MATR Newsletter – December 7, 2020
The state with the best education wins!

Corona Virus Information

• Evictions Caused 433,700 Excess Covid Infections, 10,7000 Deaths, Study Says

  A new study connects evictions to the spread of the coronavirus. Evictions continued in huge numbers during the pandemic despite a patchwork of eviction protections at multiple layers of government.

Come Home Montana

• Job Service Missoula hosting monthly online job fairs

  The next On-Line Job Fair Wednesday, December 9th from 3 to 4 pm. You can get the Zoom link by calling Job Service at 728-7060. You can also visit their Facebook page for details.

• Montana Career Opportunity – Media Information Specialist – MonTECH University of Montana Rural Institute

  The Rural Institute invites applications for the position of a part-time (20 hrs/wk) temporary Media Information Specialist. This position will be located in Billings or surrounding area. The employee assigned to this position will serve as the primary staff person for activities related to MonTECH’s alternative financing program.

• Montana Career Opportunity – Mechanical Engineer, Control Systems Engineer, High Precision Machinest – Burgi Engineers

  Providing design and build services specializing in unique solutions for high performance rotating machinery. Engineers and manufacturers of high performance AC dynamometers and motor drive packages for system and component testing in the automotive, marine, industrial, energy and aerospace industries.

• Montana Career Opportunity – Director – Montana Stockgrowers Association

  Foundation Director will be an employee of the Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA), charged with executing Foundation activities. This is a half-time position. Responsible for the development of all donation procedures, grant research initiatives, and direction of all administrative and program activities of the Foundation.

• Montana Career Opportunity – SBDC Southwest Montana Regional Director – Prospera Business Network

  Prospera Business Network is the leading non-profit organization advancing and supporting community- centered economic development in southwest Montana. Our focus is helping people start and grow their businesses – in turn strengthening our region’s economy and communities.

Montana Department of Commerce

• Kalispell High-Performance Electric Motor Manufacturer Burgi Engineers Receives Montana Exporter of the Year Award – Career Opportunities

  Burgi Engineers, which has been in business since 2002, designs and manufactures high-performance electric motors, high-speed gearboxes and rotating machinery test stands for customers worldwide, primarily in the automotive and aerospace industries.

Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development

• A Guide to Montana’s Cultural Treasures

  You don’t have to visit many Montana art galleries or museums to realize that there is something truly inspiring going on in Montana.

Great Falls Development Authority

• Want to Know the Heart of a City? Visit the Local Bookstore – Cassiopeia Books in Great Falls, Montana

  One of the very best ways to become acquainted with a new city is via its local bookstore.

• Great Falls Economic Development Top 10 for 12-6-20

  Here is our Top 19 for this week celebrating work and successes to grow and strengthen the Great Falls regional economy — Montana’s Golden Triangle. And, sharing business resources and skill-building opportunities to empower your success.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Food Technology Will Replace the Use of Animals by 2035

  Pat Brown, Founder and CEO of Impossible Foods, said that “it’s game over for the meat industry –they just don’t realize it yet,” at Web Summit.

• Mayors: How COVID Changed the Future of Their Cities

  “This year, while we still hear glimmers of optimism, their pessimism in the face of a once-in-a-century pandemic is palpable,”

• Streetsmart – Integrating Climate Protection, Public Health, and Equity Into Planning

  The beta version of a comprehensive new evidence-based platform called Streetsmart helps policy makers, planners, and advocates make the case for healthy, inclusive, and sustainable transportation investments.

• In Montana, Land Transfer Threatens the American Rancher’s Way of Life

  Ranchers in the west have been struggling for decades. Now a new threat looms: public land might be taken away from them.

• Fake Beef in Cattle Country – How Montana Sees the Fake Meet Trend

  In Montana, Idaho and Wyoming—whose appellation is the “Cowboy State”—what are the upshots and downsides of communing with fake beef?

