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

“Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent.  Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.”Thomas Edison
This might be extreme for the nation’s public research universities, but instilling this mindset at universities throughout the Heartland could promote higher levels of business formation, successful scale-ups, and job creation.

Catalyzing economic growth in the Heartland starts with research universities

Come Home Montana

• Montana Career Opportunities – New and Experienced Agents – Clearwater Properties

  Join the Clearwater Family and work with the best in the business. Clearwater Properties is building a BETTER real estate brokerage, and we hope you’ll come along for the ride!

2019 Montana Legislature and Politics

• Governor Bullock Statement on New Report Showing Damaging Impacts of Work Requirements

  “We already have a successful bipartisan approach to Medicaid expansion that ensures healthy people are finding and keeping good jobs. It doesn’t make sense to me that we would abandon this approach all to spend more money, kick up to 43,000 Montanans off of their coverage, and hurt our rural hospitals.”

Gov. Steve Bullock

• Governor Bullock talks early-childhood, higher ed during University of Montana visit

  “If we’re actually talking about a workforce, we can’t wait until they’re seniors in high school or a senior in college. [If] we’re going to be making the advancements that we need to, we actually have to say, ‘What are the first five years really going to look like?’” Gov. Steve Bullock

Montana Economic Development

• Tourism group harnesses Far Cry video game to attract visitors to southwest Montana

  “Whenever we can get someone to come here, chances are they will return because they love it,” said Sarah Bannon, executive director of Southwest Montana, an organization that provides regional tourism information.

Montana Business

• “Hallowed Waters: The Legacy and Lifeblood of the Big Blackfoot” a five-minute film

  The film also examines the critical role that the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act plays in protecting the overall health of the watershed’s wildlife habitat, native fish populations, and communities.

• University of Montana Calls for Researchers, Innovators for New STEM Program

  Researchers and innovators in STEM fields are strongly encouraged to contact the program to explore the potential for broader impacts and commercialization of their research or inventions.

• Montana Department of Commerce Retailer of the Year Nominations are OPEN

  We are looking for THE store owner, manager or buyer who has made a long-term commitment to carry Made in Montana products in their store.

• Holland Lake Lodge set to be sold to Missoula tech exec who plans to expand, extend season

  Gardner’s plan is to attract investors, starting at $25,000, and to reinvest profits back into the property. He wants to eventually extend the operating season from 135 days to 220 days, from April 1 through Oct. 30, and to be open the week of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

• Missoula’s Locavore Produce uses aquaponics to deliver fresh veggies year-round – Available at Saturday Winter Market

  During the first week of February, they sold about 80 different leafy greens at the Missoula Senior Center.

Northwestern Energy

• NorthWestern Energy to issue RFP to upgrade grid in South Dakota

  NorthWestern Energy has begun the process of modernizing the grid for its electric customers in South Dakota.

Flathead Valley Community College

• Upcoming Making Montana event taps into innovation – 2/15-16 in Kalispell –

  This year, technology and manufacturing companies will present their finished products and offer hands-on activities for the public on Friday.

TechLink

• TechLink – Navy invents trip wire to short out electronics probed by IP thieves, foreign agents

  Tech transfer team ready to license to consumer electronics, defense suppliers

• TechLink – Veterans Administration pushing medical research and inventions to private sector

  Hundreds of VA inventions available through license agreements

Funding and Building your Business

• Garage Days – Entrepreneurs share how they survived their bootstrapping days

  Every entrepreneur knows the stories of successful founders who started in a garage. William Hewlett and David Packard produced electronic test equipment, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built computers, Jeff Bezos sold books, Larry Page and Sergey Brin created a search engine.

Regional Economic Development

• With Amazon Out of New York, Some Lawmakers Seek Multistate Ban on Corporate Tax Breaks

  Lawmakers in at least a half-dozen states are considering forming a compact in which they would agree to end efforts to lure companies with tax incentives.

Regional Business News

• How the Sharing Economy Is Transforming the Short-term Rental Industry

  As these changes continue – and even accelerate – the question many people are asking is “What will the future look like?”

• A record 7 million Americans are 3 months behind on their car payments, a red flag for the economy

  When car loan delinquencies rise, it is usually a sign of significant duress among low-income and working-class Americans.

Missoula Schools Excellence

• Your opportunity to influence a very important selection – Online survey and focus groups available to help decide next Missoula County Public Schools Superintendent

  Your input is requested to help decide who will guide the education of your children and our future leaders

Government News & Events

• Notebook: Most Montana politicians no longer use town halls for town hall events

  The wheels have gone off the tracks. Access is challenged, if not impossible. Politicians hide from their constituents, seemingly frightened to answer questions from the press on issues related to their own voting record. They permit their vague statements over social media to serve as the golden word, unchallenged and without question. No detail needed, so don’t bother asking.

• Butte CEO urges tourism board to increase hotel fees for airline revenue guarantee

  “a new connection would provide a boost in local and state usage of the airport, as well as more tourists using the airport to fly into and out of Butte.”

City Club Missoula

• City Club Missoula Hosts Housing Experts: Get serious or watch Missoula’s housing prices continue to soar

  House Bill 16 would use coal tax trust fund money to provide $15 million in loans to develop low- to moderate-income housing, while Senate Bill 18 pushes for workforce housing tax credits.

Careers

• Harvard Study of 100,000 People: You’d Be Happier If You Had More Time and Less Money

  The research is definitive: stop trading so much time for money and you’ll be happier.

Transportation

• Vehicle-to-Grid Testing Comes to Texas

  Pecan Street and Austin Energy have teamed up to determine if EV batteries can provide grid services.

• Allegiant announces new seasonal non-stop service between Bozeman and Los Angeles with fares as low as $59* each way

  The new seasonal flights will operate twice-weekly. With the addition of this new route, Allegiant will now serve three cities from Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN).

Cool Stuff That’s Coming

• New experimental drug rapidly repairs age-related memory loss and improves mood

  A team of Canadian scientists has developed a fascinating new experimental drug that is purported to result in rapid improvements to both mood and memory following extensive animal testing.

• Unclogging blood flow to the brain could open the floodgates for Alzheimer’s treatment

  Scientists from Cornell University believe they have now found an explanation for these blockages, raising new hopes for treatments that target one of the disease’s potential root causes.

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