MATR Newsletter – April 15, 2019
The state with the best education wins!

“We have great resources with the city, we have great resources with the University of Montana and we need to continue to celebrate those and create more links and work together more often,” Missoula Mayor John Engen

Come Home Montana

• VICE News Tonight 4/14 on HBO – Rural Montana and the rest of America are running out of teachers – Montana State University has a plan.

  There is a new program at Montana State University, which sends aspiring teachers on a week-long date with the places that need them the most: rural parts of the state, where districts are running out of teachers.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• Startup Debuts Tractor for Gluing Fiber to the Ground

  The machine uses a protective substance to glue fiber to the ground at 500 feet per hour, hoping to cut install time and costs.

• FCC to hold big 5G auction, spend $20B for rural internet

  5G will mean faster wireless speeds and has implications for technologies like self-driving cars and augmented reality.

Montana Business and Govt. Agency Collaboration Success

• TECSBA Regional Innovation Cluster awardees revealed including MonTEC in Missoula, Montana

  Seven regional innovation cluster (RIC) initiatives have each been awarded $500,000 from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Montana Economic Development

• GFDA Top 10

  Here is our Top 18 for this week, celebrating work and successes to grow and strengthen the Great Falls regional economy.

Visit Montana

• International Wildlife Film Festival features photographer’s view of climate disasters

  Balog, who’s traveled the world shooting natural disasters and melting glaciers for National Geographic and other major publications, gives viewers some insight into the situations he’s encountered in “The Human Element.”

Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana

• Young Billings, Montana Entrepreneur to be honored in Washington D.C. for helping community

  It’s just amazing that she, as a little girl starting at 7, can inspire a community and a nation to do.”

• Let’s Steal This Idea: A Business Incubator For People 60+

  America’s start-up ecosystem of business incubators, accelerators and co-sharing workspaces largely ignores people over 60 who are eager to launch companies, either full-time or part-time in retirement.

• How to Make Startup Stock Options a Better Deal for Employees

  Investors and founders have changed the model to their advantage, but no one has changed the model for employees.

• It’s Never Too Late: Entrepreneurship Has No Age

  Entrepreneurs succeed because they have the knowledge, skills, and support necessary to build a sustainable business, not because they a have longer runway.

Idaho News & Events

• Developer planned these all-bike, no-parking apartments in downtown Boise, Idaho. That is changing

  When a developer last month proposed an eight-story apartment building Downtown, it planned bicycle parking but no car parking — an unusual idea for Boise.

• 2019 Accomplished Under 40 honorees represent Idaho’s future

  These young professionals represent the next generation of leaders in business, health care, nonprofit work, government and academia.

Wyoming Business

• Three large groups commit to visiting Casper, Wyoming

  Three groups will add 2,745 hotel room nights to Casper’s tourism economy in the next 18 months, according to a recent release from Visit Casper.

Funding and Building your Business

• 8 Highly Successful Entrepreneurs Share Their Best Advice for Getting Customers to Buy Your Product–No Matter What It Costs

  Bulletproof founder Dave Asprey and others on how to convince customers your price is worth it.

Regional Economic Development

• Searching for the Essence of Planning at the National Planning Conference

  Urban planning, regional planning, community planning, environmental planning, transportation planning—the list goes on. What does planning even mean when all these niches are layered onto and around each other?

Regional Business News

• University of Montana releases private company’s pricing information, previously blacked out

  Pearson proposed three possible ways to charge UM, including taking 50 to 65%, or more, of tuition money, depending on the services provided.

21st Century Education Initiative – “You Should Care…”

• Sun River, Montana farmer coaching world-champ robotics team after almost dying – Benefit planned

  “I told the kids that I just I couldn’t do very much, my patience wasn’t very good, my focus wasn’t good,” he said. But the kids of his team stepped up to get ready for another year of work.

Government News & Events

• Conserve water, win big in Bozeman

  By taking the pledge online and contributing to Bozeman being the most “water-wise” city, you could win up to $3000 in your utility bills paid for, water-efficient products and even a car for your favorite local charity.

Government Technology

• Colorado CIO Brings a Private-Sector Mindset to Government

  “it’s OK to fail” philosophy

• North Dakota Adopts Statewide Cybersecurity Approach

  A newly signed law gives the Information Technology Department the authority to define cybersecurity for all public entities within the state.

Transportation

• The Automobile as Prison. The City as Freedom.

  Having your life is threatened by two-ton projectiles doesn’t sound like freedom to David Levinson.

• The Future of Urban Transportation Will be Holistic

  Cities need to evolve towards a mobility plan that interconnects walking with biking, public transit, and ride-sharing. To do that will require tech, partnerships and collaboration, say experts.

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