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• Missoula Valley Internet Co-op Network Launch Fundraiser

  Donated funds will go directly to the purchase of an increased need for hardware, securing leased space for relays, and hiring of additional local technicians to assist in connecting the hundreds of pre-registered customers we have ready and waiting for an alternative fast, affordable, and community powered broadband service.

• Finding Partners for Broadband Right Where You Are

  Creating technology partnerships within your community is as important as finding partners on the outside.

Montana Businesses Seeking Investment or For Sale

• Looking for a closed (ideally lockable) 36-37in deep 15U+ server rack.

  We would prefer something closer to the 15U range, but if a full 42U rack is all that’s available you can never go wrong with overkill.

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte

• Billings Gazette opinion: It’s time to face reality and do what’s right

  We understand that both Governor-elect and U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte and Sen. Steve Daines are Trump Republicans. They are loyal. They have won their 2020 elections while sticking close to President Trump’s policies and pronouncements. Close is actually an understatement.

• Gov.-elect Gianforte says COVID trends ‘alarming,’ pandemic response will be 1st priority. What did he say 3 months ago?

  “When I’m in the Capitol, I’m going to be wearing a mask,” Gianforte said. “I encourage other people to do that as well. I think it shows respect and concern.”

Montana Business

• Butte business Beautiful Butte and Beyond considers nationwide shipping after online move

  “Believe it or not, we’ve been selling on the east coast and the west coast. I can’t figure it that out, but we have,”

Funding and Building your Business

• CAN DO Podcast, Communicating in the Age of Covid

  Tim Pollard, CEO of Oratium, author and speaker is one of the most knowledgeable guests I have had on my show.  Well worth your time listening to his “master class” on communicating.

• Smartups: Lessons from Rob Ryan’s Entrepreneur America Boot Camp for Start-Ups

  In Smartups, Ryan focuses on methods he’s developed over the years for building a sustainable business that makes money. He emphasizes the importance of testing ideas on customers and making sure that a product offers something new and important.

• Four market segments transforming the world of venture capital investing

  On an overall scale, we are quite optimistic that the technological innovations in the coming time would offer a host of opportunities for further growth of venture capital.

• The once obscure, derided financial product that just might transform deep tech venture capital – Is a SPAC right for your company?

  Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock over the past year or perhaps docked at the International Space Station, it’s been impossible to miss the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) craze that has overtaken Wall Street. I came to appreciate the SPAC as a valuable and advantaged funding mechanism for ambitious companies who are in the midst of a growth phase-change.

• HP’s ‘free ink for life’ plan is over because home printers are a scam

  Writer Cory Doctorow broke down how HP has milked its customers dry with “security chips” in ink cartridges that stop your printer from working if you try to use (cheaper) ink from a third party.

Incubators and R&D

• NASA and INL are teaming up once again

  After years of working with NASA’s Mars rover, Idaho National Laboratory is once again contributing to the design, manufacturing and testing of a nuclear power system in space.

Government Technology

• The US Used the Patriot Act to Justify Logging Website Visitors

  The law allows the FBI to seek clandestine court orders to collect any data from a business that connects to national-security-related investigations.

Tell Us Something

• City Club of Missoula Presents: Tell Us Something: The Power of Connection – 12/14 – 11:30 on Zoom

  This month’s forum is presented in partnership with Tell Us Something, a Missoula nonprofit that inspires understanding, acceptance, and empathy by hosting live events featuring storytellers from the community sharing their true personal stories from memory and without notes.

Careers

• 10 Habits of Highly Resilient People

  How you can develop these traits if you don’t have them.

Connectivity & Communications

• Paywalls, Newsletters, and the New Echo Chamber

  When everything is subscription-based, how many news sources will any one person actually read?

Transportation

• Is This The Electric Vehicle Filling Station of the Future?

  U.K.’s Gridserve opens its first ‘Electric Forecourt’ with 36 low-carbon powered chargers.

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