MATR Newsletter – December 22, 2023
The state with the best education wins!

• Share the Road – US Road Design Manual Gets Multimodal Update to Improve Safety for Pedestrians and Cyclists While Planning for Autonomous Vehicles.
  Better protection for cyclists and pedestrians, and adaptations for EVs and autonomous vehicles, are in the Transportation Department’s first major update to the standards since 2009.
• What’s next in the push to restore southern Montana’s passenger rail service

  The Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority’s Dave Strohmaier on reviving the North Coast Hiawatha route.

Misery loves company but so does Joy and Joy throws much better parties.

Montana’s Tech Hub Effort

• BioScience under the Big Sky Winter 2023 Newsletter

  University of Montana receives $12.3M National Institutes of Health contract for work on TB vaccine

• Montana State receives $6 million to enhance its research impact

  “This is an exciting opportunity for MSU to increase its capacity to support and grow translational research activities that will stimulate local and regional economic development,” said Alison Harmon, MSU’s vice president for research and economic development.

Come Home Montana

• Want to be a game warden? Montana FWP is hiring

  Other than when we stop into a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) office, the only other people most of us ever see affiliated with the agency are game wardens. The wardens are first and foremost the law enforcement branch of FWP, but their roles go far beyond just that.   By: Chet Layman

• The ‘Yellowstone’ effect on Montana

  Yellowstone first aired in 2018, quickly becoming one of television’s most popular shows. The show follows John Dutton, played by Kevin Costner, as he feuds with real estate developers threatening to encroach on his family ranch. Today on the show, how life imitates art in Montana, where tourism has boomed, the population has grown and housing prices have soared.

• Silicon Valley Leadership Guidance Available in Missoula, Montana – Walt Maclay

  Walt Maclay is available to advise technology businesses in the Missoula area.  He has over 40 years of experience running a successful technology business in Silicon Valley http://www.volersystems.com.  Contact him at [email protected] or 408-245-9844 ext 101.

• Montana Career Opportunities – 10 new nonprofit jobs – Montana Nonprofit Association

  Programs Coordinator Rural Dynamics –  Director of Development Eagle Mount Bozeman –  Director Cancer Support Community Montana – Chief Executive Officer Intermountain –  Development Director Montana Natural History Center – Oil & Gas Campaign Coordinator Western Organization of Resource Councils – Development and Outreach Manager Big Brothers Big Sisters of Big Sky Country

Bear Paw Development

• Bear Paw’s Quarterly Newsletter – Paw Prints – A quarterly newsletter to keep you informed

  Bear Paw Development is a private non-profit organization that works to improve regional economic conditions in Hill, Blaine, Liberty, Chouteau, and Phillips Counties and the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservations. To find out more, visit us online at http://www.bearpaw.org

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• A Demographic Time Bomb Is About to Hit the Beef Industry

  Earlier this year a study from Tulane University in New Orleans found that a relatively small number of Americans are responsible for the lion’s share of beef consumption—and those eaters tend to skew older and male. But the beef industry isn’t content with the narrowing demographics of its customers—it has its eyes on creating a whole new generation of beef-eating stalwarts.

• Buses are driving Montana’s EV future

  Two years into a national effort to bring states into the EV age, the poster child for Montana’s progress is a hulking bus, not a grill-less, sleek sedan.

• NADO News

  Applications Process for the Next Cohort of the Training Program for Emerging Leaders are Due January 19, 2024

• New Tribal Broadband Bootcamps Slated for 2024

  TBB was started in 2021 as an initiative to connect people interested in building Tribal broadband networks – a space for folks to develop and share best practices that ensure their communities have high-quality, equitable Internet access. More than fifty Tribes or First Nations and over three hundred participants have since attended a bootcamp, increasing their knowledge, sharing their expertise, and contributing to this vibrant community.

• Improve your leadership in 2024 with PeerSpectives

  PeerSpectives is a roundtable program for leaders of second stage companies– typically organizations with annual sales over $1 million and 10 employees or more.

• Registration open for 2024 Montana’s Next Generation Conference, set for Jan. 27 in Shelby

  Participants can choose from six different workshops being held during each hour of the conference. Topics include recordkeeping, market outlooks, marketing, crop and livestock production, succession planning, labor options and business management. Pesticide applicator credits for the conference are pending approval.

Great Falls Development Alliance

• Upcoming Trainings: Short Course in Human Resources, Business Start-up and more!

  Whether you’re just getting started, looking for new customers, wanting to grow sales through e-commerce, or focusing on workforce.
  We’re here to help.

