MATR Newsletter – March 2, 2020
The state with the best education wins!

When people tell me “You’re going to regret this in the morning”, I sleep until noon because I’m a problem solver.

Corona Virus Information

• Supply Stashes, Temperature Checks, and Coronavirus ‘Czars’: How Companies Are Preparing to Keep Employees Healthy and Business Strong

  Savvy entrepreneurs are planning ahead to mitigate the effects of supply shortages and sick employees.

• Coronavirus outbreak causes slight delay for Bozeman-based Simms Fishing Products

  Christensen says the delays could impact their ability to fulfill customer demand.

• Responding to Covid-19 — A Once-in-a-Century Pandemic? By Bill Gates

  There are two reasons that Covid-19 is such a threat.

• Experts: Economic impacts from coronavirus hitting China hard; also felt in Montana

  “We’re getting the perfect storm right now. “

• Containing the Coronavirus: What’s the Risk to the Global Economy?

  As the human toll mounts, so does the economic damage.

• Coronavirus: the new disease Covid-19 explained

  With a population of 11 million, Wuhan city is larger than London or New York.

Come Home Montana

• Grow Your Business Here – Eureka, Montana’s Tobacco Valley Business Incubator

  Where You Have Space to Grow and Play From Mountaintops

• My town: The Montana Standard’s editor shares some of what he loves about Butte and southwest Montana

  These photos show just a tiny bit of why I love it so much.

Big Sky Economic Development

• Big Sky Economic Development buys building downtown

  The Big Sky Economic Development promises new opportunities for local entrepreneurs looking to expand their business, as they prepare to relocate to central downtown Billings.

Great Falls Development Authority

• GFDA Top 10 – Here is our Top 23 for this week celebrating work and successes to grow and strengthen the Great Falls regional economy!

  We’re getting excited to launch the next phase of Live in Great Falls, our talent attraction initiative.

Montana Governor’s Office of Economic Development

• What Happened When Tulsa Paid People to Live in Tulsa but Work Remotely

  The first class of hand-picked remote workers moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in exchange for $10,000 and a built-in community. The city might just be luring them to stay.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• InBIA – A global network of incubators, accelerators, and other entrepreneurship centers

  We are the go-to organization for business incubators, accelerators, coworking spaces, and other entrepreneurship support organizations who are dedicated to nurturing the unique startups in their communities.

• Missoula’s lack of office, incubator space hinders economic growth

  The lack of office and manufacturing space in Missoula has emerged as a limiting factor for a number of growing companies, and unless it’s resolved, it could dampen the city’s economic future.

Opportunity Zones

• Missoula Economic Partnership explores socially-minded investment funds for West Broadway Opportunity Zone redevelopment

  While MEP works to gather community feedback at home on what type of projects would be valued in the West Broadway corridor, it also has taken to the road in recent months to explore how other communities are putting their opportunity zones to work.

Montana Business

• Rocket men – Whitefish, Montana based Mountain Aerospace Research Solutions is aiming for the stars with their Feneris engine

  “It’s time to significantly reduce the cost of getting into space.”

• Chronic Wasting Disease’s Potential Economic Impacts in Montana

  “The spread and the existence of this disease is not only in Montana, but across the country, and has the potential for massive ramifications.”

Visit Montana

• ‘Bringing Back the Wolves: How a Predator Restored an Ecosystem’ by Jude Isabella

  An unintended experiment in Yellowstone National Park, in which an ecosystem is devastated and then remarkably rehabilitated, provides crucial lessons about nature’s intricate balancing act.

Funding and Building your Business

• Anyone interested in starting a new company? What about Archery Dodgeball?

  This is a workout, first and foremost.

• 7 Ways To Use An Advisory Board To Accelerate Success

  Even the best of us needs someone we trust to bounce ideas off, or challenge our perspective on a regular basis. That’s the function of a good advisory board.

Regional Economic Development

• 25-year study: Most corporate tax incentives do more harm than good

  The agreements “ultimately left states in worse financial condition than they were in to begin with.”

Come Home Wyoming

• ‘Array’ new apprenticeship program to pay people to learn coding in Wyoming

  There aren’t many schools like Array, which provides opportunities for students to learn coding, especially not in towns of fewer than 65,000 people.

Wyoming Business

• Statewide lodging tax passes Wyoming Senate and House – “Hopefully, they’ll be able to tell everyone that Yellowstone is in Wyoming and not in Montana.”

  “I really feel like there is going to be more of a concerted effort to help rural areas.”

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

• University of Montana MOLLI courses bring Montana’s best teachers to everyone – Course Schedule

  Learning for the love of it.

Careers

• What is the ideal age to retire? Never, according to a neuroscientist

  Too much time spent with no purpose is associated with unhappiness. Stay busy!

Transportation

• Techrules looks to power everyday EVs and grids with micro-turbines

  The company is working to transform the range-extending micro-turbines powering up the motors of the 1,300-hp Ren into standalone generators for commercial and passenger car use.

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