment we can make is in human resources."
Idaho Business
- Today's TED Talk Joi Ito: Want to innovate? Become a "now-ist"
In this engaging talk, the head of the MIT Media Lab skips the predictions and instead shares a new approach to creating in the moment: building quickly and improving constantly, without waiting for permission.
Other Economies
- Sun Valley gears up for Allen and Co.
The company hand picks a couple of hundred guests, and the event is often a catalyst for company mergers and buyouts. Last year, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos purchased The Washington Post after the conference.
Workforce Development
- Reno Rolls the Dice on High-Tech
"When you're at rock bottom there's a good chance to reinvent how you go up."
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- Highlands College trade certificates get new workers out the door quickly in welding
Each program has a cap of 10 students, so Highlands Dean John Garic encourages students to sign up as soon as possible for fall semester, when classes start.
Funding and Building your Business
- More Individualized Approaches Are Needed in a General Education Classroom
The needs of every child should be guided by a plan, rooted in their specific needs. Only this will let us address the literacy needs of children early.
- Students Who Push Tech Boundaries Should Be Encouraged, Not Punished
As institutions that are home to cutting-edge developers of technology, universities have a responsibility to be more responsive to the needs of student innovators and researchers. It is time to get reform underway, fast.
- Obama Asks States to Get Better Teachers in High-Poverty Schools
"Despite the excellent work and deep commitment of our nation's teachers and principals, systemic inequities exist that shortchange students in high-poverty, high-minority schools across our country. We have to do better." US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
Energy and Climate Change
- Entrepreneur Leadership Today Demands A Human Focus
There are many leadership styles out there that may have worked well in the past, including authoritarian and paternalistic. But in this new age of relationships, these often work against your business. There is more and more evidence that a more human-centered or heart-centered leadership yields the best results with your team and with customers in the long run.
- How To Enhance Innate Business Leadership Abilities
Anyone can nurture their innate leadership abilities, to achieve business and life success. The key is learning from the life lessons of others, something you never get in classrooms.
- Ask an expert: Celebrating entrepreneurs
Applications are now open for U.S. entrepreneurs to compete in the second annual Get in the Ring: The American Startup Clash competition hosted by the Kauffman Foundation.
- This bank has the most loyal customers
Banks across the country must follow USAA, and see they need to seek to gain back the trust of not only their customers and clients, but the broader public as well. And those who do that will be met with great success.
- Dell Expands a Program for Tech Start-Ups
Companies must meet two basic criteria: They have to be poised for rapid growth, and they have to view technology as critical to their success. Most have been financed by angel investors or venture capitalists.
Connectivity & Communications
- Lawsuits seek to stop work at coal mines in Montana, Colorado and New Mexico
In civil cases unfolding in Colorado, New Mexico and Montana, the group WildEarth Guardians asserts coal companies benefited from lax oversight by federal regulators.
- Grid Terror Attacks: U.S. Government Is Urged to Takes Steps for Protection
Industry Response to Potential Threats Is Insufficient
Non-Profit News
- The big city library as Internet provider
Increasingly, the library has so much more to offer online and people are lining up for hours for our computers."
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Missoula Nonprofit Network
"The Missoula Nonprofit Network's mission is to enhance the quality of life in Missoula by strengthening organizations that make social change possible. MNN strives to promote a strong nonprofit sector in Missoula through our various resources that are available to all members."
- Donors Give More When They Have a Sense of Belonging
People actually like to work if they see meaning in it, and they can be generous with their money, too.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Not old enough to vote, 16-year-old builds money-in-politics plug-in
"Hopefully people will learn for themselves the influence of money behind these [policy] decisions. The money story behind the news story is the real story."
Transportation
- Affirm - The Next Big Thing You Missed: Startup's Plan to Remake Banks and Replace Credit Cards Just Might Work
In other words, customers can borrow money without the horrors traditionally associated with a credit card.
- GE Device Measures the Calories on Your Plate
Heat your food, and at the same time get a readout of the precise calorie count, without measuring out portions and consulting nutritional charts.
- "D" - The Next Big Programming Language You've Never Heard Of
Nine years after that night in Seattle, a $200-million startup has used D to build its entire online operation, and thanks to Alexandrescu, one of biggest names on the internet is now exploring the new language as well.
- Firefly turns your wheelchair into an electric scooter
The Firefly is an electric handcycle that snaps on to your wheelchair. Go twice as fast and far as a power wheelchair!
- Consumer Drones - Panel Discussion
Robot and drone manufacturers, software developers, and drone photographers talked about the future of rapidly developing consumer drone technology.
- "Pay-by-phone" parking available in downtown Great Falls
The app will also remind you when your time is up, and will give you the option to add more time via your device.
- Daimler Future Truck 2025 completes first autonomous highway run
Daimler sees the key to the future in reducing costs by means of autonomous systems, such as the Future Truck 2025, which aims at making safer, greener, and more efficient robotic trucks that are also more attractive to prospective drivers.
- Technology improves efficiency, production for today's farmers - Autonomous tractors
Some drivers even catch a movie or read a book from the comfort of their tractor seat as the equipment steers itself along its course.
To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page