Montana Business

• Does your company really need a full time CFO?   Fractional CFO available. Bauman Advantage, LLC

  Bauman Advantage LLC is a Fractional CFO provider helping small business owners have a growing and more profitable business.

• SpotOn Predicts What Profitable Restaurants Will Be Doing Next Year

  Navigating higher labor costs, elevated food/input costs, and stiff competition from tech-forward chain restaurants, independents will need to consider significant operational shifts to protect revenue and boost profit margins.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• New fiber internet company starts development in Billings

  Ziply Fiber, a Washington state-based fiber-optic company, is actively developing internet service in Billings.

Senator Jon Tester

• Montana Senator Jon Tester Receives 2023 Rural Champion Award Recognizing His Work Fighting for Rural America

  Senator was honored for his work pushing back against one-size-fits-all mandates and securing critical funding for Montana’s rural communities

Biotech

• Turns Out You Don’t Have to Spend Millions to Reverse Aging

  Tech titans are spending millions to stay youthful. Science suggests you can get the same results with a gym membership and a salad.

• Single-dose drug to quash anxiety passes another trial milestone

  An effective single-dose, long-term treatment for anxiety could be within reach, with the phase 2b clinical trial of MM-120 reported to have passed the stage with flying colors. The makers, MindMed, now plan to hold an end-of-phase meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in early 2024, and then get a phase 3 trial under way.

Incubators and R&D

• Psilocybin effectively treats depression in cancer patients, study finds

  Results from a recent clinical trial have demonstrated that psilocybin-assisted therapy is effective at treating moderate-to-severe depression in patients with curable and incurable cancer. In a first, the drug was given to small groups of patients simultaneously, before they underwent one-on-one and group therapy.

Regional Business News

• Fully autonomous restaurant set to open in Pasadena – Crap. There goes my dream of being a short order cook like Bourdain..
  At the new CaliExpress by Flippy, opening soon, you’ll order on a screen, then watch as robots work the burger grill and fry baskets to serve food – without a single pimply human having to drag itself out of bed and pretend to be happy to see you.

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

• Changes to four-day school week prompt childcare, hunger concerns

  As more schools in Montana make the jump to four-day school weeks, childcare advocates worry the condensed schedule will negatively impact kids, families.

• Flagship public universities likely to cut more humanities, staff — especially in rural states

  ‘Are we going to revert back to “normal?” No, we will have a new normal.’

2023 Montana Legislature and Politics

• Missoula, Montana Mayor Andrea Davis returns from Harvard program with innovative ideas

  Even though Davis feels confident in the people surrounding her as she transitions into the mayor’s role, she nonetheless hopes to push for innovation. That was a key tenet of her training at Harvard, she said, though not something governments are always known for embracing.

Government News & Events

• Anatomy of a Complete Streets Policy

  How San Diego Advocates Pushed for, and Won, a Better Approach to Road Design

South Dakota News & Events

• South Dakota City Focuses on Innovation With New Transit Provider

  Sioux Falls has selected a transit provider to operate its transportation service. The move promises to bring new innovations and efficiencies for transit users in South Dakota’s largest city.

Transportation

• Congested California Region Explores New Form of Autonomous Mobility

  Transportation officials in the San Francisco Bay Area are working on a plan to use Glydcars — small, electric and autonomous vehicles — to make last-mile connections to more traditional forms of transit.

• Renewable energy rides solar cycle paths through Dutch provinces – The future of the grid?

  The Dutch love to cycle. So much so that there are more than 35,000 km (over 21,747 miles) of cycle paths snaking through the Netherlands. Two of those bike routes have now been topped with photovoltaic cells to produce renewable energy while they face skyward.

• Share the Road – US Road Design Manual Gets Multimodal Update to Improve Safety for Pedestrians and Cyclists While Planning for Autonomous Vehicles.

  Better protection for cyclists and pedestrians, and adaptations for EVs and autonomous vehicles, are in the Transportation Department’s first major update to the standards since 2009.

• What’s next in the push to restore southern Montana’s passenger rail service

  The Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority’s Dave Strohmaier on reviving the North Coast Hiawatha route.

VR/AR, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence and The Internet of Things

• Tesla Bot Looks Like Tesla’s Next Giant Success

  Tesla has everything already in place or at its fingertips to lead this new market, and this new market could start really sprouting in about a year. I’m sold based on the thorough arguments made in the video. I highly encourage giving it a listen/watch. I’m still open minded, especially since this is outside my area of expertise, but the video is very convincing.

MATR Newsletter Supporters: